Maybe it is time for a harness, opinions?

Hi all,

Took Sky to bradgate park yesterday, she really enjoyed it running around with all the other dogs. But initially I had to keep her on the lead because of the deer. So for 45minutes or so she was pulling and yanking herself on the end of the lead as she wanted to run! After a while she started to obviously pant,and just sounded like she has asthma. I'm concerned obviously as she just won't give up pulling at the end of the lead, so I think it is time to have a harness. I'm guessing the constant pulling is the reason for the odd breathing noise. Today on her walk, she was fine I'd like to add What does everyone else think about a harness !?

Thanks
James

I use a harness, otherwise bess's eyes use to go red and she use to cough alot, dont have that problem with a harness

I use a gentle leader as like to be in control of the mouth. Harnesses are preferable to many though

i would try another method till the dogs 3 and they're fully grown

Never used a harness but the guy at dog obedience said if you want to teach your dog to pull hard walk them on a harness, Im not sure if this is correct or not but harnesses are made for pulling things.

I did use a gentle leader on a lab that was pulling to hard on his correction lead and this worked very well.

Cheers

I was using a harness on my pup (just turned 1) but the pulling was horrendous. Now it's normal collar & lead, still pulls but nowhere near as much as the harness. I heard the gentle leader/head halti work wonders.

We used a half check on our old boy and he was great, so started off with the pup on one. 90% of the time she is great on it but as soon as she's within 30 feet of anything with a face she is almost uncontrollable. I have never liked harnesses but we took her to the pet shop and tried a sporn non pull harness. We walked her around the shop a few times and she was more than happy with it. She walks great with it and now the lunging has virtually gone and she's happy enough to run around with it on when she is off lead.


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kHsdufavf4E


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vaXUffyeAO0

They are £16 in pets at home or £12 in pet hut.
Pete

I used to use a half choke half material half chain with mia worked wonders for her pulling a short lead also works wonders. A gentle tug of the lead when ur beside the dog i seen a massive improvement. Was the local dog warden that recommended collar and lead rather than harness as i discovered you don't have much control with a harness.

Thanks for the replies, think I'll have to leave the harness as she does like to pull!! I'll dig out the old halti collar and put that back into play.

Nothing wrong with training on a harness kind depends on where they attach on the back as to the control you have. I use an ezydog one when I run with Ledger so he is encouraged to mush on and pull a bit also have a Julius K9 (same police dogs wear) and he walks lovely on it I use that if we are going to be walking in busy cities etc as feel more in control but in general he is walked on the collar as he doesn't really pull

We use a non pull harness on Gordon, he was awful on a coller and lead, I didn't feel in control and he used to also pull until he choked. He is so much better on his harness. I suppose it depends on what suits you both best

use a harness and don`t have a problem with Lula pulling 99% of the time she walks lovely have the odd bad day but that it

I have heard that a harness can give them more strength to pull but I rather her pull on a harness than with a collar as it won't hurt her. Our girl is pretty good with an 'Easy' command and stops walking and looks up at us until we catch up and allow her to keep walking so we don't find any negatives in using one. I used to find them a pain as they can be annoying to put on (over head, step trough legs etc) until I found an Ezy Dog one that just slips over the head and clips around their chest.

We use a no pull harness that the lead attaches to in the front. We leave the collar on as well and can change back and forth during a walk.

Regarding the harness, I went to Pets@home, thinking they would have a good selection, but I was disappointed. They only seemed to have one online, and it was more for your I want to look hard Staff! any idea where a good place is to go, or site that people know/recommend.

Thanks,

James.

I got Bo's Ferplast harness from Amazon. It's very soft and he loves it. It's the Ergocomfort one and it's cheap (£14 for the red one although for some reason the other colours are £30+!!), although Ferplast do the 'luxury' ones too. Zooplus is also a good place to go for doggy things.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ferplast%20harness&sprefix=ferplast+harn%2Caps

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/esearch.htm#q=harness

If I want a civilised walk through town i use a Halti, normal walks i use the julius K9 also. they pull like trains in them though but its the only harness I trust them in to be strong enough. they still wheeze in them as the chest strap is slightly restrictive. I have two custom bikejor harnesses for out on the bike which allow unrestricted breathing when pulling. only downside is thay can back out of them if on a lead.
I couldnt use a collar as I'd have to have it on so tight their eyes would be bulging because marley has masterd the art of getting out of them.

[quote="Dogface"]I got Bo's Ferplast harness from Amazon. It's very soft and he loves it. It's the Ergocomfort one and it's cheap (£14 for the red one although for some reason the other colours are £30+!!), although Ferplast do the 'luxury' ones too. Zooplus is also a good place to go for doggy things.

Thanks for the link, I see what you mean about the price, very odd if you want black. Her collar at the moment is red, as is her lead and everything so sure she'd like the red one. Seems to have really good reviews etc. what size did you get for yours? Hang about just noticed there is a measurement guide to follow. Think I'll get one ordered seems a fair price :-)

As far as a harness giving them more to pull against is dependent on what type. I really would advise anyone who has a puller to look into non pull harnesses. There are different types and maybe you'll have to try one or two before you get the right one. I've posted a couple of links above to the one we use.
Pete

Iza wears a harness sometimes, mostly just for long walks in the country. Short walks i just use the normal lead now seeing her pulling is getting less and less.

She started wearing one around 5 months old, mainly cause i hated hearing that choking noise.