How long after bringing our puppy home is okay to put a collar on him. We're planning to use a harness but do they have to wear a collar as well to attach an ID tag to? Also what sort of lead would you recommend to attach to the harness? The dog behaviourist where we will be going to puppy classes said a lightweight one but not sure which is best.
We put a soft puppy collar on Holly from the time we collected her to get her accustomed to wearing one. She went collarless around the house, but when we went out for toilet we put her collar on. It gave us the opportunity to do some gentle lead work in the garden. Ask your local pet shop and they'll probably have some suitable collars, harnesses and leads. Mesh or fleece harnesses are light and soft, and companies like Ancol & Puppia do them in many colours and sizes. The important thing is that it fits well. Some pet shops will let you try them on. We sometimes walk her in just a harness with a tag. The important thing is that the dog is tagged, it doesn't have to be on the collar.
You can attach your tag to a key ring (just the ring obviously), then you can easily switch it between harness and collar.
Thanks. I've just ordered a puppia harness and matching lead from Amazon both in size small. That should be okay to start shouldn't it as it says small for small breeds or new puppies?
My new puppy was in a medium puppia harness from 9 weeks - the small mesh harness I bought from pets at home was too small after just a week or so. Puppies do vary quite a lot in size though! Betsy was 5.5kg when she came home. I have always liked the puppia harness, and still have Betsy in one at 3.5 months (just about to switch her to large). But, I don't like the ring being at the front of the strap on her back, I would prefer it to be lower down. I think the positioning of the ring means that the harness might 'pinch' upwards if she goes to lunge at something. I can't find a better design, but I am looking.
I'm not sure what size you'd get for a puppy. We didn't start using a harness until Holly was about a year old.
