How safe is a dog harness
Sharon

owner to a rescued 2 year old collie x as neighbour was going to have him pts due to his excessive pulling  could not let her be so cruel to such a loving dog just for a pulling problem, had him now for a month, he hates halters as kept pawing it of his face and kept riding up his eyes, vet suggested choke chain? would prefer to use harness only if is safe. Thanks in advance for advice given.Sharon

As long as the harness is properly fitted and comfortable then they are quite safe. Just think about all the sled dogs, admittedly the style of harness is completely different!

However, a harness won't stop the pulling (unless you're talking about an anti-pull one, which I have no experience with), it'll just make it more comfortable for the dog, and easier to control. This may make it in fact pull more and get stronger in the pulling department.

If the dog really like to pull, why don't you look into putting this skill into use, and hitching it up to a dog scooter with a proper harness and letting him pull to his heart's content? Admittedly this doesn't solve the pulling problem, but it may help in the meantime?

I think choke chains are pretty taboo, although half check ones are gaining popularity. If the dogs really does pull so much a choke chain will, well, choke it!

hth  :-)   Elle

Hi Sharon
I have two rescue cockers and one of them pulls and doesnt like a collar, bought her a harness and she is much better and I also have more control, I would recommend one.
Caz

Hi Sharon
  I have a 10lb Yorkie and a 4 stone Basset and use a harness on both dogs, it is far easier to control a dog especially if it tends to pull and they dont choke.
They also get used to wearing one really fast, get a thick webbing one this will not cut into a pulling dog.
Hope this help's you.
Good luck
carol

When we first got our dalmatian he was an awful puller. We used an easywalk and it worked a treat- he looked a bit confused when he first tried to pull. Now days we don't need one - I think they are a fantastic aid to getting your dog to walk properly on a lead but you also need to do the stopping and turning around thing to get rid of pulling completely.

Hi all,
what good advice well my mind is made up and I'm off to the shops to buy a harness. I never even thought about the sled dogs. Iwill keep you's updated on how I get on
Sharon

Good luck with it. I always had a harness on mine until about 4 months ago as I couldn't find a collar he could comfortably wear (lots of loose skin round his neck meant the collar either had to be quite tight and so restricted his skin folds or really loose, which meant it slipped off very easily. Have now found the perfect collar, although he doesn't wear anything in the house). You definitely get a lot more control, but I found when I switched to a collar he suddenly pulled less as I suppose it was unusually uncomfortable for him!! I still put a harness on him when we're out in the wilds or on/near water for visibility and also it's easier to lift him in/out of boats, over walls etc with a harness.

Let us know how you get on.

:-)

WOW
What a big difference and I don't have to put my arm back in it's socket lol when we come back from our walks and there is much more control and he is not choking himself as I was worried about his throat caving in because he got out of breath alot I wish I had the courage to buy a one when I first rescued him I'm going  back to the shops today to buy one for my other dog in control of them both at last I can look foward to walks now.
thanks again
               Sharon

Glad it worked out for you :-)  Don't use it as an excuse to let them pull as much as they want tho, otherwise you will probably just end up with dogs with very developed shoulder muscles who love nothing other than pulling  :-P

I know you said he didn't get on with a halti, but if you've still got it I'd recommend giving it a go with the harness. I used it on dylan with his short lead attached to the harness and a really light flexi lead attached to the halti. I guided him as much as possible with the halti, but if he started to get worked up about it I could just completely release the tension on the head collar and hold him still by his harness instead, until we were ready to move on again. I suppose you need a little hand-eye co-ordination to control the two differnt leads, but I found after only 3 walks with the headcollar attached to a flexi lead and another one or two with nothing attached to it, I could take it off completely and walk him by my pinky. I still put it back on him every couple of months or so to remind him where I want him, but it definitely helped my situation.

Good luck  :-)
Elle

The Kumfi Stop/Pull harness is excellent. Have heard good things about Walkezee too.

Lindsay
X

Hi all,

I have siberians huskies, so I need a harness for walking to be very strong and to last!
I buy my collars, leads, harnesses, walking belts ect....... from a company called culpeppers!

You imagine taking 3 huskies out at a time for about 2 hours, and the strain that has on your arms and back!
A walking belt means you can link all dogs to your belt, let your full body weight take the strngth of the dogs and you have both hands free!!!

They specialise in products for mainly Sibies, Malamutes ect........But I have friends who have bought their harnesses for their dogs and collars to. 1 has 3 boxer's and the other 1 rottie. They always get from culpeppers now and recommend them too! The harnesses last for years and the quality is high.

The link for this web site is: www.culpeppers.co.uk

Hope this has helped.

Hi, your message brought back some rueful (and painful) memories. When I was new to Sibes I used to proudly walk 4 sibes at a time on a climbing belt. Until the day they spotted a squirrel in the woods and decided to chase it, dragging me 20 yards or so on my face until I was able to grab a passing bush and stop them. Normally I could hold them easily, but on this occasion I wasn't concentrating and they caught me off-balance. Never again! At that point we decided that it made much more sense to train them not to pull unless we wanted them to. Now we can walk several sibes together without any pulling and my wife once showed five of our siberians in the team class, running them around the ring in perfect control.
Put them in harness, however, and they are straight back into loony sled-dog pulling mode. It's all about training.