Simba hates his harness, every time i say "wanna go for a walk" he runs under the table. I have to go under the table and then put the harness on, but when he gets the harness on, he won't move. Takes about 5 min before he is ready to walk. How can i make my dog love his harness?? Any good tips?? (Harness - Julius K9)
Re: Dog hates harness..... My dog is exactly the same - I tried just about everything. The only thing that had any lasting impact at all was to take him out on a flat collar and lead, wait until it was his off lead time then put the harness on him and immediately let him off lead. I'd say it was moderately successful as a strategy. These days, I use a harness only where it's necessary, I ditched it as soon as I could for everyday use. Some dogs just hate harnesses - they just hate the way they feel. If you have a dog like this, you do always have to be careful with things like this, as they can make the dog "close down" and it's important to not mistake this for calm, obedience - it's not good behaviour, it's just no behaviour.
Re: Dog hates harness..... I have the same problem with my boy - he lives for his walks but if he sees a harness he runs into his crate and hides in fear. He is also a bit of a puller but the only way to walk him is on a collar and lead. I decided after trying several things, for example, keeping the harness on the floor far away from the pup and treating when he got moderately close but I never got further as I he would hide as soon as the harness was in sight, that is was simply not worth it. So, we are regular collar/lead walkers, i would obviously have preferred a harness but puppy objects Gudny
Re: Dog hates harness..... I never start mine on collars they are put into a harness straight away and it becomes second nature, harness on and that means out we go. The worst bit is getting them calmed down to have them put on, excitement city here when the harnesses come out.
Re: Dog hates harness..... We have the same problem, Rosie runs and hides under the table when the harness comes out. Once she is in it she doesn't seem bothered by it and she adores her walks with or without the harness on - it certainly doesn't stop her running enjoying the mud and streams! We tried walking her with just her collar but she pulled quite a lot so I think she's going to be stuck with the harness until she has leant to walk without pulling (a work in progress!).
Re: Dog hates harness..... I have never used a harness for walking - but I do use one for long distances in the car. I got my dog used to it by giving her all her meals for several days with her wearing the harness - we didn't do anything else for some time until she got to associate the harness with one of her favourite activities (eating). Then we progressed to sitting in the car with the harness on and getting treats. Now she associates the harness with going on holiday with us in the car. It worked well for us.
Re: Dog hates harness..... I must be lucky. Mine don't mind their harnesses at all, and sit quietly to have them put on! Well, the one having it puts on sits quietly, but the other one insists on trying to chew it while I do it. It's a work in progress
Re: Dog hates harness..... I think loads of dogs are just fine with harnesses - not all though. Charlie always hated it and the more I persisted with a simple associate the harness with roast chicken approach, the worse it got. It ended up so the sight of his harness would send his heartrate through the roof. The people at the rehabilitation centre (where he was when he was recovering after his op) saw this, and were really alarmed. That was a bit of a wake up call for me, and I treated it a lot more seriously after that, I feel lucky that we've managed to recover things so we can use harnesses at all.
Re: Dog hates harness..... Guide dogs have to have a jacket then, when they go to school, a harness. It's essential that they like the harness, of course. They are introduced very slowly. For two weeks they are fed in the jacket - that's all. Jacket on, eat meal, jacket off. Then small lead walks only for two weeks, then wearing when out and about. If they show any signs of not liking it, it's back to meals in jacket only - rinse and repeat 'till they love it.
Re: Dog hates harness..... A harness is supposed to be 'kind' to dogs, but it seems it frightens some. I don't like seeing dogs in harnesses, I think it is a bit of fashion so far! I am sure you will all disagree with me
Re: Dog hates harness..... Well....I don't disagree that it's not nice to see a dog in gear that it clearly hates, whether that's a harness or a head collar or coat or whatever. If a dog is happy in a harness though, it seems to me to be the most humane thing to use. I can't think of a more uncomfortable thing than to have an attachment round my neck, and I'm not sure why it would be different for dogs. Their throat and trachea are very similar to ours, and when a dog is pulling in a collar or slip lead the resulting rasping and gasping for breath is truly horrible to hear...
Re: Dog hates harness..... Surely if they are rasping and gasping for breath, they could stop the unpleasantness by not pulling It cannot be as unpleasant for them as we think it is!
Re: Dog hates harness..... It is uncomfortable and can cause damage. But the desire to go forward outweighs the discomfort. Bizarre to us humans, but that's dog for you Dogs pull because we allow them to keep moving when they pull. And when we allow this, we are putting an equal amount of force on the lead. We have the illusion that it's the dog doing all the pulling because they are in front - but we are pulling back just as hard. Yes, it'd stop if the dog stopped. But it'd stop if we stopped too! It's essential to simply refuse to move if your dog causes the lead to tighten. Only move when the lead is slack. It works
Re: Dog hates harness..... [Added: responding to Stacia] No, I don't think they think like that unless the pain is absolutely unbearable - so that means that I think stopping them pulling by inflicting sufficient punishment is a terrible thing to do. Dogs do seem to have an enormous capacity to bear pain but that doesn't mean it's right to inflict it. My dog (if I had let him, which I didn't) would have run and played on his leg with a ruptured ligament until he collapsed in agony, such was his desire to move, to explore, to be out there in the world. I think it's more likely they have other powerful drivers that make the pain worth it, rather than they don't feel it. And I think that's very, very sad - that a dog accepts pain as a normal part of his life just so he gets to walk down the street.
Re: Dog hates harness..... We have used a harness now and again. No problem at all. I didn't give it a single thought and I don't think Lills did either.
Re: Dog hates harness..... [quote author=Stacia link=topic=9061.msg129765#msg129765 date=1418326772] A harness is supposed to be 'kind' to dogs, but it seems it frightens some. I don't like seeing dogs in harnesses, I think it is a bit of fashion so far! I am sure you will all disagree with me [/quote] I certainly don't use it as a fashion thing for mine. We bought harnesses after Shadow slipped his collar and nearly ran out in front of a lorry. We experimented and, no matter how tight the collar was done up, he could do the same. So for me, it's a safety thing when walking around the village. If I were to choose what I thought "looked" the best, it would be a slip lead, for all the controversy. I just like the look of a lab walking on a loose slip lead for some reason. But I don't. I have harnesses because they're safer for my dogs.
Re: Dog hates harness..... [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=9061.msg129835#msg129835 date=1418369003] If I were to choose what I thought "looked" the best, it would be a slip lead, for all the controversy. I just like the look of a lab walking on a loose slip lead for some reason. [/quote] The "look" of a slip lead is completely ruined by also needing a collar for ID tags though. They only really look good without a collar. That's what I tell myself, anyway. Charlie continues to undermine my campaign against slip leads by displaying a distinct preference for them at every opportunity, while making clear his absolute loathing for his perfectly safe and supposedly comfortable harness... : : : This dog is hard wired not to co-operate, I think.
Re: Dog hates harness..... It is instinctive for most animals to hide pain. In the wild it would mark them out to predators as vulnerable, so they naturally hide it as much as they can. Gypsy is not allowed any kind of harness until she goes to school, so it's a number 1 priority to teach her not to pull. Any pulling at all and we don't move. It's quite hard to do as she mustn't walk to heel either, or walk looking at me - she must walk 3/4 of a dog ahead and not sniff the ground - a real challenge!
