Just been told off by a stranger!

[Annette4]

2 of my 3 wear harnesses to walk.....both can easily get out of a collar and wear headcollars which attach to their harness so should the worst happen, I am still attached to them.

I've tried for 3 years to teach Dobby to walk to heel, I've tried everything but while we have made some progress, the only time he walks well on a loose lead is in a headcollar so it's staying.

Ginny is making real progress so I'm hopeful we can move her off her halti to a slip lead once we can work past her excitment/frustration.

Fizz walks well on a loose lead and so did Jack before her so I am capable of training a dog

Both have very poor recall so I'm not willing to risk them getting loose so a well fitted secure harness gives them and me that security. It also means I can quickly attach their long line if it is quiet enough for them to have a run around.

I don't understand the using a harness to stop pulling thing but they do have their place.

 

[Meredith Brouillette]

Some people will have a problem with anything no matter what. Don't worry, he is still learning his walking and coming from his side perfectly normal behavior

 

[CorvusCorax]

Some dogs do just go into panic mode and evade any sort of restriction/pressure, some just plain old don't like it and either never learn or never have the connection = 'no pulling, no pressure' properly made clear to them.

One of mine leans into any sort of lead pressure, but usually stays close and recalls well off lead. But that doesn't mean he isn't put on a lead.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We tried Halti for our JRT's who simply walked along on their back legs, trying to scrape the Halti off with their fore paws! eventually managed to teach them to walk to heel on a collar and lead
.

The Rottweilers always wore harnesses and fig 8 leads. They obviously do have collars but they simply slip off over their ears if the dog backs out.

 

[fankino04]

We tried Halti for our JRT's who simply walked along on their back legs, trying to scrape the Halti off with their fore paws! eventually managed to teach them to walk to heel on a collar and lead
.

My first malamute walked on her back legs in a halti too. ?

 

[Hexx]

I have to have mine on a harness rather than a lead around his neck as he has a stable broken neck - all that's holding his head on are tendons, skin and his spinal chord!! Vet thinks its a congenital defect.

 

[MrsMozartleto]

Mine are all in half-check collars when out. They're set so they won't choke. I find the ability to just jangle the collar is nearly always enough to get them back to where they should be. If anything more is needed then it's voice and a discussion. They all have normal flat collars with a disc as well -the GSD's is pretty loose, but the Rotties have to have them a bit closer or they pull them off and eat them.

One of the Rotties has a harness and a headcollar with a double ended lead if there's going to be other dogs around. He just locks on and all training isn't quite forgotten, he'd just rather focus on the other dog and so far no trainers have been able to sort it. He won't do anything to the dog, other than big playful bounces, but as he's 42kg that's not always appreciated by the other one. Plus we're out for a walk, not for him to be a bouncing statue.

I tried all the dogs with just the harness. Nope. They were like barges in rough water, the front and back end were going all over the place, with the harness connection point acting as some sort of fulcrum. The GSD has so much floof that I was forever catching hairs.

The JRT has a harness and a flat collar at the moment, with a double ended lead. She's a slippery little beastie! Am hoping we can get to the same set up as the others. She's definitely improving.

 

[fankino04]

Whenever I've tried to walk a dog in a harness I've had that same barge in rough water feeling, I'm sure I must be missing how to use them or how to train a dog to them lol. Thankfully I don't have any current clients that use them ? I do have quite a few that use Flexi leads which I have always hated but with well behaved dogs (which thankfully the ones I walk with them are) they aren't too bad, I understand that the dog can have more freedom to run on them but as my clients have them attached to a collar that doesn't happen (not having sudden brakes from running on their neck).

 

[skinnydipper]

Most of my dogs wore a flat collar, including the lurchers who wore fishtails, but, as PaS has already pointed out, some dogs have a head smaller than their neck. My bull terrier wore a harness for that reason.

My mastiff weighs in at 8st 5, only slightly less than me. She wears a harness and walks with a loose leash.

So sorry, harness haters - harnesses do not encourage dogs to pull.

Extending leads on the other hand ..... I believe dogs pull against tension in order to extend the lead? Does this encourage them to pull on the lead?

 

[DressageCob]

I have just started walking my pup in a harness. His neck is just all flabby excess skin, which folds over his collar. I'm struggling to fit his collar tight enough so that he doesn't slip it but loose enough so it doesn't pinch. His training isn't perfect yet; he will walk at heel when asked most of the time but if he picks up an exciting scent that all goes out the window and nothing is more important than that smell. This is when he slips out of his collar and off he goes. We are working on it, but in the meantime the harness is helping. He doesn't pull in it, either.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Flexis or harnesses are fine when the dog already knows loose leash walking.
I think the problem is people putting them on and thinking the gadgets will do the work. You need to actually train the dog.

Same with headcollars, if you don't spend a few days or even weeks conditioning the dog to having it on their face, you'll get amateur dramatics.
None of these things are designed to be slapped on and off you go.

If I hold up any sort of collar, my dogs will go mad and stick their heads in it because they know it means A) food/ball (long phased out) B) walk/training/fun.
That's because I spent days or weeks putting collars on and rewarding them and taking them off when they are young.
My dogs don't see check chains as a negative, if they hear one rattle, they get excited because wearing it means something awesome is going to happen.

 

[MurphysMinder]

My dogs , and my mothers before me, have always worn check chains, never had a dog in any way injured by one and like CC my dogs get excited at the slightest jingle of the collar. The bonus of course is that a dog cannot slip out of a check chain.

 

[MrsMozartleto]

Ditto the 'head shoving into their collars' here. It's a race between them and the excitement is palpable, and that's even when they've been out to the field and doing their own thing.