[Jenny Flowers]

I’m thinking about getting a Qinux Dogitek for my dog but I’ve never used a collar with contact points before. He has a pretty thick coat and I’m worried the prongs won’t actually reach his skin. Do you have to tighten it more than a regular collar or is there a trick to placement? Just don’t want to spend the money if it’s going to be a hassle to get it to work on a hairy dog.

[Carla D.]

I just part the fur where the points go.

[Luna Bee]

I actually don’t think a thick coat is a dealbreaker at all. My sister’s malamute mix wears one and it reaches fine once the collar sits high up near the ears instead of down on the neck. That made way more difference than tightening it.

[MikeRobbins]

Tightening it more is usually the wrong move. My lab has a heavy undercoat and over-tightening just made him uncomfortable without helping contact. The collar needs to sit snug behind the ears, not down on the neck like a normal collar.

[EthanFree]

I’d say the coat thickness is less of a problem than people make it out to be, but the strap is where it gets annoying. My old dog had a winter coat that was basically a rug, and the collar would slide around unless I had it snug. Not cranked down, just snug enough that it wasn’t hanging loose. The points did reach, but I had to check it every time we went out because after a few minutes of sniffing and rolling it had shifted.

The part nobody mentions is that the fur gets caught in the points. Mine had a habit of matting right around the contact area after a couple of weeks, so I had to brush that spot more often than the rest of him. Not a huge deal, just something that came with the territory.

If your dog’s coat is the kind that’s dense right at the surface, you’ll probably be fine. If it’s more like long wispy hair that just falls flat, that’s when it gets fiddly. I ended up using it less than I expected, mostly because the beep and vibrate did most of the work and I didn’t need the other modes much anyway. So the fit issue stopped mattering after a while.

[techguy22]

I was looking at this collar too and the contact point thing is my main hangup. Curious what people say because I don’t want to drop money on something that needs constant fiddling.

[Sarh_Kompress]

Thick coats are exactly why I gave up on contact point collars with my husky mix. The points just sat on top of the fur no matter how I positioned it, and the few times they did touch he barely reacted anyway. For a really fluffy dog I’d look at a vibration-only option instead.

[Ben Kerr]

Try a shorter contact point, not a tighter strap.

[AnnaK]

I’ve had good luck with mine on a rough collie, of all things. The trick for me was the beep and vibrate modes, which don’t need skin contact at all, so the coat barely matters. That alone made it worth it for us.

[Alex M.]

The points on mine just sat on top of the fur most of the time and I got tired of fighting with it. I ended up returning it and going back to a regular collar. If your dog is really fluffy I don’t think it’s worth the hassle.

[Mike Turner]

Thick fur means those points aren’t reaching anything.

[Tom 2020]

Measure the neck with the fur, not against it.

[Linda Robinson]

That’s just not true for every dog. My labradoodle has a stupid thick doodle coat and the collar still worked fine for us because the points have different lengths you can swap out. You’re making it sound impossible when it really just depends on the dog and the setup.

[Emma__L]

I’d probably skip it if my dog had a really thick coat. I tried a similar collar on my husky mix and the points just kind of floated on the fur no matter what I did. Tightening it down enough felt wrong, so I gave up on that style.

[Sara Beast]

I usually size it so it sits high up near the ears rather than low on the neck, that seems to help a bit with fluff. I also prefer the vibrate mode for my own dog, honestly the shock part isn’t something I’d want to rely on with a thick coat anyway.

[Alex Foster]

Mine slid around constantly on my shepherd.

[Mike Harry]

I’d skip it for a really fluffy coat.

[Mark Carrell]

Mine actually stayed put better on my thick coated dog than the flat collar did. The trick was letting it sit a bit looser than I first thought, not tighter. Tightening it just mashed the fur down and made it worse.

[Dan T.]

I’d just skip it for that coat.

[Jenny Flowers]

I’ve got a fluffy one too and honestly the fit was the easy part for us. My issue ended up being that he figured out the beep meant business within like two days, so the whole thing got kind of pointless after that. Not saying that happens with every dog, just something I didn’t expect going in.

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