10 DIY Dog Cone Ideas [Totally Easy E-Collars That you can make yourself]

The cone of shame, alongside the muzzle, is the traditional way to keep a dog from licking wounds, biting them, or otherwise tampering with them as they’re healing. But just like I did years ago, many dog owners are now moving away from them for a number of reasons, mostly because they’re now aware of the fact that dogs (and cats) absolutely hate them. If you’ve ever used one on a pet, you’ll know what I mean. If they aren’t actively trying to get the cone of shame off with varying degrees of desperation, they’re huddled in a corner, probably wondering if waiting it out will end the torment eventually.

Fortunately, with a couple of household items, you can put together your own DIY cone of shame or dog collar that’s as comfortable as can be and won’t make them miserable. The great thing about these is that you’re fully in charge of the shape, size, ergonomics, and other features of the DIY dog cone. In this article are a few of those tried and tested DIY dog cone and collar designs. I’ve personally crafted these myself and tried it on multiple dogs over the years, and can attest to their efficacy. However, some are more effective than others in certain situations. Consider your dog’s physiology, temperament, and the nature of their injury when deciding which design to go with.

Why the Traditional Dog Cones May Not be the Best

Throughout history, veterinarians have recommended the Elizabethan collar, better known as the cone of shame, for a dog recovering from a surgical procedure. Their pet parent is then advised to discipline their dog whenever they attempt to take it off. Strict adherence to wearing the Elizabethan collar is required for up to 3 weeks to ensure that recovery progresses properly.

However, it’s well-established at this point that the dog cones you can find on store shelves can make dogs quite miserable^[1]. They’re often either too heavy, too hard to move around with because they bump into everything, or can give your dog an intense feeling of claustrophobia. Vets have since moved away from it in favor of muzzle training.

One way or another, most dogs see it as a punishment, and they’re left to wonder what they did wrong when they really did nothing wrong. That’s why many dog owners are opting to modify or DIY their own dog cone alternative, if not go with muzzle training entirely. But if you’d rather not do that, you can still enjoy all the benefits of dog cones with none of the disadvantages of these DIY designs.

Neck Pillow Collar

This is by far the quickest and easiest design to make. Just get a neck pillow that looks like it’ll fit your dog, and put it on them. If you don’t have one that will fit, you will have to make adjustments, and that does require sewing skills. But if you can handle that, you can whip up a quick and easy homemade dog cone alternative in no time and with no added cost.

What you need:

• A neck pillow 
• Scissors 
• A sewing thread

The main downside to this is that the pillow may be too flimsy to fully restrict the movements of your dog’s neck. Since it’s open to the sides unlike an Elizabethan collar, your dog may be able to overcome it and gnaw at their injuries anyway.

DIY Plastic E-Collar

This design basically just imitates the usual plastic dog cone design you see on commercially available e-collars, but with a few modifications to make it comfier and more ergonomic.

For this homemade dog cone alternative, you need: 

• A plastic dog cone, flower pot, or other conical plastic object
• A sharp knife 
• A dog that’s not allergic to plastic

Find a suitable and fitting plastic flower pot and dip it in warm soapy water. This is the best plastic object to use because it was designed to hold a conical shape. Scrub it well to remove any chemicals and dirt that may cause a reaction on the pup’s skin. 

Afterward, take your knife and cut down the length of the pot or whatever plastic object have you. Remove the bottom as well if there is one, so your dog’s head can slip through. Of course, if you’re starting from an actual dog cone, you don’t have to do this.

Once you’ve done this, check how well this homemade dog cone fits around your dog’s head so far. Remember that just like with a dog collar, the rule of thumb is that you should be able to fit two fingers under the cone for your dog to be comfortable with it.

If your DIY dog cone is too snug, cut out a short segment of the flower pot until you get a width that’s enough to keep your dog from messing with their surgical injuries while not being too tight.

Then you’re basically done, just find something to secure the cone to your dog’s head, like a piece of tape. From here you can make all the modifications you want, such as padding the insides and the rim to make a soft interior for your dog.

Pantyhose Collar

Best for small dogs, the pantyhose collar fits snugly thanks to the elastic already built into it. With a little creativity, this unlikely material can make for a very fashionable DIY dog cone. The best material picks for this design in my opinion are thigh-high socks or stockings, but some regular pantyhose will do too.

Materials needed:

• Scissors 
• Stockings ruffle top thigh-highs, tights, or any other kind of pantyhose 

Before starting, make sure the thigh part of the garment slips comfortably over your pup’s head. As with collars, use the two-finger test to check if it’s just snug enough.

Afterward, lay the pantyhose on a flat surface and cut six inches from the top. You should end up with something that resembles a neck warmer. Slip your newly crafted DIY dog cone over your pet’s head and fold it several times for a comfortable and stylish fit. 

