Do Dog Collars Cause Tracheal Damage? What the Evidence Actually Shows

Search for whether a dog collar can damage your dog's windpipe and you'll find dozens of confident articles saying yes, usually pointing to the same handful of studies. We went back to those studies, plus a newly published 2026 review that specifically audits this exact claim, and the honest answer is more nuanced than most of what's out there.

Here's what the evidence actually supports, what it doesn't, and why Bhooki still insists on correct fit and supervision regardless of how the trachea question settles.

What the Original Study Actually Looked At

The most widely cited piece of research on this topic is a 2020 study from Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham, which measured the pressure exerted by seven collar types on a simulated plastic neck model under different pulling forces. The pressures recorded were compared against thresholds known to cause tissue damage in human skin, and the study concluded that no collar tested produced a pressure low enough to fully rule out injury risk.

It's a genuinely useful piece of engineering research, but it's worth being clear about its limits. A plastic cylinder isn't a living dog's neck: it has no muscle tone, no skin elasticity, and none of the protective anatomy a real dog uses to shield its throat. The study itself doesn't claim to have observed an actual injury, only a modelled pressure comparison.

What the Evidence Doesn't Support

A 2026 review in Frontiers in Veterinary Science went through the full published literature on dog-worn equipment specifically to check claims like this one against actual documentation. Its conclusion is direct: there is no reported case in the scientific literature of tracheal trauma resulting from ordinary leash pressure on a correctly worn flat collar. The widely repeated claim that pulling on a collar damages the trachea is, at present, not backed by documented evidence, only by the kind of modelled comparison described above.

The review also complicates the usual advice to switch to a harness to reduce pulling. A force study that directly measured pulling force found dogs pulled harder in a back-clip harness than in a collar, the opposite of what's commonly assumed. We're stating this plainly because it would be easy to quietly drop it from a post like this, and that would misrepresent what the research actually found.

What the Evidence Does Support: Fit, Not Fear

The real, well-documented risks with collars are different from the trachea claim, and they're both about fit and supervision rather than collar use itself. Chronic injury happens when a collar is left too tight as a puppy grows or a dog's weight changes, causing the collar to become embedded in the skin over time.

Separately, slip or choke-style collars carry a genuine strangulation and entrapment risk, particularly if a dog is left wearing one unsupervised where it could catch on something. Neither of these is an argument against collars generally; they're an argument for checking fit regularly and never leaving a collar-wearing dog unsupervised in a situation where it could snag.

It's also worth remembering that a collar carrying an ID tag isn't optional in the UK. Under the 1992 Order, every dog in a public place must wear a collar with the owner's name and address on it, whether or not the dog is also microchipped.

Brachycephalic Breeds and Eye Pressure

There is one genuinely well-evidenced, breed-specific finding worth taking seriously. A 2025 study found that collar use raised intraocular pressure in brachycephalic dogs, both at rest and during walking, while harness use did not produce the same effect. This is a different mechanism from the trachea claim, it's about pressure on the eyes via the jugular veins, not the windpipe, but it's real, and it's why the RSPCA guidance specifically recommends a harness for flat-faced breeds like Pugs and French Bulldogs.

Beyond that specific case, there isn't currently strong evidence either way for most dogs, and we'd rather say that plainly than pretend the science has settled it.

Where Bhooki Stands

Given all of that, our position is straightforward and doesn't depend on which way future research goes. We build every collar in our dog collar collection to be properly sized and adjustable, and we tell every customer the same thing regardless of what the trachea evidence eventually shows: check the fit regularly, especially with a growing puppy or a dog whose weight has changed, and never leave a collar-wearing dog or cat unsupervised while it's on, whether that's a flat collar, a martingale, or anything attached to one of our patterned dog leads.

Fit and supervision are what the evidence actually points to as the things that matter. Fear of a specific injury that isn't documented isn't a reason to avoid a collar; poor fit and lack of supervision are reasons to get it right.