I am a high school softball coach and a season ticket holder, and I take game day seriously. My French Bulldog Biscuit does not have a vote, but he does have a wardrobe. For about 18 months now, his everyday collar on game weeks has been the Pets First Dallas Cowboys licensed collar, and I keep coming back to the same conclusion: it beats a plain collar in ways I did not expect when I bought it.
I bought it before a friend's playoff party, mostly as a joke. It turned out to be the most practical collar Biscuit owns. Here are the ten reasons I would pick an NFL pet collar over a plain one, and what I learned about sizing and care along the way.
Dress the dog, win the day
Biscuit wears his Pets First Dallas Cowboys collar all season long. See today's price on Amazon and get the same game-day upgrade.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →It is built like a piece of gear, not a piece of ribbon
The specs say it plainly: heavy-duty, durable nylon with webbing material, stitched together with nylon web binding. That is not marketing language, it is a description of how the collar is made. Plain collars from the big box store tend to feel like ribbon with a buckle. This one feels like it could survive a full season of backyard watch parties, which mine has. I checked the stitching after the first few washes because that is where cheap collars fail. The binding is still tight and the edges have not frayed. My last plain collar started peeling at the buckle within two months. This one has been through a full season of Sunday spills and it still looks like the day it arrived.
The team name and logo are on the collar, not on a tag
You can buy a plain collar and clip a team tag to it, but the tag flips around and disappears. The Pets First collar has the bright NFL team name, logo and colors woven into the nylon itself. People notice it from across the yard. At my watch parties, Biscuit gets more compliments than the dip.
It is adjustable, which matters for a barrel-chested dog
Biscuit has a broad barrel chest and a short neck, which is a nightmare for most pet gear. Off-the-rack jerseys ride up and pinch at the armpits. This collar is adjustable and available in four sizes, so I could find the setting that clears his chest without choking him. I set it to the loosest hole that still holds, and it has not needed adjusting since. That is more than I can say for the last collar I bought him, which slid around his neck and ended up twisted by the end of every walk.
It holds an ID tag without sagging
I clip Biscuit's ID tag to the D-ring, and the collar keeps its shape. The heavy-duty nylon webbing does not stretch out the way a cheaper collar does after a few months of daily wear. Eighteen months in, mine still sits where I set it. The D-ring is positioned so the tag sits flat against his chest instead of spinning up under his chin. That was the problem with his old collar: the tag flipped constantly and he pawed at it. Now I can grab the tag without hunting for it, which matters when a neighbor asks for his number at the end of a walk.
The buckle and snap closure is easy to put on a wiggly dog
Biscuit gets excited when he sees his collar, which means he is wiggling the whole time I am trying to clip it. The buckle and snap closure means I can get it on him in one motion, and it stays put. A plain slip collar takes two hands and a lot of patience. This takes one hand and about four seconds.
It is light enough that he forgets he is wearing it
The item weight is 2.4 ounces. That is not a number I would normally quote, but it matters when your dog is 27 pounds with a short neck. A heavy collar makes a small dog miserable. Biscuit wears this one all afternoon at watch parties and never scratches at it. He only notices it when he hears the word 'walk.' I weighed it on my kitchen scale the day it arrived because I was worried a licensed collar would be bulky. It came in right at the spec. For a dog with a short neck, every ounce counts. Biscuit's neck is thick enough that a heavy buckle collar leaves a mark by the end of the day. This one does not.
It is machine washable, cold cycle, line dry
Game day means spilled dip, muddy paws and the occasional enthusiastic roll in the yard. The care instructions are simple: machine wash cold, line dry. I wash Biscuit's collar with my own laundry once a week during the season, and it comes out looking the way it did the day I bought it. A plain collar with a printed design will fade or crack. This one does not. The first time I washed it, I expected the team colors to bleed or the logo to peel. Neither happened. I hang it on the shower rod to dry and it is ready by the next morning. I have washed it at least a dozen times this season alone, and the nylon webbing still has the same stiffness it had out of the package.
It comes in 32 NFL teams, so the whole watch party can play
My Sunday watch party is a mixed crowd of friends who root for different teams, and I run a running joke where Biscuit switches sides and wears a guest's team colors that week. The Pets First collar is available in 32 NFL teams, so Biscuit can be a Cowboys fan on Sunday and switch to a guest's colors by the fourth quarter of the late game. It is the only piece of gear that scales with the guest list.
It is a conversation starter for people who do not watch football
I walk Biscuit around the neighborhood before big games, and the collar gets comments from people who have never watched a down of football. They just like seeing a dog in team colors. It turns a routine walk into a small social event, which is a nice side effect I did not expect from a collar.
It is still a basic collar first, team gear second
The product style is listed as basic animal collar, and that is exactly right. It does not have bells, whistles, or a bunch of hardware that digs into a dog's neck. It is a straightforward, well-made collar that happens to show a team logo. That is the combination I want for an everyday collar on a dog who lives in it during the season.
What I'd Skip
If your dog is a puppy who is still growing, I would skip the investment until the growth spurt is done. The collar is adjustable, but you will get more seasons out of it if you buy it at the size your dog will be as an adult. I would also skip it if your dog is the type who chews through collars. The heavy-duty nylon is tough, but nothing survives a determined chewer, and a licensed collar costs more to replace than a plain one.
Eighteen months in, the Pets First Dallas Cowboys collar still sits where I set it, holds Biscuit's ID tag without sagging, and comes out of the wash looking like the day I bought it.
Game day starts with the collar
Biscuit wears his Pets First Dallas Cowboys collar from the first whistle to the last. Check today's price on Amazon and get your own game-day upgrade.
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