Cloth E-Collar

If your dog is too uncomfortable with rigid plastic dog cones, a great off-the-cuff way to keep them from licking and chewing at themselves is by fashioning a collar out of some loose cloth.

What you need for this homemade dog cone alternative:

• Piece of cloth 
• Scissors
• Duct tape
• A plate of pet-safe peanut butter 

The best kind of cloth for this is one that holds its shape somewhat. Cloth that’s too floppy can obstruct your dog’s vision and just irritate him further. Also, see that the piece of cloth is long enough to cover the length of your dog’s face — better if it’s longer, so it offers more protection similar to an actual e-collar.

First, keep your dog in place with a plate of peanut butter. More disciplined dogs might stay put if you tell them to, but it helps to give them the extra incentive. While they’re enjoying the treat, take your piece of cloth, fold it lengthwise a few times, and wrap it around your dog’s neck. Then, duct tape it into place.

One shortcoming of the cloth e-collar is that the dog can chew it off if determined enough. However, you can prevent this by choosing a cloth that can hold its shape better, so you can fashion it into a hood shape that opens outward so that they can’t reach it with their snouts. Either way, a cloth e-collar is a good DIY dog cone alternative that can serve decently while you look for a better one.

Towel Dog Collar

This protective collar is similar to the cloth collar but uses the tougher, heavier material of the towel to restrict your dog’s neck movements. This prevents them from tampering with their injuries without having to annoy them with a big dog cone.

Materials needed for this DIY dog cone alternative: 

• Duct tape
• Soft and thick towel 
• Scissors
• A plate of peanut butter, or other treats to keep your dog busy

The towel dog collar should be long enough to cover your dog’s neck from the base of their head to their shoulders.

Fold the towel a few times lengthwise and wrap it around your dog’s neck. Make sure that it’s stiff enough to prevent them from craning their neck and messing with their injuries. Use the two-finger rule to check if it’s too tight, and duct tape it in place once you’re satisfied.

Bucket Cone Collar

This is similar to a DIY plastic cone, except you don’t have to tape the ends together for the cone to fit around your dog. For this homemade dog cone, you just have to cut out a hole big enough for their head to fit through — best if you can pad the hole to make it comfier and fix your dog’s neck in place.

You will need:

• A plastic pail or bucket
• A sturdy knife to cut through the bucket 
• Marker
• Ruler
• Padding material
• Sandpaper
• String 
• Tape

Try to find a plastic pail or bucket that wouldn’t be too heavy or too unwieldy if worn.

First, take your ruler and measure the diameter of your dog’s head. Take your measurement at the thickest part. Then, mark out a circle of that diameter, adding some allowance for your dog’s ears and for the padding, and carefully carve it out with your knife.

Once you’ve done this, sand down the hole with your sandpaper. Then, try to slip it onto your dog. If your dog’s head can’t fit, try to widen the hole until it can.

Afterward, pad it with whatever soft material you can find. Secure the padding with glue or other type of strong adhesive. Remember to let the adhesive dry before you test this homemade dog come out again.

This homemade dog cone takes quite a bit of time and effort to craft, but if done right, you’ll end up with a very sturdy dog cone on your hands. Whereas other designs would break down or fail, I’ve seen this one serve dogs for multiple surgeries over the years.

In my experience, this design works best with droopy-eared dogs, but as long as you can coax your dog into lowering their ears so they can fit through this bucket collar, you should be fine.

Pool Noodle E-Collar

Pool noodle collar designs also just restrain the neck instead of covering the snout like a dog cone would, but in a far gentler way than a towel collar. These are often best for larger canines with thicker necks and thus don’t have a whole lot of flexibility there.

If you own a pool, a pool noodle should be a cinch to source, but even if you don’t, dollar-store ones will do. The great thing about this design is that even shriveled-up old pool noodles will serve just as well as brand-new ones.

You will need:

• Tape measure
• A knife or scissors 
• An extra collar, belt, thick twine 
• Pool noodle

First, take your tape measure and get the circumference of your dog’s neck at the thickest point. Cut the length of the belt or twine for this measurement, with a few inches of headroom. If you have an extra collar for your dog that you can just loop through the pool noodle segments, even better.

Next, cut the pool noodle into segments that you think would be thick enough to restrain your dog’s neck movements. Loop your twine or collar through these segments, and you have yourself a pool noodle collar.

The great thing about this homemade dog cone alternative is that you can easily buckle and unbuckle it or tie the twine rather than having to secure it with duct tape each time you have to put it on your dog.

Flexible E-Collar 

Similar to the DIY plastic cone, the flexible e-collar design is based on using some type of pliable material, such as foam rubber, a paper plate, or flexible cardboard. This makes it lightweight and very comfortable while still offering a lot of protection.

