Harness or collar?

Charlie is ok in the house with his collar on but as soon as you attach the lead he goes into fright mode. When on path outside hubby puts him down and tries to walk but he just pulls back towards the house and obviously makes choking noises.....do you think a harness would work better or just keep persevering with the little trips out the front?

Keep persevering with it, have you try to let him drag the lead around while he is in the home, just to get him used to wearing it. A light weight one would be fine for this .

Kathy wrote:Keep persevering with it, have you try to let him drag the lead around while he is in the home, just to get him used to wearing it. A light weight one would be fine for this .

What Kathy said

I'll try that thanks, he just goes straight to his bed but I'll leave it on and see what he does.

Zeus done the same when we first start attaching the lead on his collar, he'd go nuts!

But I done what Kathy said and let him walk around with the lead in the garden and around the house, he eventually got used to it.

Regarding the harness or collar question, I'd get him used to a harness. I used to take Zeus for walks with the lead attached to the collar and had no problems, but once he realised how strong he was, it became a problem. He'd pull so much he'd end up choking himself, so I use the 'stop pull' harness from Pets At Home and it works a treat, I can control him better and he doesnt pull once he reaches the end of the lead.

Thanks a lot

I prefer the harness to keep them from choking unless there is a need for head control.

I prefer a lead for road walking - as she doesn't pull/wander on a lead, took her a few days to get used to the collar when she was a puppy, advice already given is great!

but, I prefer a harness when she is on a long lead and running around (don't want her yanking her neck if she reaches the end of the line without hearing the 'wait' command

Generally wears both when out so I can clip and un-clip from collar to harness when appropriate

Well with Charlie's growth he's already nearly outgrown the soft puppy collar I bought him so I'll have to decide soon

It's actually the law to tag and collar a dog in public, so I really don't see that the choice is the dogs or ours to make


In the UK, the Control of Dogs Order 1992 states that any dog in a public place must wear a collar with the name and address (including postcode) of the owner engraved or written on it, or engraved on a tag. Your telephone number is optional (but we would recommend this).

You can be fined up to £5,000 if your dog does not wear an identification tag

You do not have to put your dogs name on the tag, this is optional. Unfortunately dog stealing does occur and if the thief knows the name of your dog this may help them pass on the dog to the unsuspecting new owners because it appears they know the dog because the dog responds to their name. We would therefore recommend, you do not put your dogs name on the tag.


did not reference the web page as I see sometimes some people are allowed to include links and other people are not - not sure if there's a general rule or certain links can be inserted ...

I didn't know this, will have to get a tag for his collar. The vet also recommended persevering with the collar and using lead in house so I bought a new collar when out shopping today