I use a martingale collar on my dog, always have since he grew big enough to not have to use a puppy collar (and I've used them on all my dogs). For the first few months I had no problems with it, now (which its been around 8 months I think with the collar) it leaves a grey stain on the white parts of his neck. Originally dog shampoo removed this stain with no problems. Now, I had to change my brand of dog shampoo (due to the fact that color orientated shampoo's are not sold around me any more {his was for brown coats, he's 3 tone brown with white} ) and its not getting rid of the stain. I don't have the money to keep switching shampoo's and I was wondering if anyone had a home remedy for getting rid of the coloration it is leaving. It has faded some with shampooing today, but it will not go away completely and I'll admit I find it very unattractive. I also do not have the funds for a new collar so that's out of the question also.

How about using a magic marker to color his fur so you don't see the stain :P (FYI to others I am teasing her).
Can you send me a link to the collar as I only know the type of collar you had for him out here. I am curious now to see this collar.

Love Aunty Susan and Owen

LOL I don't think magic marker will work. It's the collar you got when I lived out there with you

Binx, try plain old Dawn dish soap. It's super gentle, more so than most allergy and regular dog shampoo's. Lady has white parts,a and she used to have a pink leather collar that did the same thing, could NOT get it out, even took her to the groomer, they couldn't get it out. Used a touch of dawn, and whammo it was gone. I swear by it! :)

Do you think that would work for a stain caused by metal? Because I think I might of failed to mention it's the chain that's causing the stain

I'm sure it's worth a try :)

I'll give it a shot

Let me know how it goes.

Use a whitening shampoo.. get the stuff for horses, you get more bang for your buck. I have a solid white horse and dog, whitening shampoo, such as quik silver, bleaches the hair *its safe, won't burn skin* and fights stains. What I learned with my dog, I had to wash her with dog shampoo first to get the deep down dirt, then go over with the whitening shampoo.

With the whitening shampoo, because it is designed for horses, you can spot clean them.. just apply the shampoo to the white places and let sit for 5 minutes. It turns him purple until you rinse. It works wonders for my white animals.

I was also told to use tear stain remover to remove the stains on the hair. My white dog gets a yellow stain on her head from being pet, I've been using the tear stain remover (Not religiously either) and it seemed to remove her yellow head. It also protects the hair from more stains.

I've gotten pretty good at keeping white animals white while living in the desert :)

I have a white Poodle who once upon a time was a show dog, and a Crested who sucks on his white feet and turns them orange, stains are my specialty :D

First and cheapest option in Sards Wonder Soap, I don't know if you have it in Canada but it is brilliant.
It can dry the coat out with prolonged use but on occasion (once every few weeks) it's fine.
It is actually a laundry product for removing stains from clothes but it safe for their skin and I know a lot of show people (including myself) who use it.

Next is a bit more expensive... a product called Eye Envy. I only use this when the stains are too bad for the Sards to remove. It is an actually tear stain removing product made for dogs. It comes with a liquid you apply then finish off with a powder. It doesn't bleach, it just removes the stains.
There are plenty of other stain products available at pet stores but I have found this works the best.

Whitening shampoo does not remove stains, the shampoo is that brilliant blue/purple color and it tricks your eye into thinking that the hair is actually whiter than it is. It enhances the dogs natural color, but unfortunately can often make stains looks brighter as well. I use Chris Christensens White on White shampoo just to make the whites really 'pop', but I don't use it when they are stained.

If it is the dyes in the color that are causing the discoloration then you may want to consider sewing a strip on satin inside the collar. It's nice and thin and satin is the best thing to have against hair.