What you need:

• Flexible material
• Shoelace, string, or twine
• Hole punch
• Marker
• Tape
• Ruler or tape measure
• A pair of scissors 

Measure the thickness of your dog’s neck, both from the back of the neck to the throat, and on either side. Use the thicker measurement as the radius of the hole that your pet’s head will go through.

Draw an arc on the pliable material with that radius. Then, draw a larger arc around it, based on how wide or tight you want the dog cone to be around your dog’s face.

Once you’ve cut out your homemade dog cone, try it out on your dog, testing with the two-finger method to see if it’s too tight. Then, secure it in place with some tape, or if you like, you can use a hole punch to create holes to loop shoelaces or twine through.

Just like the plastic homemade dog cone, this design is quick and easy to make, and it’s fairly simple to control its shape. All you have to do is cut out a segment of the pliable material that could be formed into a truncated cone shape. You can make the cone open up wider to give your dog more peripheral vision and feel less claustrophobic, for example.

Ring-shaped variant

Alternatively, you can measure the thickness of their heads and then just draw a circle on your material for the head to go through, with a larger circle around it to serve as the e-collar’s body. This is more of a ring than a cone, which is great because it prevents your dog from gnawing at themselves without having to enclose their face in a cone. And unlike towel or pool noodle collar designs which do the same, a ring-shaped collar doesn’t ride on their neck as much.

However, it can be easier to damage or remove if your dog is determined enough. If it’s too big, your dog may also end up knocking things over and bumping into things. This is why I mostly recommend this design for puppies.

Butter Tub Collar

Similar to a bucket collar, this DIY cone of shame uses a butter container to restrict your dog’s movements.

You will need:

• A marker 
• Tape
• Butter container
• Knife or scissors
• Sandpaper
• Padding material 

First, you’ll have to pick out a butter tub that’s big enough for your pet’s head, and then some. This is why this design is best for small to medium-sized dogs.

Just like with the bucket collar, cut out a hole in the bottom of the tub that’s big enough for your pet’s head to go through, ears and all.

Then, sand down the hole and add padding as needed. If done correctly, this dog cone collar will just encase the upper part of your dog’s neck up to the forehead, which should be enough to keep them from messing with their injuries without feeling too intrusive — it’d just be like they’re wearing a piece of headwear instead of an Elizabethan cone. If your dog is used to that sensation from wearing costumes, this should be one of the most comfortable DIY E-collar designs for them.

EGG CRATE FOAM COLLAR 

This is another DIY Elizabethan collar alternative that just focuses on bracing the neck, similar to the above-mentioned towel and pool noodle E-collar designs.

You will need:

• Tape measure
• Scissors 
• Needle and thread 
• Velcro strips 
• Felt
• Egg crate foam

This design will need a bit more work and some sewing skills, as sewing Velcro strips onto the crate pieces will be the only real way to secure it well. You can use tape, but it may not be enough given the springiness of the foam.

First, measure the circumference of your dog’s neck at the thickest point. This will determine the length of the foam you need. Then measure the length from the base of the neck to the back of their ear. This will define how broad your length of foam should be, but you can always decrease the width if you think it’s best

Cut out a length of foam that’s enough to encompass the circumference of your dog’s neck, with a few inches of allowance for comfort, and wide enough to fit your preference. Afterwards, cut out a sleeve of felt of that length, and put the foam inside.

Once that’s done, seal the felt with your needle and thread, and sew some Velcro strips on it to secure onto your dog.

FAQ

1. What can I use instead of a dog cone of shame?

Apart from the above DIY designs, you can use bandages and surgical tape to cover the wound or injury and make it impervious to tampering. Cover bandages with surgical tape and don’t hesitate to stick directly to the skin or the hair. Surgical tape easily comes off when soaked in surgical spirit. Change the bandages regularly as advised, and contact your vet if there is soreness or swelling. 

Similarly, anti-lick sprays and strips applied directly to the wound are also great options. Their odors are pretty uncomfortable to the noses of the pet, and so they avoid it. 

2. How do you make a homemade dog cone?

You can use various things such as cloth, towels, plastic flower pots, and butter tubs that you find lying around in the house as DIY e-collar. Use a bit of creativity to make sure the cone of shame is practical and comfortable for your dog. Check the above ideas.

3. How do you keep a dog from licking a wound without a cone?

Various techniques such as scattering or hiding biscuits all over will distract the dog. They will work hard to find the treats and forget to lick the wounds for some time. 

You can also teach the pooch some tricks because mental activity is engaging and is as tiring as physical activities. 

4. Can I put a shirt on my dog instead of a cone?

Putting a t-shirt on your dog prevents licking and allows the wound to breathe and heal faster. It is, therefore, a great dog cone alternative.