ANIMAL COLLAR

The present invention relates to animal collars, and in particular, to animal collars suitable for training purposes. Typically, such collars are used on dogs, but it is envisioned that the collar of the invention may be applied to other animals.

When training an animal, such as a dog, it is common to use a choke or slip collar. In its simplest form, this consists of an elongate flexible member, such as a length of chain, rope, leather or webbing or combination of these with a ring at each end. A bight is formed in the flexible member and passed through one of the rings, (the "running ring"), thereby forming a closed loop which is placed over the animal's head and around its neck. A lead is attached to the other ring, (the "lead ring"). By pulling on the lead, the circumference of the closed loop is diminished, tightening the collar around the animal's neck. This effect is also obtained if the animal pulls against the lead. The resulting pressure about the neck of the animal discourages it from unwanted behaviour (such as pulling against the lead).

Choke or slip collars as described above have a number of disadvantages. Frequently, they are put on the animal incorrectly, so that there is a risk of the collar "sticking" and constricting the neck of the animal, even when the lead is not being pulled, or the animal ceases to pull against the lead. It is also possible for a person leading an animal, or the animal itself, to pull too hard against the lead, resulting in excessive constriction of the collar and injury to the animal. In one common form, a choke or slip collar is made up of chain links, and the animal's hair may be caught between the links and pulled out. As well as causing the animal discomfort, this can eventually lead to a bald patch, which is unsightly, especially on animals that are being exhibited in shows. Choke or slip collars of this sort are also only suitable for use with a lead; left on an unattended animal, there is a risk that the collar will catch on a tree branch or other immovable object, resulting in injury to the animal as it struggles to free itself.

Another type of collar that is typically used comprises a length of leather or webbing material which is fastened about the neck of the animal, usually by means of a buckle or hook and loop fastener. Typically, such collars may include an integral ring for attachment of a registration tag and/or lead. Such collars are generally safer to leave on an unattended animal, although there is still some risk of entanglement with foreign object. However, collars of this type are not useful as training collars, since they do not constrict when the animal pulls against the lead. The present invention seeks to overcome one or more of the difficulties of the prior art.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an animal collar comprising:

(a) An elongate, flexible member having a first and a second end, said first end being provided with a runner line having a lead connector adapted for connection to a lead thereon, and said second end having a running ring thereon, whereby the runner line passes through the running ring so that the collar forms a closed loop of variable circumference; and

(b) attachment means mounted on the flexible member and situated near the running ring so that, when the lead connector is not attached to a lead, the runner line and lead connector can be held substantially flush with the flexible member by attaching the attachment means to the lead connector or the runner line.

Preferably, the lead connector is in the form of a ring that is too large to pass through the running ring, thereby preventing the closed loop from being opened.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the collar is provided with a runner line limiter at the junction of the flexible member and the runner line. The runner line limiter should be too large to pass through the running ring, to prevent the length of the circumference of the collar from reducing to below a predetermined minimum length. This prevents the excessive constriction and the danger of consequent injury that is present in prior art choke or slip chain collars.

In a further preferred embodiment, the minimum collar circumference is determined by adjusting adjustment means so as to fit the neck of the animal to which the collar is fitted. The adjustment means may comprise an adjustment gap in the flexible member, where the flexible member is discontinuous at the adjustment gap. On either side of the adjustment gap the ends of the flexible member form a first gap end and a second gap end. In one preferred embodiment, the adjustment means comprises a buckle of the tongue and loop variety where the first gap end of the flexible member passes through the buckle loop mounted on the second gap end and the buckle tongue passes through one of a number of holes in the flexible member to prevent the first gap end of the flexible member being withdrawn from the loop.

In an alternative embodiment, the first gap end of the flexible member passes through a loop mounted on the second gap end of the flexible member, and is then folded back into fixing contact with one of multiple selectable fixing points on the flexible member which are distant from the first gap end and from the loop mounted on the second gap end. By selecting fixing points at different distances from the loop, the circumference of the collar may be adjusted. Suitable fixing means are provided to hold the first gap end at a selected fixing point, including for example, cooperating hook and loop fastening strips or press-studs.

Alternatively, the fixing contact may be a friction grip slide, which may be adjusted to a suitable fixing point. In this arrangement, the adjustment gap may not open, requiring the collar to be loosened, slipped over the animal's head, and then tightened using the adjustment means. If desired, the loop may be detachably mounted on the second gap end to allow the gap to be opened without disturbing the position of the first gap end on the selected fixing point. Other suitable adjustment means will be familiar to those skilled in the art.

