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There's bad news, bad news, and good news. - grin -
The bad news is that this tangling happens with nearly all collars.
The bad news is that the fur begins to wear away. The good
news is that as the fur wears away, the tangling isn't quite so bad.
There is a Herman Springer (sp?) fur saver collar where the
chain links look like long ovals. This helps somewhat. The
flat nylon choke collars help if they have a large ring - come
to think of it, I may find a very large ring and make my own.
I have found that the collars made out of mountaineering rope
stretch and trap the fur when the collar relaxes.
One internet correspondent of mine had good luck with a rolled
leather choke collar. I have one also, but mine is very stiff
and doesn't work well. His is soft and flexible.
I used a prong collar for about a year and that tended to wear
the fur completely around the neck whereas a choke collar wears
the fur only on the right hand side under the ring. (You do keep
the ring/leash attachment on your dog's right side, with the
leash end hanging straight down, right?)
For me, anything that minimizes the length of travel of the
leash end of the collar helps to minimize tangling. Now my
Chow has a big head and lots of fur so I need a large collar
to slip over his head but then all that slack slides back and
forth through the ring of the collar. I need a 26 inch collar
to slip over his head but then after the collar is pulled tight
a couple times it works down through the fur and doesn't need
to be much larger than 18 inches. I have made a 22 inch collar
with a snap (off of a small leash) and can fasten this around
his neck without slipping it over his head. This helps.
I really think that a Martingale style collar with a snap would
be just the ticket. I'm going to have to look for one of these.
Well all of this may or may not make sense - I'm just writing
quickly off the top of my head without doing any research.
I do have some dog supply
catalogs tucked away somewhere but they will take me several
days to find. Also, I will draw some sketches to illustrate
some of the collars that I have described.
You will find more collar info in Collars and Leashes and Pulling on Leash.
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