Re: The harness... What about clicker training acceptance of the harness? Marking and rewarding might be more effective that just rewarding.
Re: The harness... So I put his lunch bowl on the harness (I did this yesterday and he didn't bat an eyelid) - he stopped as soon as I picked up the harness on my way to put the lunch bowl down (Charlie stopping on the way to lunch is a big deal). But not for long - 5 seconds. Then, he wolfed his lunch as normal and not as normal was sick (at least outside the door). I now know for sure he doesn't crunch his kibble.... Just before lunch, I had given him an antibiotic hidden in a quail's egg, which he gobbled whole, so maybe he just needed to be sick to "unstick" the quail's egg, I don't think it was anything to do with the harness. It's going to be one of those days, I just know it... I think I'm just going to have the harness around the place, with some treats in it, but carry on using it as normal.
Re: The harness... wow i must have a devil dog, we have trouble with the harness, if i left it in the room on the floor, he would just run off with it and chew through it we left it on him when he went for a run , after 10 mins of free run, he would roll over and bite through it .........so we have now decided to take him out on the harness but take it off him when he goes for a run , .........
Re: The harness... Look - Poppy at one time was TERRIFIED of getting in the car. No reason for it, she just really, really didn't like it. Looking back, I realize we were unwittingly encouraging her fear, by feeling sorry for her, petting and stroking her, lifting her in to the car, telling her it was all going to be ok, trying to desensitize her by feeding her treats in the car - none of it worked. In fact it got worse and worse, until at one point she didn't even want to go out of the front door if she thought there was a chance she might be lifted into The Car of Death. : I didn't realize this, until a friend told me to just be terribly matter of fact about it. Put her lead on, walk to the car, firmly say 'Get in, Pops', and close the door. No petting, no sympathy - just 'this is our car, get in it, it's what we do'. I was gobsmacked how well this worked. She now loves the car, and is always happy to jump in and go for a ride! That's why my advice would be not to pander to his fears too much. If you act as though there is something weird about the harness (and sorry, but unwittingly that's what you were doing in the video); then he will continue to be wary of it. The more you can treat it like the most commonplace and uninteresting article in your household, the better. Obviously not drag him around in it or truly scare him, but just be completely matter of fact about it. "This is your harness, we put it on and go for a walk. It's what we do in this house".
