Ziggy loves his daily walks but used to pull really badly on his lead at times. Most of the time he walks nicely but the few times when he pulled he sounded like he was going to choke so instead we got him a harness. We got a Julius K9 harness and have been using this for a couple of months with no problem at all. He would stand nicely while we put the harness on - no bother at all - until a couple of weeks ago. Now - every time we take out his harness he starts to bark and back away from it and the only way I can get it on him is to put my hand through the neck hole with a treat and trick him into it. I've checked that it's not too tight and uncomfortable and it's fitting correctly - it's not rubbing anywhere. Once it's on he's fine and he goes off for his walk and has a great time! I just can't work out why he suddenly gets agitated when his harness comes out. He backs away from it as if he's scared but then once it goes on he's fine! I've tried walking away when he starts barking at it and going back when he stops barking so that he thinks he might not get his walk until he stops barking but that's not working. There's a lot of doggy psychology that I just don't get!! Does anyone have any ideas at all? Please help!!
Walking away with the harness when he barks will reinforce the barking - he wants you to walk away with the harness. And approaching him with it when he's quiet will punish being quiet. How does he go if you try walking him using his collar?
Do the treat thing every time - it’s fine, that’s what Guide dog trainers and owners do. Also, feed him his meals in his harness to build up good associations with it.
He pulls if I use his collar - and sounds as though he's going to choke. This is why we got him the harness and he was fine with the harness for at least a month when we first started to use it.
That's really helpful - thank you! He really is a typical food loving lab so I'm sure that feeding him with his harness on will help to build the happy association with wearing it!
Sorry - I've got a bit in a muddle with my 'replies' and 'new posts' so if I've posted something that looks weird please accept my apologies!! But thank you for your help! I will certainly be trying Boogie's suggestion with the food!
We also have a Julius K9 harness and Quinn hates putting it on (we've had it almost a year). If I hold out the harness and she backs away, I just wait a few seconds and crouch down and pet her a bit and reassure her as I put it on. I sort of hold her chin and have the harness up on my arm and slide it down trying not to touch her head with it at all because the only thing I can figure is she hates the over the head part. She's also more keen on putting it on if her chuckit thrower/ball are coming on the walk I let her have the ball and she is much better. Keep giving treating, or using a favourite toy. Personally, I would just ignore the barking.
Some good advice given already, the only thing I can add is some dogs do not like things going over their head, and the K9 harness is a bit heavy on materials. You could build back up to the harness by either investing in a cheap one to use in desensitising as per @Boogie's excellent advice or swap to a very comfy lightweight harness. I have a head shy labrador and have a made a lot of progress with the Haqihana dog harness, also back fastening.
I'm very uncomfortable with the thought of ignoring the barking; this is communicating, along with his body language, that he really doesn't like the harness, for whatever reason, so forcing it on him could well damage his trust in you. I would do what @Beanwood and @Boogie have suggested above; get a completely different light-weight harness for the time being and from the beginning associate it with great things, such as it only goes on at meal times, or for really tasty treats, or for ball play - anything he really loves. In the meantime, is there anywhere you can take him in the car where he doesn't need to be walked on lead? It sounds like you could do with some concerted loose-lead training, too, so maybe set aside one of your "walks" every other day to work just on that, without actually going anywhere except up and down your street a few yards, so he can eventually be walked on just a flat collar.
Hi @Lozzz31 you need to voncentrate on a programme if de-sensitising to the harness. This you can do by just having harnes and dog and sitting relaxed. Click and treat for any glance or movement towards the harness snd gradually ask fir more movement and touch of the harness. Gradually add movement (with treat in hand) to allow the harness to go over the head - it's much the same same process as training for a muzzle. You want to create a great feeling for your dog that the appearance of the harness predicts great treats, not discomfort.
Here's a video on how I started off with Luna. I was so careful I made nothing but positive associations with it. https://thislittledoggy.com/2017/01/08/desensitisation-to-the-harness/ Like Ziggy, she was OK for a little while, then started to avoid it. It wasn't a massive problem for us because she's been taught to walk nicely from the very start, and was OK on a flat collar really quite early, so she's off-lead or just on a collar unless I go to hugely exciting places these days. I would say do a lot of very short sessions through the day, every day, where the (new) harness goes on and he gets well rewarded (as @Boogie said, with dinner etc) and then it comes straight off again.
Keir is getting used to his jacket at the moment, but the process is the same. Two weeks meal times only. Two weeks local, well known walks only. Then ‘easy’ places where he won’t meet any ‘worries’. Then all lead walks. GDs do the same process with the harness, except that they introduce the handle later. My supervisor explained that, if they meet anything that spooks them in the early days they can ‘blame’ the jacket and get an aversion to it. .
