Hi, My lab pup is 40 lbs and I need to upgrade her harness to one with both a front and back leash D ring. I have been looking at the Chai's Choice 3M Reflective one, which seems the best so far. Does anyone have one of these or a suggestion for a nice one? Thanks, Blaine
Hi Blaine Generally, my favourite harness is the Perfect Fit - if you have a large lab, especially the one with the 40mm webbing - it is wide and very comfy for large breed dogs. But if you are having pulling issues, control issues or difficult adolescent control issues(!), then I would probably recommend the Freedom harness over the Perfect Fit. It is slightly snugger and sits further forwards on the dog's body, giving you better control of the front of the dog - which is the engine or powerhouse of the dog(!).
Hi there, I too have a lab that pulls, and we are putting this down to his being only 10 months and that he takes a while to train to do anything. I had heard that a figure of 8 lead works on pulling dogs. Is this something that I could consider? Many thanks.
Hi @KazMum equipment is an aid, some pieces are better than others. But not one of them will itself teach a dog not to pull. No pull harness, figure of 8 head harness etc. largely marketing hype. You have to do the teaching. I suggest you enrol in a good obedience class, in which the instructor will teach a range of different techniques designed to get your dog to stop pulling.
No, I wouldn't recommend this - not unless it's a really really last resort and you have tried the above recommended Freedom harness and still want more control. Head harnesses are aversive - this means they work by causing discomfort for the dog, which the dog backs off from, causing them not to pull. We don't really want to use these methods in our training. In addition, the majority of dogs hate them, paw their faces to get them off, rub their heads on their owners' legs etc etc....Here's a video which explains more - John is a bit waffly here but stick with it(!
we were advised from the vet many years ago to use a head harness with Ben who pulled like crazy. So long ago in fact that they were relatively new, the minute we put it on Ben he stopped pulling and walked to heel we thought it was great. Fast forward to us taking over the care of Monty & Simba (again strong pullers due to never really being walked on lead, and the fact they wouldn't listen to us for recall so off lead wasn't an option) we of course went straight to the head collars, well they hated them they clawed at their faces till they cut themselves & still pulled regardless to the point of making their mouths bleed, we very quickly changed to a harness with front & back fastening and a double ended lead. Yes they still pulled but we had enough control that they couldn't escape or drag us off our feet. Walking wasn't a pleasure with those 2 that's for sure. With Kyko at the moment we just have a cheap mesh harness that attaches at the back while he's growing & are working hard on loose lead walking, which works some of the time until he sees a person or dog going by. We were looking at getting a perfect fit harness for him soon, as if I'm understanding correctly will only have to replace the individual pieces as he grows? Either that or a good quality crash tested car harness which can couple up as a walking harness, as he goes in the car a lot & his safety & ours is my main concern there
With the Perfect Fit, if he's still a pup you will probably need the 20mm webbing - but in an adult lab, the 40mm webbing is really nice as it distributes the weight over a wider area and is the best choice IMO. You can switch out individual parts but not between different widths - it has to be all 20mm or all 40mm. Measure him up and see if he would fit the smallest 40mm options, as then you could expand that as needed... If not, maybe wait a bit longer...
