Other Threads You May Find Helpful The Forum Recommends Top Harnesses for Labradors and Why Your Lab Puppy Needs a Harness Greetings! I was just wondering if you have a favorite harness in which you walk your dog? My pup is four months and we are in the thick of it right now. Thanks!
At four months, my two were still in their Puppia mesh harnesses they had from when they first arrived. After this, we went onto the fleece ones from Dog Games and they now have Perfect Fit (also from Dog Games), which are essentially the same thing, just with greater adjustability. They rarely wear them now, because they have very good lead walking in general. It's only when we are going somewhere very busy or somewhere I know is going to be more than they can handle that I put their harnesses on now.
I thought this deserved its own topic My favourite is the Wiggles Wags and Whiskers Freedom Harness, but I haven't tried some of the other good brands. This article from Jo Laurens, looks at quite a few different harnesses in some detail Top harnesses for Labs
Notwithstanding training to walk with a loose lead is the best, here are my thoughts on harnesses. I like a front-fastening harness because, of all the devices I've used, it is the only one that I feel confident will give me control over my powerful Labrador. But I only use it when I absolutely need to, like if there's a bitch on heat or in a situation where he will be super excited and I need max control. When Snowie was younger and extremely boisterous, it let me walk him on lead knowing that I would not be yanked across a road if he decided he just had to go say hallo to another dog; if he pulls really hard it kind of makes him turn to face to me. Now that he's older, I always take it with me on walks just in case, although almost never need to use it, instead attaching the leash to his collar. I also never leave it on him if he's walking off-leash cos I can see it does get in the way of a normal stride. I have found an ordinary collar gives me no control if he really wants to pull forward. I've found that a slip collar just chokes him if he wants to pull forward, but if he is motivated, he will pull and pull and continue to choke himself -- and I'm sorry I allowed one trainer to convince me to use the slip collar on him as a young powerful dog, hate to think what damage it could've done to his throat. At one dog school we had to use a head halter, which Snowie absolutely hated. He'd spend all his time rubbing his face on my legs (and nearly toppling me over) or rubbing his face in the grass. On one occasion he pulled it halfway off and started to panic cos it got stuck in his mouth and it was traumatic getting him to stop thrashing enough that I could get it off. It was then I decided I would never use it again. As a puppy we used the back-fastening harness, but oh boy, absolutely no control over a strong puppy who wanted to pull ahead! At a new school we were introduced to the front-fastening harness, and we've never looked back. In terms of brands, we used to use the Halti front-fastening harness because that is all that was available in the shop. It worked fine but the clips are so flimsy and the straps really narrow. We then happened to be in NYC and came across the Easy Walk front-fastening harness. We like it because it has big plastic, sturdy clips and the straps are nice and thick. But I've just read the article that Pippa links to above, and now I feel bad we bought it -- given the company's ethics in terms of the other devices they sell, and also the bit about the martingale potentially causing problems. I know this is just about harnesses, but I do love the Ezydog bungi leash with a solid water-ski-like handle. Really comfortable to use, and if your Lab does pull, your hand doesn't get squashed in the handle.
I recently bought the Easy Walk for both of our Labs. Interestingly, I have to put Coopers on Upside Down, because of her deep chest. Pet Safe and the trainers at PetSmart, say this is fine, and they have to do this with a lot of deep chested dogs. I don't think is it an optimum design, but it does give good control with almost no pulling. The Martingale in the front means that the pull we be off to the side (your side) since the ring will slid towards the leash. Both dogs seem to be fine with it, and it does make walking both dogs on a Wye a lot easier. I would not want to leave it on very much when they weren't on leash because I think it might chafe, but it is very easy to put on and take off. Cooper, the dog who shies away from brushes and clippers has always been fine with putting on a collar, or leash, and doesn't seem to mind standing still for the harness. I hope to get her to the point that she is as good at loose lead walking as she is off leash. Tilly is not bad on a leash by herself, but both dogs on a Wye can be a handful. When we walk in our neighborhood, we have to have the dogs on leash. We let them off at a lot of the parks, even the ones where they are supposed to be on leash.
Curious to know what upside-down means/looks like? Is the martingale part on the back? Why do you need to do this -- is this the only way it fits?