Preferably, the adjustment means allows the collar to be opened at the point where the adjustment means is provided as described above, so as to assist in fitting the collar to an animal's neck. If the adjustment means does not allow the closed loop to be opened, and the lead connector is too large to pass through

the runner ring, the length of the runner line and/or the amount of adjustment provided by the adjustment means must be such as to allow the collar to be extended to its maximum circumference to fit over the animal's head.

It is preferred that the attachment means is a fastener suitable for attachment to the lead connector or runner line and mounted on the flexible member via securing means. Preferably the securing means are elastically extendible. This allows the circumference of the collar to increase, even when the lead connector is attached to the attachment means, so as to prevent injury to the animal if the collar becomes entangled with any large or immovable object. Depending upon the length of the runner line and the amount by which the securing means is extendible, the collar may be constructed to allow the animal to slip the collar over its head if the collar becomes entangled, or may merely allow the collar to expand to reduce pressure on the neck of the animal, whilst still remaining tight enough to retain the collar in position. Preferably, the dimensions of the respective parts of the collar are such that the collar may slip over the head of an animal if the collar becomes entangled. Whilst this may result in the loss of the collar, this is believed preferable to injury of the animal.

In an alternative arrangement, the attachment means can be a strap, having a fixed section which is fixed to the flexible member, and a free section which extends from the fixed section. The strap may be made of the same material as the flexible member, but is preferably elastically extendable to allow the circumference of the collar to increase when tension is applied to it. In this arrangement, the free section is arranged to engage the lead connector or the runner line. In the preferred form of this arrangement, the lead connector is a ring and the free section can extend through the ring. In this arrangement, it is preferred that the free section be extendible through the lead ring and further preferable that the free section be arranged to be positionable thereafter to return to overlie the fixed section and either to be fixed to the fixed section, or to the flexible member. Alternatively, the free section can be fixed to itself. The free section can be fixed in place by any suitable means, such as by press stud fasteners.

Optionally, the collar may be provided with a tie-out ring, which may be used to attach a tether to the collar whilst the lead connector is attached to the attachment means and the runner line is not in use. This may be used, for example, to tether an animal to a fixed object, whilst still allowing expansion of the collar in the event that it becomes caught on a foreign object. The tie-out ring may also be used for attaching animal registration or identification tags, or the like, to the collar.

It will be convenient to hereinafter describe preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. The particularity of the drawings is to be understood as not limiting the preceding broad description of the invention.

Figure 1 shows one form of an animal collar according to the present invention.

Figure 2 shows an alternate form of an animal collard according to present invention.

Figure 1 shows an animal collar having an elongate flexible member (1 ) with a first and second end. The flexible member (1 ) may be a leather strap, a webbing strap, or any other suitable strap. The first end of the flexible member (1 ) is provided with a runner line (3) in the form of a short length of chain. The runner line is preferably from 5 cms to 10 cms long, depending upon the overall size of the collar. The runner line (3) has a lead connector in the form of a lead ring (5) thereon, which is connectable to a lead (6) via lead attachment (1 1 ). The second end of the elongate member (1 ) has a running ring (4) thereon, whereby the runner line (3) passes through the running ring (4) so that the collar forms a closed loop of variable circumference. Attachment means (8) is mounted on the elongate member (1 ) near to the running ring (4) so that the lead ring (5) may be attached to the attachment means (8). The distance between the attachment means (8) and the running ring (4) is preferably about the same as the length of the runner line (3) so that the lead ring (5) and runner line (3) are drawn into close proximity with and substantially flush to the flexible member (1 ) when the lead ring (5) is attached to attachment means (8).

Preferably, lead ring (5) is too large to pass through running ring (4), so as to prevent the closed loop of the collar from being opened. In the depicted embodiment of the invention, a runner line limiter (7) is provided which is also too large to pass through running ring (4), so as to prevent the flexible member (1 ) passing through running line (4), effectively setting a minimum circumference for the collar.

The minimum circumference for the collar may be adjusted to suit the necks of different animals by adjustment means (2). As shown in the drawing, adjustment means (2) comprises a loop and tongue buckle, which will be familiar to those skilled in the art.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 1 , the attachment means (8) comprises a fastener (1 1 ) attached to the flexible member (1 ) via a securing means (9). The securing means (9) is elastically extendible so that when the lead ring (5) is attached to the fastener (1 1 ), the circumference of the collar may be increased by extending the securing means (9). Because the securing means (9) is elastic, the collar will return to its predetermined minimum size once pressure on the collar is released.

