Courtney Gresham was having a rather normal day at her North Carolina home. She was spending time with Emmie, her 5-year-old Boston Terrier. She had to go out to work, so she put Emmie in her crate. It wasn’t anything new, she had done it many times in the past. When she came home, however, she was devastated by what she saw.

“I opened the back door and immediately saw Emmie up on her back legs in the crate,” Gresham said on Facebook. “I ran to her to find that her collar was hung on a part of the metal crate near the top. In tears and screaming, I opened the door and unhooked the hung part of her collar. She was unresponsive.”

When Gresham put Emmie in the crate, she left on her collar. The problem was that the tags on the collar got stuck between the bars of the crate. Emmie struggled to try and free herself but she was strangled before she was found.

This crushed Gresham and she was even more devastated when she learned that she was not the only one. As it turns out, many other dog owners have experienced a similar situation. The bars are thin and they can snag the tags or any piece of the collar, causing a potentially deadly hazard.

“We had no idea of the dangers of having a collared pet in a crate,” Gresham said. “I have since read so much on the internet about how this can happen. We learned this the hard way.”

Crates are a serious problem in this regard but they are not the only issue. Strangulation hazards exist everywhere when a dog is wearing a collar with tags. They could get stuck in a tree branch or even in another dog’s mouth when playing. That is why many vets and groomers will remove the collars when they arrive.

Gresham put out a warning on facebook in Emmie’s memory. She wants other dog owners to know about this potential danger. If possible, remove the collar or invest into a breakaway collar that will disconnect if they get entangled in anything.

“[Emmie] brought so much fun, personality, light, and love into our lives,” Gresham said. “I feel so guilty that it happened. Now in hindsight, I see so many ways it could have been prevented. I beg you to never put a collared animal in a crate.”