BENCMATE Inflatable Dog Cone Collar Alternative, Soft Dog Cone for Small Medium Large Dogs and Cats, Neck Recovery ECollar Donut Collar After Surgery (Large, Blue)

I have an older black lab who is spoiled rotten. She is well behaved and has pretty much gotten to the point where we just let her do her thing because we can trust she isn't going to cause any troubles. Now that she is older though and so spoiled she doesn't take to change very well which became a problem recently when she somehow got a large corneal ulcer on her left eye(we think a stick poked her but that's not the point). Anyway, right after she injured it I started putting a traditional plastic cone on her. The poor spoiled thing looked at me like I was torturing her. She would just stand there holding her head down like the cone was a millstone hung around her neck, but I said "I'm sorry this is for your own good". Well I guess she decided to show me because then she started slowly walking swaying her head and slinging the cone around bumping into everything she could. Then I found her stuck in a doorway because the lip of the cone was stuck on the door frame and she was looking down the hall, so she couldn't figure out why she couldn't walk forward. I helped her through, but she kept bumping into things(I promise she was doing it on purpose the way she bumped into several things) and sometimes she would hit things so hard it would make her fall. Well she is a little fragile, so after fighting with the cone for a few hours it became clear that she was going to break something(in the house or worse one of her bones), so I took the cone off thinking it would be better to chance the eye than possibly an injury that could cost her life. After a few days though the eye started looking worse, and I started researching other options and found this. First off let me say, my spoiled lab still acts like she has a millstone hooked to her neck when wearing this but it is much safer for her. Also when walking in a wide open space she will still purposefully get as close to obstacles but instead of a cone that catches things, this one just bushes against it. It has 100% kept her from rubbing her eye on furniture or using her paws. Depending on how she lays sometimes it looks comfortable, but sometimes not so much, however regardless it seems more comfortable than the plastic cone. It is easy to inflate if you know what you are doing. For my dog(and I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they can related) because she is so well behaved and pretty much just accepts things regardless of if she likes it or not, I am able to just slip the donut on and off without running it through the collar. This allows me to quickly and easily take it on and off when I am with her and can watch her, and I also don't have to worry about her pulling it off and I haven't seen any difference whatsoever in her wearing it whether it was through the collar or not, but it was a hassle to take on and off when I was using the collar through it. She has started to get used to it but she is still spoiled. For example when I take it off she will have both of her eyes wide open, but when I slip this on her she will look at me with the left eye squinting. She is notorious for wanting pity parties(which means getting snacks), and I know that's what the squinting eye is all about. Don't believe me? one time she was staring at me while I was eating a carrot(her favorite snack), and I said "none for you", and while she is still staring at me and been perfectly fine all day, she slowly drew her paw up as if it was hurting her. Anyway, while much better than a traditional plastic cone, some dogs still may not behave quite normally with this.

I am thankful to the person with the Saint Bernard that posted a review and photo of their dog with one of these. I scrolled through a ton of pictures to find one in order to make my decision on what to get. I have a 140 lb Great Dane, and it's difficult to find things that work well for our giants. Because of his neck length, he is able to get passed the Elizabethan collar and the vet recommended adding a donut to it. The donut gives the extra restriction needed to keep him from getting at his foot, which just had a toe amputated. The donut has plenty of room to go around his large neck and adjust, and he appears to be comfy despite the awkwardness of it all. He uses it like he has a built-in pillow when he sleeps, which is a lot because the vet doesn't want him on his feet.We use the donut on it's own unless he's by himself and can't be watched. Then we have to add his Elizabethan collar too, but that's to be expected with his giraffe neck. For most dogs, this is probably just fine on its own.

A friend gave me a link to this and of course I had to buy my girl the donut! My 5 month old Doberman (about 55lbs and a couple feet tall) hated the ginormous e-collar the vet put on her after she was spayed but absolutely LOVES this inflatable collar. I take it off her occasionally and she gets rather possessive of it! She has worn this now for a week day and night without issue. At first I didn’t realize there are loops inside the inflatable to run her collar through so tied it to her collar which worked so-so. Once I figured out the built in attachment it has stayed on without a problem. It’s given her lots of agility the e-collar/cone took away. We have two other large dogs and this inflatable collar has withstood playtime both inside and outside, and she sleeps with it no problem. I do have to reinflate it every other day just to keep it taut but it doesn’t deflate much at all. I bought size large which for her perfectly. She is able to reach down to her back and privates a little bit if it’s deflated but not really when fully inflated. The nice thing is the cover can be removed and washed (it is starting to look a little manky).

I love this soft collar for my large english bulldog because it allows you to run his flat collar through fabric loops on the inside of the "donut" to keep the soft collar securely on his head. I tried a similar soft collar that did not have the capability to attach it a flat collar and my dog was able to wiggle out of it because the velcro fastener alone wasn't strong enough. My bulldog has a 24" neck so any cone type collar was too deep and, frankly, made my bulldog miserable. This soft (donut) collar prevents my dog from getting to the wound under his ear yet makes it easy for him to eat and drink. In addition, the cowboy design on the soft collar is adorable.This collar was a little tricky to inflate because you have to pinch the base of the valve and it took me a few tries to find the sweet spot in finding the right place to pinch the valve base such that that the air would flow in.