In all my years with dogs I hadn't heard of these until reading about them on the KC site.  I am stunned that anyone could be so inhumane as to prevent a dog from peeing.  Just for their own convenience, such as not having to stop on a long journey?  I would be reporting anyone I knew that did this, under the new Animal Welfare Act. 

I cannot see any reason to use this band.  If you aren't prepared to house train, don't get a dog.  I am fuming.

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/2298/23/5/3

I Think the KC has  TOTALLY misunderstood this and I will be e-mailing them to say so. I cannot see how it would ever be possible to STOP a dog from peeing by using a bellyband, no matter how tight you put it on. The KC even says it stops them from cocking their legs -think they have really misunderstood things here. It doesn't stop them from doing anything! All it does is prevent the pee from ending up on the floor. The dog still pees, but it is caught in a sanitary pad! It can be a WELFARE question of keeping an incontinent dog clean and dry rather than having it sleep in urine, it can be a good solution if you bring a male dog or male pup to a hotel or somebody else's house and want to play safe it does not mark.  Obviously it's no substitute for house training, but it does NOT stop them from peeing. I think the KC has totally lost the plot here. Clearly they've never seen a belly band being used. (It cannot stop a male dog from mating a bitch EITHER.)

http://www.heartoftexasgreyhounds.com/bellyband.htm

Had to look it up, having never heard of them.

Have just read the piece on the kc website they're so barking up the wrong tree its untrue!

I have belly bands here, they just lengths of cloth with velcro on each end, with a tenna lady pad in the middle, hell the pom and schip can get them off no worries the little monsters lol.  Even when I tried elasticated ends it didn't stop them peeing or getting them off, I can't for the life of me think how anyone thinks they will stop a dog cocking his leg, at worse my schips is confused when he's tried to scent mark and left no smell behind, he usually just walks off and gets back on the furniture and ignors it all.

My schip learned to wear his whilst with my friend in the USA where they are a common commodity I've sent the KC link to her and asked for her oppinion - LMAO NO WAY! is what I got back can't think why, am begining to think the KC are letting us down big style - something I never thought I'd say!

Exactly Schip -I think they have been seriously mislead. I have used bellybands for years for my incontinent Cavalier. He doesn't always need them, it comes and goes, but it made a HUGE difference to his life as it meant the difference between being constantly wet from urine (that also burnt the skin) and needing 3 baths a week (which with his bad heart was very bad for him) or keeping dry. Everyone that has seen him wearing them have always been very impressed.

I totally agree Marianne...I use them when we visit friends with the boys, Pepe is such a tinker, busy trying to cock his leg up ALL the time, so even if it's only a spot or two I don't want it all over my friends furniture! That is the one and only reason I got them...no use for 'owt else! The girls end up in baby grows with a pad in for their seasons!

Do you not think this is a natural extension of the crate culture though? Back in the day if you got a pup you house-trained it, you didn't leave it until it was house-trained or you accepted that you would have a mess to clear up. Then people discovered that dogs dislike messing in their beds so started putting them in cages, they were advised not to get too big a cage in case the pup messes in one end. Now we have nappies for bitches in season, I don't think belly bands are any worse than all these other things.

In my opinion if you can't house train your dog properly, if you can't live with the odd accident don't get a dog.

Edited to say I hadn't read the rest of the posts, if there is a medical reason (like incontinence) for using them then great, but not as a substitute for house training.

Tigger back in the pre crate days I remember dogs being pts for being 'lazy' ie won't house train and there are some that just don't train for no obvious reason. 

Mind those were also the days when dogs roamed the streets with 1 male being the father of every pup for generations in our village, a sickly puppy or unwanted litter were drowned at birth or very soon after - no one accused another of cruelty as they'd taken responsibility for their inadaquate controls, no one dictated to another what or how they should feed their animals or train them. No one had an issue with test matings with all the pups being drowned if things turned out badly, a dog wasn't given a hip replacement it was 'put out of its misery'.  The list is endless sometimes I crave that old fashioned sensible world, I will use belly bands and the terrible crates when it suits me, my dogs and my disability!

Do you not think this is a natural extension of the crate culture though? Back in the day if you got a pup you house-trained it, you didn't leave it until it was house-trained or you accepted that you would have a mess to clear up.

I agree about this, it should not be for everyday use (and I've honestly never heard of anyone who use them that way -plus it wouldn't make life that much easier in that sense anyway! You have to take it on and off, replace the pad etc, wash the bands) -my gripe is with the inaccurate info the KC has put out claiming it STOPS the dogs from peeing , mating and even cocking their leg AND saying it is cruel, when it isn't. It's a bit like saying it's cruel to cut out a knot of fur with scissors rather than brush it out.

>a sickly puppy or unwanted litter were drowned at birth or very soon after

>a dog wasn't given a hip replacement it was 'put out of its misery'.

You think these things were awful, and have changed for the better? Actually I pretty much approve of the way things were. The 'preserve life at all costs' that currently prevails is not in the best interests of the individual dog IMO.

>I remember dogs being pts for being 'lazy' ie won't house train

I can't remember ever hearing of a single dog being pts for this reason, and my family were always involved in doggy activities so we knew lots of dogs.

Crates, belly bands etc can sometimes be an excuse for a lazy owner, not a lazy dog!

Crates, belly bands etc can sometimes be an excuse for a lazy owner, not a lazy dog!

True -but you've got to admit a crate is FAR more restrictive for a dog than a belly band as the belly band does not stop it from peeing in any way at all, the crate will force the dog to hold it as he won't want to urinate where he sleeps.

In the case of an incontinent dog ONLY then yes belly bands would be better. Other than that I think they're both merely conveniences for the owner and of no use to the dog.

My friend uses a belly band on her Pap and it in no way stops him having a pee, he was a completely un-housetrained adult when she got him and try as she might with ongoing training still 2 years down the line he will pee all around the house so a belly band was a good solution, it comes off everyday to allow air circulation but he has to wear it in the house, when I looked after him when she went away on holiday I found he actually asked for it to be put back on when I removed it when he went in the garden, he came straight back in and stood by where I had put the belly band until I put it back on again for him.