If anyone's interested we tried the above today (on traffic-phobic GSD previously used to Dogmatic but which was starting to rub).  I'm afraid for our particular situation it was useless. 

Zac isn't a really pulling dog just one that still sometimes goes bananas when in fast-moving traffic.  We didn't even get to the end of the road before he was making his anxiety very clear.  Back to the Dogmatic... so his 'front' is safe but his muzzle is going to suffer. Shame.

By the way, I'm not rubbishing this harness, just making it clear to people who may be wondering what piece of equipment is suitable for a particular problem.

Hope Stu and others are still going well with theirs.

Linda

With the little rescue I am fostering, never been socialised I have found the Canac http://www.b-js.co.uk/acatalog/Canac_Dog_Harness.html  excellent. 

Only trouble is I left it on so as I wouldn't ahve to take it on and off,a dn yesterday she chewed it up into pieces :D

So now I need to get another one, as walking her on collar and lead is a lot more stresful for her.

We didn't even get to the end of the road before he was making his anxiety very clear.  Back to the Dogmatic... so his 'front' is safe but his muzzle is going to suffer. Shame.

Hi, I can't remember reading your post before sorry, but I wanted to say that if as you say, he is clearly showing anxiety it is best to work on that - ie not "flood" him (for instance by making him walk past traffic) but "de-sensitise" him by gradually exposing him to traffic until he does not react (so he is always within his comfort zone) and also "counter-condition" which means basically, helping him to associate traffic with good things such as praise, play, extra tasty food etc etc.

It will take quite some time but done correctly works very well :)

Hope you don't mind the suggestion, not sure what else has been advised or what you have  tried.

Out of interest why was the harness not any  use in this situation?

I also don't understand your sentence re. his front being "safe" and his muzzle going to suffer?

Lindsay
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It was in response to the fact that the a tipull harnesses can damage a dogs front, and the headcllars can rub the muzzle.

Oh I see, makes total sense now, thanks!

Lindsay
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Oh Lindsay - this has been a long, slow process over nearly two years.  The 'desensitisation' programme ended when I couldn't even get out of the front door without him becoming 'hyper'! He is actually now much better than he was and regular exposure is the thing that has worked best; we have a lot of trust in each other.  I recently took six days leave in a row to finally crack this because our progress had been so good but it was then he started to get the rubbing injury on his muzzle - hence the experiment with the harness.  Apart from traffic he is an otherwise extremely well behaved dog.  Walks well on lead (away from fast traffic, natch) and off lead is exemplary - all his other bad habits (chasing, dog-aggression, selective deafness) have all faded like a bad dream and his recall is 100%- but the traffic thing?  He was a rescue (3rd rehoming) so I don't know if it's linked to any trauma or what but we are doing better, we just need more practice.

Thanks for the suggestion though. We'll just keep on trucking...

Linda

I have been getting on really well with the Canac harness with my little foster who until a week ago had never been on a lead.  It is adjusted to fit and holds the dog snugly but doesn't tighten like the stop pull ones.

I find she is much better on this and calmer about traffic than on collar and lead.

Good luck Linda, hope things manage to improve :)

Lindsay
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