My favourite harness is the Happy at Heel, which is a side fastening harness. It allowed me to be consistent with stopping when Dexter pulled and didn't hurt my shoulders as the back fastening harness did. I only used it for 2 months and moved onto a limited slip lead or collar and lead. Once stopped, I always took the tension off the lead to disengage my dogs 'opposition reflex', an automatic reflex that if you pull the dog will pull against you, same as pushing into you if you push into them. Probably not the best explaination of it but works for me to keep things simple.
I use a Puppia back fastening mesh harness on my 3.5 month old puppy, and when she is a bit bigger (probably about 6 months) I'll move to a fleece back fastening harness, and then onto a flat collar - I'll move to a flat collar as soon as she is fully reliable walking on lead so that will determine the timing rather than age. There are a lot of advantages in using a back fastening harness, I think they are definitely the safest things to use on small puppies.
Having tested a variety of harnesses and been unhappy with all of them, we now use the Happy at Heel harness which is great. x
I have a T-Touch harness for Pepper which has three different places you can attach the lead to. This means if you really need it you can attach back and front to 'steer' your dog (apparently, never actually done it but friends recommend!). Pepper walks really well on a loose lead on this harness - we only have it because she still pulls at other dogs and I don't want her to damage her neck. They are super robust and also come in a variety of colours which is nice!
No, literally upside down. The back strap is on the bottom and the chest strap is on top. The Martingale is still on the front. Cooper has a very deep chest and it fits better this way.
I just happened to buy an Easy Walk today and I'm anxious to try it. My little guy is an escape artist and it is quite the feat getting any kind of harness on him so I'm gearing up for it.
Cooper can usually pull off a regular collar unless it is sized quite close around her neck. I don't think she has ever pulled out of it on a leash, but she has when we tried to restrain her by the collar.
I use a Mekuti balance harness on Saba. http://www.mekuti.co.uk/harness_shop.htm?gclid=CJvxqt3Wk84CFcW4GwodMFAGdQ It has two side fastening clips, and can be used with the lead clipped to the ring on the back, or with the lead clipped to back and side via a ring on the chest fitting. Saba is a big strong boy at 30kgs, and OH and I have both suffered broken fingers from using a conventional lead attachment. I find him much easier to control when he's wearing his harness. In fact, now he's in his new grown-up size harness, he seems much happier!
We went straight into the freedom harness and have been very happy with it. Winnie is happy in the harness and I love the double ended lead.
I have fleece backed y shaped harness from dog games for my lab but my spaniel wriggled out of his so he's in a perfect fit now. Mostly my dogs are on limited slip leads though.
Has anyone tried the Balance Harness? I was thinking of getting that one. But you have to online order it and it would be a pain to have to return.
So very confused as well! I have 23-lb Bessie and 75-lb Burke. Got two Walk Your Dog With Love front-clip harnesses. Works great for Burke, and stops his pulling, but for Bessie it keeps getting tangled around her neck and generally kind of flops in front even when adjusted - it just seems too loose for wriggly puppy walking, and it often trips her up and makes her fall flat on her face. I do not like it. At all. Also, have to have the front adjusted down so far that she can almost bite the harness (she's still biting the lead) when walking (because instead of a ring in the front, it has a T-bar adjuster with some webbing protruding out from their chest, it's kind of odd - sort of like the harness is actually part of the leash). So, I'm returning them - maybe both of them, as the other thing I don't like is that the chest strap sits right behind the front legs. I ordered a Freedom harness to try with Burke, because I still like the idea of being able to use the back in addition to or instead of the front. But I'm really torn for Bessie. A Freedom size small is what they recommended when I emailed. She's got 19" girth and it goes to 24". But it seems like she'll outgrow it fairly quickly. The TTouch goes from 18 to 26" for the small, which sounds good, but their medium is 20-30" and that might fit her right through adulthood. I have emailed them to see what they recommend for sizing, but any feedback? And then there is the idea of just getting a Roman harness like the Premier Sure-Fit or Lupine's Roman Harness, and clipping the lead to the front ring if I need lots of non-pulling control, or even adding a little bit of webbing and a loop to attach the lead to in front (so it wouldn't dig into her chest). That would also allow front and back. And either of those are way less expensive than the Freedom or TTouch for a growing puppy (TTouch is about $25 on their site, but around $33 with shipping - Sure-Fit is $14ish and Lupine's around $21). Ahhhhh, the perils of too many choices! The Freedom is still appealing, especially since I would also get a double-ended lead...
