A wolf collar (also known as or , ) is a type of

dog collar A dog collar is a piece of material put around the neck of a dog. A Collar (animal), collar may be used for restraint, identification, fashion, protection, or training (although some aversive training collars are illegal in many countries ). Ide ...

designed to protect

livestock guardian dog A livestock guardian dog (LGD) is a dog type bred for the purpose of protecting livestock from predators. Livestock guardian dogs stay with the group of animals they protect as a full-time member of the flock or herd. Their ability to guard t ...

s from attack by

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

. Wolf collars are fitted with elongated spikes to stop wolves from attacking dogs on the neck. Such collars are used by shepherds in many countries including Italy, Spain and Turkey.

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

used such collars to protect their dogs from wolf attacks. In Latin the collar was called ''mellum'' or ''maelium'' or ''mellum'' or ''millus''.

Marcus Terentius Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

wrote that the farm dogs should have spiked collars for protection against wolves and other wild animals. War dogs in ancient Greece and Rome had collars with large spikes.

Use

A wolf collar is normally made out of metals such as

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

. The length of the spikes can be quite long, but styles differ in different places. The dogs that normally wore the collars were ones used to protect

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

from attack by wolves. The purpose of the collar is to protect the dog wearing it when it has to fight the wolves. The collar base protects the dog's throat and carotid arteries, while the spikes are intended to deter bites to the neck or even injure wolves trying to do so.

References

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External links

Spiked Collars Give LGDs an Edge
Brenda M. Negri, Farm Show Magazine
Spiked Protective Collars
Goat Rancher Magazine, Brenda M. Negri Dog equipment Animal armour