Homemade Dog Cone Alternative

Sooner or later, it’s going to happen. One day, your dog will need to wear the dreaded cone of shame. Honestly, I think an Elizabethan collar (plastic dog cone, cone of shame, e-collar, etc.) has earned a bad reputation. It’s all about perspective, right? In our home, we call dog cones “party hats” because we make them fun to wear. If your dog absolutely hates wearing a plastic dog cone, give this homemade dog cone alternative a try.

Disclaimer: Hands down, a plastic Elizabethan collar works best. There’s no comparison. Always follow your veterinarian’s advice. If you decide to try a towel dog cone alternative, partner with your vet first.

Meet the Towel Dog Collar

Last year, my Rottweiler chewed a couple of hot spots between both front paw pads. As part of our vet’s recommended treatment plan, we were told to focus on preventing my dog from licking the area. He’s pretty happy wearing a plastic dog cone, but I wanted to try a dog cone alternative—something that would be more comfortable while sleeping. I call this DIY dog cone alternative a towel collar and it works really well.

When designing this homemade dog cone alternative, I used the Bite Not Collar as inspiration. This dog collar resembles a human neck brace. It prevents dogs from turning their necks from side to side or downward, but this collar wasn’t perfect. The bottom edges would dig into my dog’s shoulders—ouch! Hmm, I thought maybe I could make something a bit better.

Using the Bite Not Collar design, I rolled up a thick towel and taped it into place. It took several days of trial and error, but I finally figured out how to keep the towel securely in place without putting too much pressure around Sobek’s neck, head and shoulders. Also, since the dog cone is a soft towel, no edges dug into my dog’s shoulders!

How to Create a Towel Dog Collar

You’ll need a thick towel, duct tape, smeared plate of peanut butter, friend to hold the peanut butter in front of your dog’s face and, of course, your dog. When picking peanut butter, make sure it doesn’t contain xylitol. If your dog is unable to stand still while you wrap the dog cone towel around his neck, check out these easy tips that will keep your dog happily standing still.

Step One: Choose a Towel Size

Depending on the size of your dog, choose a thick towel that can easily be folded into thirds and covers your dog’s neck area only. For my large Rottie, I used a super thick full-sized towel (a beach towel was too long). Several friends tried this method successfully using a kitchen towel for smaller dogs and a washcloth for very tiny dogs (under 10 pounds).

Step Two: Fold Towel

Fold the towel into thirds lengthwise. This way you can wrap the towel around your dog’s neck slowly.

Step Three: Don’t Wrap Too Tightly

Have your friend hold a smeared plate of peanut butter in front of your dog’s mouth, as you start wrapping the towel around your dog’s neck. When wrapping, make sure the towel isn’t too tight. Otherwise, your dog may choke or experience neck pain or breathing issues. Once wrapped, make sure your arm can easily fit between the wrapped towel cone and your dog’s neck.

For smaller dogs, make sure your hand or at least two fingers can easily slide all the way down between your dog’s neck and towel. If it’s too tight, rewrap until it’s just right.

Don’t worry. It will take a few tries to make sure the towel fits correctly, and hence the benefits of a smeared plate of peanut butter to keep your dog busy while you experiment.

Step Four: Tape in Place

Mimicking the Bite Not Collar straps, cut three pieces of duct tape to wrap 2/3 around the towel. Place one tape strip at the top edge of the towel, place the second strip at the bottom edge and, lastly, wrap the third strip around the middle of the towel collar. Stick your hand between your dog’s neck and the towel to ensure the towel dog cone wasn’t pulled too tightly while taping.

Was My Dog OK Wearing This Dog Cone Alternative?

Thankfully, my Rottie, did well with his homemade dog cone alternative; and it stopped him from chewing on his front feet. He was able to sleep, eat, drink and potty comfortably, and he looked adorable wearing it too. 🙂

Every day, I would remove the towel dog cone and rewrap it. If you don’t rewrap it each day, the towel will lose its fluffy thickness and your dog will be able to turn his neck around. Throughout the day, make sure the towel doesn’t twist and tighten. If the towel gets dirty, take it off and wrap a new towel in its place; it’s super easy.

If you decide to give this DIY dog cone alternative a try, supervise your dog for the first few days of him wearing it and always partner with your veterinarian first. If your dog has neck pain during or after wearing his towel collar, remove it and contact your vet immediately.

WATCH: How to DIY Dog Cone Alternative

https://youtu.be/M4LzVp3vLMI