After many months of training my Border Terrier the only thing I felt we had made little progress on was walking on the lead. She is so keen to get everywhere that she pulls ahead all the time and I was worried about her hurting her neck.

I brought her a harness, similar to a lupi and from the first use the change in her was amazing. Now I'm worried its because its uncomfortable and hindering her walking (it has been fitted correctly). How do harness work, its almost as though she knows there is no point to pulling.

Also, how can I use the harness as a training aid with the long term goal being walking with a normal collar and lead.

thanks

Do you intend to show your dog ? We were advised to use a lupi on our SBT pup by our trainer when he was smaller but at Ringcraft we were advised not to let him wear one because it affects their alignment when they walk .
Lel

not showing her, so its really just for her comfort whilst walking on the lead. When you say it affects the alignment could this cause back/neck problems?

thanks

Sorry no - When i say alignment I meant it affects the way they look when walking to the judge ( does that make sense ?? I know what I mean but cant explain it properly ) .
No it shouldnt affect your dogs back or neck and is meant to be gentle on the spine .
The lupi is actually recommended by Roger Mugford . It works by converting forward motion into an upward lift and so stops pulling ( so says the box it comes in ) . It also says in the unlikely event of your dog continuing to pull in a lupi then to cease use and seek advice from the supplier about fitting or for an alternative such as the halti head collar .
Hope that helps :)
Lel

hi moo
is your harness a stop and pull, if it is then i had to change to a lupi as the other was very thick and bulkie, i have a dobe and i lent the stop and pull to my friend who has a large GSD and it works just fine

I personally wouldn't recommend ANY harness for a dog because it pulls, you are basically harnessing all its strength into the harness to give it greater strength to pull with all its body. The way in which lupi type harnesses work is they "pinch" the ligaments under the dogs front legs therefore when it loosens the pinching stops, so theoretically they don't pull. I would recommend a head collar if pulling is a real issue for you (dogmatic not halti, they ride up under dogs eyes) but perseverence with a small dog is probably the best option. I walk 3 Border Terriers together, they all walk to the ends of their leads, but don't really pull, I am sure with a little time I could even teach my 10yr old dog to walk by my side, I'm sure you can too Moo.
Dawn.