We've been through each dog having to wear an Elizabethan collar. We bought ours in Japan and it has 3 rows of snaps but instead of using the snaps I close it with strong tape so I can make it narrower. But it is awful.

Then we found this in the photos below which is by far the better solution. It is called the "No bite Collar". (nothing to do with biting other dogs). All our dogs have worn it. It is a rigid frame covered in cloth with a velcro closure and a belt that loops around the dog to keep the collar from turning.

I also did some research and found this.http://www.trimlineinc.com/index.cfm
I contacted the manufacturer and was given the details for the distributor in Switzerland. It is Provet AG in Lyssach.
Phone: 034 448 11 11
Fax: 034 445 2093

I never did order one but if anyone has one of these please let me have some feedback.

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Grumpy I know how you feel, whenever any of our brood have to have one it's a nightmare. Harry actually refused to move, just stood motionless for ages, and Rolo goes demented trying to get it off.

For toileting, try taking it off just before you take her out, but don't taken her off the lead on the walk, and keep the lead short, that way you can catch her before she can scratch. For the eating thing, if she's anything like a lab' the minute the food comes out you could set fire to them and it's a secondary concern to getting face 1st in the food bowl, so make a fuss of the bowl, then take the collar off, and put it back on when she's had her food and a drink. The rest is just suffering I'm afraid.

Hope she can get shot of the hateful thing soon.

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How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your garden.... your rubbish is gone, your dog is pregnant.... but at least your cabbages are pest free

Well we trimmed it down and she's much happier. It clearly was too big and maybe was designed to stop her biting stitches on her body, but her problem is a small infected scar on her neck and we just need the collar to stop her scratching it.

She's still bumping into things but is operating normally. She doesn't even mind us putting it back on when we've taken it off to clean it and her wound.

Thanks everyone for the tips!

I love replying to my own post. It is like talking to myself. Hana had three cysts removed today, and she is wearing the trimline collar. Two incisions are within her reach so this is a must. We bought the collar in the US directly from the manufacturer. We bought two sizes as we were not sure. This is the bigger one in the photo, the smaller might be okay as well.
The patient is not very happy.... Stitches come out on the 29th.

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Aw, poor Hana. (That 'woe is me' look is worthy of an Oscar... )

Hope the cysts turn out to be nothing serious. Hana's collar certainly is an improvement over the rigid plastic ones - good find!

Hope life isn't too stressful (nor woefull ) waiting for the stitches to come out.

Looks like she could enter a celebrity lookalike competition.

poor hana! i hope the cysts aren't anything bad. that woeful face tho. the collar looks great, however. hope she feels better soon.

Those collars must be awful for dogs; both of my parent's dogs had a spell in lampshade hell and I think they were also disturbed by the weird sound effects. Dogs with their sensitive hearing must feel like they are wearing some echoey loudspeaker / satellite dish around their heads which must be most disconcerting.