We’ve got a range of collars in our house – large for our Gracie down to itty bitty on Mia – collars that serve more than one purpose. Sure, we can hook leashes up to the dogs but I’d say their collars are worth more as identification than for control. They’ve got their ID tags but, just for good measure, we also bought collars from Orvis with their names and my phone number embroidered in them. Sure, it might seem like overkill, but I tend to prepare for worst case scenario when it comes to protecting the fur babies. So at least if their tags are unreadable or get lost then they’ll still find their way back to me.

Other than the embroidery there’s nothing super fancy about their collars. Well, except for the bells.

Mia’s tiny bell isn’t much to speak of but when she’s gone ninja silent mode then that tiny little tinkle sound means the difference between ghost Mia and listen I think she’s over there! Mia. I’ll take whatever edge I can get.

But Gracie? Now Gracie’s got these big ass cow bells on her collar. Don’t let the screen fool you, these are fairly sizable bells. Even more important they make a remarkably loud noise. This comes in handy when we’re in the family room and she slinks into the kitchen all stealthy to counter surf because jangle jangle jangle and you know what she’s up to. Or when you let her out late at night and she bounds off into the darkness to pee. Ten minutes later I’m dying to go to bed and she’s nowhere to be seen – that distant jangle jangle jangle is the only thing that tells me which way to holler.

We gotta get the help where we can find it, am I right?

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “collar.” Use it as a verb, a noun, or metaphorically. Bonus points for using it in all three ways! Enjoy!