Re: Harness - I officially give up! I see no reason to do anything else now other than to forget the harness and stick to a wide collar... If Charlie's dislike of harnesses is basically irrational, then trying to overcome it logically by gentle exposure isn't going to work, and it will only be an issue for both of you, then. I know that when I have an irrational dislike of something, trying to talk me into it only makes me dig my heels in more... wonder if Charlie works on the same basis??! ;D Clare
Re: Harness - I officially give up! [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=5379.msg67948#msg67948 date=1397393013] Julie....has he actually worn a harness for walking for any period of time? Feel free to shoot me down, but are you a bit too sensitive to his likes and dislikes and he is maybe playing on this? [/quote] It's a more than fair question Jac! And since I'm known as the kind of person who will get up to adjust Charlie's pillow if it doesn't look quite right, I reckon you're forgiven for thinking I might be fussing. I might have been known to fuss, time to time. ;D ;D ;D He has worn a harness, he has always hated it. I stopped using it all the time when it became really difficult to get him out of the house, and when he wouldn't walk forward on a walk (and the gundog trainer nicked it and "forgot" to give it back to me). I went back to a back fastening harness when he was injured and super excited on restricted exercise. I took a no nonsense, stick the harness on, and off we go approach. I honestly think that was a mistake and it's got worse over time. The recent re-attempt to get him to be better about it was partly prompted by the rehab centre telling me if I wanted to continue using a harness, I should see a dog behaviourist to deal with his reaction (I haven't used it since, apart from the exercise in the kitchen, although I did wonder if they had seen something worse than usual, related to him being a bit stressed in kennels).
Re: Harness - I officially give up! He's a sensitive boy is Choccie Charlie :-\ Yep, give up as a bad job I think
Re: Harness - I officially give up! he sounds a lot like barley. Barley hates harnesses and coats, a coat is fine if it is just laying on his back but when the straps do up he will shut down and freeze, same with harnesses. We have 2 that we do use on occasions. We have a fleece, front and back attachment one, he hates this one the most, we used to use it to walk him on it but after several near slipping out occasions we only use it when it is needed and we have a safety link attaching the harness to his collar so he does not get loose if he slips out of the harness. The other harness we have is the ruffwear one, he still hates this one but is more compliant with it on, what is handy about this one was it had a handle on the back, which made lifting him in and out of the car easier, and had two mid region straps which made it impossible for him to slip out as the furthest back one was too small to fit over his chest. When he was fit and well we used this one for running as he would pull very hard on a collar which was bad for his neck so we used this harness.