In one embodiment of the invention, the securing means (9) is sufficiently extendible and the runner line (3) is sufficiently long to allow the collar to be expanded against the pull of the securing means (9) to a circumference great enough to fit over the head of the animal. In this embodiment, the animal may remove the collar in the event that the collar becomes caught on a foreign object. Alternatively, the maximum circumference of the collar may be limited by ensuring that runner line (3) is short enough that lead ring (5) encounters running ring (4) before the collar has expanded sufficiently to allow an animal to pass the collar over its head. This may also be achieved by ensuring that the securing means (9) will not extend sufficiently to allow the maximum circumference of the collar to increase to the point where it may be slipped over the animal's head.

An optional tie-out ring (10) is also shown in Figure 1 . The tie-out ring (10) may be used to attach the collar to a tether if the animal is being left unattended, or to attach registration or identification tags to the collar.

An alternative form of the invention is illustrated in Figure 2. That figure shows a portion of an animal collar (20) having an elongate flexible member (21 ), and a runner line (22) extending from a first end of the member (21 ). The runner line (22) is fixed to the member (21 ) by rivets (31 ).

The runner line (22) is preferably a short length of webbing or similar material, which may or may not be of the same material as the flexible member (21 ). The collar (20) further includes a lead ring (23) connected to one end of the runner line (22) and a running ring (24) connected to the second end of the flexible member (21 ). The runner line (22) extends through the running ring (24).

Attachment means (25) is mounted on the flexible member (21 ) for cooperation with the lead ring (23), to draw the lead ring (23) and the runner line (22) into close proximity with, and substantially flush to, the flexible member (21 ). The attachment means (25) takes the form of a strap which includes a fixed section (26), which is fixed to the flexible member (21 ) and a free section (27). The free section (27) can be passed through the lead ring (23) and returned to overlie the fixed section (26), and a press stud fastener comprising press stud parts (28) and (29) can retain the free section (27) in place. Preferably the attachment means 25 is made of an elastically extendible material.

The lead ring (23) is too large to pass through the running ring (24), while a runner line limiter (30) is provided on the opposite side of the running ring (24). The runner line limiter (30) may be formed by the fixing arrangement of the runner line (22) to the flexible member (21 ), which is too large to pass through the running ring (24). However, over time the flexible member (21 ) and runner line (22) can be compressed until they fit through the running ring (24). For this reason it is preferred that runner line limiter (30) comprises a further substantially non-compressible member such as a ring or swivel which is too

large to pass through the running ring (24), and which is attached to the collar at or adjacent to the junction of the flexible member (21 ) and the runner line (22).

It will be appreciated that the construction and operation of the collar (20) in Figure 2 is very similar to the collar depicted in Figure 1 . Thus, the runner line (22) can be connected to a lead (not shown) via the lead ring (23), when the free section (27) of the attachment means (25) is not extended through the lead ring (23). Alternatively, when a lead is not connected to the lead ring (23), the free section (27) can be passed through the lead ring (23) and returned to overlie the fixed section (26) and be fixed in place by the press stud fastener (28, 29). The main differences resides in the different materials of the respective runner lines, e.g. chain compared to leather strap or cloth webbing, and in the form of the attachment means. Whereas in Figure 1 , the attachment means (8) comprises a fastener (1 1 ) secured to the flexible member (1 ) by securing means (9) which is elastically extendible, the attachment means (25) of the collar (20) is a strap, which is preferably elastically extendible and fixed to the flexible member (21 ) at one section (26), and which is free at the free section (27).

An advantage of the attachment means (25), is that the press stud parts (28) and (29) can be fastened together in all conditions of the collar (20), regardless of whether the attachment means (25) is extended through the lead ring (23) or not. For example, when the attachment means (25) is not extended through the lead ring (23), such as when a lead is connected to the lead ring (23), the press stud parts (28) and (29) can be fastened together, so that the free section (27) is securely and neatly held in place. Likewise, when the attachment means is extended through the lead ring (23), the press stud parts (28, 29) can again be secured together to neatly and securely hold the lead ring (23), runner line (22) and the free section (27) in place.

Throughout the description of this specification the word "comprise" and variations of that word, such as "comprises" and "comprising", are not intended to exclude other additives or components or integers.

It will bθ appreciated that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be introduced into the construction and parts previously described without departing from the spirit or ambit of the invention.