Does a harness really make that much of a difference?!

Got Callie back into a harness for the first time in weeks (she was between sizes snd had slipped the larger one so I was waiting to be sure it fit properly). I don't know if it was that or the bag of cheese treats, but she did not pull at all on our morning walk. (Maybe she's sick? Maybe someone swapped her out for an identical but non-pulling puppy?)

What do you think? I am thrilled but don't want to get my hopes up.

I don't use harnesses because they don't give me the control I need over a 5 stone EBT! When I've used them in the past I haven't noticed any difference, though.

Errmmm I dont really think a harness will stop your dog from pulling when on the lead. It would more likely stop damage to the dogs neck though if he/she does pull. The harness would transport the stress from the lead through the dogs body rather than just the neck. Only way to stop pulling on the lead is through training and correction.

No dont get your hopes up too much

Maybe it's the cheese treats, that would be ok too

my boy i feel pulls far far less in a harness than he does on the coller may well be the way the weight is distributed on a harness .
but if you feel she not pulling as much all good keep working on it and hopefully she will stay as she is keep up the good work

I know technically it shouldn't make any difference , however Tilly seems to be happier in her harness so thats what we use, and she walks well in it until the Tomminator starts to wind her up

Sophie (now 21 months) walks very well on her harness or her pretty pink coat but pulls like **** with a collar and lead. Down side is she can, if she puts her mind to it reverse out of a harness, not a risk we can take as her recall is more than non existant.

We have found a compromise which is a 'couple' lead. She wears her harness and her collar. Her lead is a normal lead, but we have an extension which has two spurs off of it. The centre links to her lead as normal and one spur couples to her collar and the other to the harness. Whilst it looks a bit odd it really does the job.

It is not quite as good as using just her harness, but perhaps a slight resistance around her chest caused by the harness prevents her from pulling your shoulder socket out. It gives us the security that she is not going to slip out of her harness which whilst is quite snug we can't make it any tighter as she has some skin problems at the moment.

She also has three 'special' toys she is not allowed indoors, a rubber bone, a squeaky bone and a mesh ring. We alternate those daily and she carries one on her walks dutifully. It largely stops her from scavenging and picking up cherries or berries and such like. When we get home, we distribute some chicken on the floor and whilst she is searching for the chicken her toy is removed out of sight.

Thanks, great advice. I like the toy idea. Cal likes to carry a stick...otherwise she is a vacuum cleaner too. (you're lucky it's just cherries and berries).

And Dave, love the "tomminator..."

Tried a harness with Diesel and she got out of it and legged it !

Not gonna go thru thst again tyvm, I much prefer the wide collar she has, more control over the head end, easier to correct and her collar being 5cm wide dosent dig in like a smaller one. I've got a m8 with a Huge GSD abd ur wears a pathetic collar about 1cm wide !

I haven't used a harness but when I first got Moo my mum did as she felt she had far more contol over Moo, after a year (It took time for her to trust her) she just uses the lead, I think a harness does help with the pulling imho.

Lexi is a puller on the collar, but has never pulled at all on the harness and she got her first one at about 1, but shes never been a really big puller anyway but the harness was less severe on her throat i felt.

We always use a collar and harness and just change where we have the lead clipped onto depending on the situation.

Max knows when he has a harness on, it's normally "workout" time ... and looks at me approaching with a lead as if to say ... "go on, clip in, I dare ya !!" ...

Not a fact, and shouldnt make a difference, but Maska was a monster on the collar, he pulled to the point of choking himself and it totally changed when we changed to a harness, now he walks like a champ.
Our little girl started off with a harness and shedoesnt really pull because she just wants to walk next to Maska, even though she has to jog to keep up wth his walk

OK, day 2, walks like a dream on the harness! I am clipping the lead to both the ring on her collar and on the harness just in case she slips the harness again (also it seems to hold the harness up in a better place on her chest and legs).

Who stole my puppy? I'm not sure who this one is..

bobs wrote:

She also has three 'special' toys she is not allowed indoors, a rubber bone, a squeaky bone and a mesh ring. We alternate those daily and she carries one on her walks dutifully. It largely stops her from scavenging and picking up cherries or berries and such like. When we get home, we distribute some chicken on the floor and whilst she is searching for the chicken her toy is removed out of sight.

That's strange because Rocky will not carry anything more than a couple of feet. I think he gets fed up carrying his ball so that now goes in the backpack. Sticks or anything else just get droppped. Weird aren't they

We got our harness yesterday and what a difference, stop pulling straight away

We got this one

http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/non-pull-harness_1_39201.html?utm_source=Google%2BProducts&utm_medium=Google%2BProducts&utm_campaign=Google%2BProducts

Day 3 of no pulling. I'm a believer.

We tried a harness for the first time this eve and found a big difference! Our dog des is quite big and can pull me along if he sees a cat or dog he wants to meet. Tonight I was able to be much more in control. Although he walks ok on a short lead he was perfect with a harness.

I use harnesess for safe walks or there heads would fall off. I cant off lead either of mine so excersise is pulling me about or a fully enclosed park. Have a julius k9 for marley and a sporn anti pull for laska which doesnt stop her pulling...will get her a k9 when shes grown up as they have massive straps and allow them to pull like mad. For civalised walks through town i use a head harness harness which is only thing that stops em pulling.