The look of the pink Alcott Adventure Collar seems to match my sweet, beautiful golden retriever cross Emma’s personality exactly, they should have called the color “Pretty in Pink” because that’s what she is when wearing it. The collar comes in 8 different colours (black, red, pink, green, blue, orange, high viz yellow and high viz orange) and 3 different sizes that fit dogs with neck sizes ranging from 10″ to 26″. We trail tested the large size of this snap buckle flat collar during everyday wear around the house, leash walks, and off leash adventures in the slush and snow. It is also available in a martingale style which we did not test. This collar has quickly became our favorite house and leash walking collar due to the design, quality, fit and fashion.
This collar has a very unique design in that it has vibrant nylon material with reflective stitching around the outer portion of the collar and neoprene padding lining the inside of the collar where it comes in to contact with your dogs neck. Initially when I saw this collar I thought it would be great for use in wet conditions because the neoprene reminded me of a wetsuit. After testing it I noticed that it soaked up a lot of water and didn’t dry while being worn in our cool winter weather. I decided to look up how neoprene works and why people use it in water sports and what I found is that neoprene is actually designed to absorb and hold water against the skin. It allows the body to warm up the water that’s contained inside the neoprene which is what helps keep you warm in a wetsuit while being in cold water. This made me realize that this collar is not ideal for our camping and hiking trips as we often find ourselves near lakes or rivers where Emma would be swimming causing her to be wet. For us, the fact that it doesn’t dry quickly puts Emma at risk for developing skin irritations or infections. My fellow Trail Testers didn’t find this to be an issue for them as either their pups aren’t interested in swimming, it is too cold to swim (i.e. the lakes are frozen), or it so hot that the collar dries quickly. Whether this collar would work for your pup will depend on your style and area of adventure.
Personally, I have been using this collar solely for daily household use and neighbourhood leash walks because the collar fits really well, and seems very light and comfortable around Emma’s neck. It also has a nice large D-ring for quick leash ups or easier unleashing which is a great feature for us because Emma needs to be leashed up around dogs that don’t appreciate her energy level. The snap buckle makes it so convenient to snap on and take off which is handy if you need to remove the collar quickly, for example, if it is caught on a branch. The collar is also meant to be very visible and it really is a vibrant pink color. The reflective stitching is very noticeable even in low light as there are two continuous lines stitched around the whole collar. The reflective stitching does have slight wearing in one spot, but considering Emma wears it almost full time I don’t find that unreasonable at all. In fact you wouldn’t even notice it unless you were inspecting the stitching very carefully. Another Trail Tester who has had the collar for a longer period did notice that their is some wear on their reflective stitching but overall it is still very reflective. A fun fact I noticed while washing the collar is that it floats in water, I’m not sure how this could be useful but it is a cool feature!
Throughout our testing I have not found a single problem with the quality and durability of this collar. The buckle is made of the strongest plastic I’ve ever seen on a collar and it looks as good as the day I got it. Emma is a light to medium puller and it has not unclipped or broken. Even if your dog is a strong puller I could not imagine the buckle breaking, it is just that strong! The D-ring is a painted metal, some paint has scraped off the inside of the ring where the leash is attached but it is not noticeable unless you look for it. Depending on the style of leash you use you may find that the paint scrapes off more quickly. The pink nylon outer portion has not frayed, faded or stretched out of shape at all and the color does not bleed into Emma’s blonde fur when it is wet. The black neoprene padding has not faded and has held up well for daily use.
As I mentioned earlier, calling this beautiful collar just “pink” does not do this collar justice, I am very impressed with the style of this collar because color is so fun and vibrant against the black neoprene and the reflective stitching is very noticeable in low light. The fit of the collar seems very comfortable on Emma, it’s almost like she is wearing a light pillow around her neck. I feel that there is a lot of room for adjusting this collar to fit any dog, but I would be careful if your dog likes to slip out of their collar as the material does have some give in it.
The fit and comfort as well as the large convenient D-ring are the reasons that this collar has become our favorite collar for everyday household use. I would highly recommend this collar for everyday use, and hiking in dry conditions. This collar is also very affordable so you could own several colors if you want! Over all a great job on Alcott’s part, this is a very unique and fun collar; we will continue to use it on a regular basis.
This collar is best for: everyday adventures, household wear, low light activities, hiking in dry conditions
This collar may not be ideal for: dogs that like to get wet and muddy when it’s not warm enough for the collar to dry off
Review by: Dogs That Hike Trail Tester @emma_brat
Additional photos by: @atlastheadventuredog / atlasdogblog.com
Product from: @alcottgear / alcottadventures.com