Hi there, I'm new here so be gentle... I hope this is also the correct place to post this. Please do let me know if it's not. Monty is a 12 week old English Springer Spaniel. We have used both of Pippa's books as our bibles before he arrived and continue to refer to them. His progress has been astonishing. He is extremely bright, eager to please and loves training. We used the natural following phase of the puppy phase to really work on the recall and for him to recognise us as safe. His recall is excellent already. (just love seeing him rush full speed towards me with his big floppy ears pinned back to his head!). We've not really used a lead at all since we live amongst nice secure fields and he doesn't venture very far from us anyway. But now he is 12 weeks, has vaccinations are complete and we have just started Puppy Classes - mostly to socialise with the other pups which has been fantastic. Obviously, the classes use leads and we have a little harness and lead for him. With the harness on his is absolutely great. However, getting it on him is a bit of a challenge. He is not keen on it for some reason. I've used treats before and after. I've had it on the ground for him to inspect and placed treats around and on it. He will cautiously approach and take treats, but if I move to pick up the harness he will shuffle back all worried looking. Nothing bad has ever happened around or on the harness so I am not sure where this has come from. As I say, once he has it on, he's not bothered in the slightest. Any tips, suggestions or advice would be appreciated. I don't want him to be afraid of it and going out should be the bees knees for him at this stage. Thanks in anticipation James & Monty For info, the harness is just a fairly basic one, not one of those fancy life-vest ones tiny dogs have (sorry, I cant explain it any better than that!)
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Hi James. My two both wear harnesses (I think these may be the "fancy life-vest ones" you're talking about?) [img width=400]http://i.imgur.com/M4t1JHv.jpg[/img] Shadow (the yellow) doesn't have an issue with it at all, and Willow (black) didn't at first, but now she's started shying away when I go to put it on her. Like Monty, she's fine once it's on, she just doesn't seem to like it going over her head for some reason. So I started to lure her in with a treat (put my hand through the head hole with a treat in it, and as she took the treat, plopped it over her head), but she's got smart to that, too. So I've started doing lots of desensitisation stuff with her, feeding her in it, giving her treats while I'm holding it without putting it over her head etc. However, I don't think she'll ever actually like it. I'm going to be upgrading to y-shaped harnesses soon, because I want crash-tested harnesses for the car, so it will be interesting to see how they respond to that type. I think yours may be a step-in one, from how you've described it? I saw someone suggest the other day that you take the dog out on their collar and swap to the harness immediately before doing something they *really* love, such as being let off-lead, or having a game of tug etc. That could also help them get positive associations with it. Sorry I can't be more help.
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Thanks. Oh they are just stunning, you must be very proud! Yes, I have a fairly basic, step-in type - that's a better description! I'd post a picture, but I don't know how!
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on I know what type you mean when you say step in - kinda of goes on like a bra with an arm in each hole and does up at the back!! Do you think it might be the actual handling of him involved in putting the harness on that is stressing him out? I've seen this with dogs who don't like to have their feet picked up or have joint pain. You can train him to give a paw to put through his harness quite easily, I've done it with many of the rescue dogs I worked with. Eventually they get to a point that they will lift each foot themselves to put it through the harness. Alternatively you could look at a harness that doesn't involve picking the feet up such as the Julius K9 or XtraDog. These are both totally different designs but each of them are put on in a way they don't require messing around lifting up legs etc.
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on I used to put my hand through the head hole of my dogs harness and put a nice treat in me hand while he was nibbling the treat I would slide the harness over his head. Then I did up the two clips either side. Some dogs just don't like harnesses, some will put up with them and others couldn't care less. I think the more clips there are so you don't have to squeeze legs through holes the better as it's less wrestling. I use a Y shaped harness from dog games on both my dogs (lab and spaniel).
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on [quote author=JAYMZ link=topic=10167.msg149001#msg149001 date=1426170858] I'd post a picture, but I don't know how! [/quote] Look in the technical section. You need to upload the pictures elsewhere (lots of people use Flickr, I use imgur), then you just copy the BBCode link to the image in here, which looks something like [ img ]http://www.flickr.com/myimage.jpg[ /img ] (without the spaces in the img tags). Or if you have a picture on Facebook or another website, as long as it's viewable by the public, you can copy the link to it (normally right-click on it and choose "copy image link") and then wrap it between the [ img ] [ /img ] tags. HTH, can't wait to see your little bundle
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on You may find that Monty becomes happy to have the harness on as the time goes on, because he gets to associate having it put on with going out for walks / activities. I only use a harness for the car with Molly and initially put it on using treats in the same way that Barbara has described. However for quite a while it was a struggle as Molly hated the car! Now she loves the car - because she knows it means we're going somewhere for an off-lead walk or play - and is totally happy with the harness. But this took quite a while (a couple of months I think) to develop.
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Thanks all. This is the harness type - as described as a bra above! [/URL] Sorry about the size of the pic!
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Oh, what a sweetie! He looks like mischief
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Thanks all Proud father moment *sniff* He looks like bloody Edward Scissor Hands there! Must clip his nails today...
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Gorgeous pic! My 15 week old lab maisie has a similar harness and she hates it too. Shes growing out of it though so i am going to get her one that goes over her head so I havnt got to move her legs to get her in. I have been doing desensitisation with her but it hasnt really made a difference. I think she has negative associations with it because of all the vets visits she had because of her eye.
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Thanks. Lots of mentions of desensitisation. How are you all going about that with a harness? I've left it in the middle of the room and fed treats around it. He gets super-duper treats once it's on. Anything else I could/should be doing?
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on A couple of ideas: Put it on to give him his dinner and take it off afterwards. If you're going somewhere in the car, don't put it on until right before he gets to free run and take it off immediately afterwards. If he enjoys playing with toys at home, pop it on for playtime.
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on I begin by holding it near maisie and if she looks at it, or sniffs it then i say good and treat her. Iv built that up to putting it near her front legs for a second and then taking it away and saying good and treating, and watching her so if her ears go back or she lip licks which would suggest she is unhappy then i would go back a step. Because to put the harness on i have to lift up her paws, i have been also having the harness round my wrist as if ready to put on, and then touching her leg and then saying goid and treating etc.. I am doing very small steps with maisie as she is so nervous and she has a cone on!
Re: Puppy doesn't like putting on harness, but is fine once it's on Those are great suggestions, thanks.
We used to go through hoops to put that harness on Bailey , chicken salmon cajoling , when we got it out he would go and hide . Was fine when we put it on . Change to half collar because the bugger can slip out of his normal collar, Life is good happy once lead comes out ! Obviously just wasn't for him !
What a lovely puppy. My Gsd is fine putting her harness on - I use the treat and she basically puts the harness on as she goes for the treat. Not great taking it off though - I loosened the part that goes over her head and I have practised this part with food after it is off. Slight improvement. Hope things go well for you. We love Springers.
