# Harnesses...so many to choose from...help!



## 5monkeys (Jul 1, 2014)

Our 13wk old spoo is a puller. Not bad. Actually he's great if you walk him by yourself. He starts to pull once he knows we're close to home. He definitely pulls when walked with my kids. I have 5 kids and for the most part, my older girls do walk him and he does fairly well with them, as long as the little ones are not there. When he does pull, I/they stop until he comes back and there's slack in the leash, then we walk and repeat if he pulls again(which he does). BUT, when my 3yo and 6yo walk with us, he's just about lunging the entire time. He REALLY wants to be with them rather than with who is walking him. If they walk with us, he's still so excited that he pulls. I'm looking for a no pull front harness to help train him. I've looked into head collars(gentle leader, etc), but i think the front harness would work. He's not really that bad but i'd like to nip it in the bud before it becomes too much of a habit. And really, i do need to be able to walk him with my little ones around. We like to go to the park, etc and my older girls are not always here to lend a helping hand. I also have my 6mo who is in the stroller but sometimes i have her in a sling. 

I think i've narrowed it down to the Freedom No Pull Harness and the Sense-ation No Pull Harness. If you have experience with either or maybe you like another brand, please share with me. Also, if you know of a brand that you did not like, i'd love to hear about that too. Btw, i have a spoo puppy. Right now, he's about 21lbs. THANKS SO MUCH!!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Harnesses (and for that matter leashes) are aversives. If you really want to go ahead to use one of the harnesses you've mentioned what you should do is put it on your pup for two weeks every day without hooking it to the leash. After that you will put on a new collar that you have scented heavily with fish or mink oil and the harness and then hook both to the leash. Your puppy will associate the correction of the harness with the new collar instead of with the harness. This is the best way to be able to free yourself of the need for the harness later on.

I would much prefer that you didn't use a harness at all. Your pup is very young and excitable. You want walks to be fun for the pup so that it will be a life long pleasant experience. Harnesses like the ones you are considering are more likely to make him apprehensive about walks because the corrective harnesses can be frustrating for the dog. What you want to do is work on developing your pup's centripetal attraction towards you at all times. You can do this on walks using a flat buckle or martingale collar (which is probably better for puppies since they can't back out of it) by stopping frequently and having pup do sits and downs. As for the pup to look at you frequently while walking. When the pup starts to pull on the leash stop and say "oopsie, lets go" and turn around and walk in the opposite direction. Stop when he pulls again. You won't go very far at first and your neighbors will probably think it is pretty strange, but don't worry about that. If you do it patiently and persistently, before long your neighbors will be very impressed with your puppy's loose leash manners. For some additional information about loose leash walking and the concept of centripetal attraction see this thread.

http://www.poodleforum.com/23-general-training-obedience/100970-ian-dunbar-seminar-workshop.html


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Someone is sure to chime in on the harnesses. The training guidance is whatever direction SPOO Baby is pulling, turn around and go the opposite direction. No forward progress with pulling. I would have the older girls work on this with "their" dog and ask the younger ones to assist by distracting when he's ready. I remember your daughters saved their money to buy the dog...


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I just had another thought. Try having one of your younger children also have their hand on the leash while you or one of your older girls actually controls it. Maybe he will think the little one is really in charge of what is happening. As I said above I would do as you essentially have been, stopping and changing direction. It will give you better leash manners in the long run to do it this way than with a harness.


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## SPGem (Jul 28, 2014)

I was using the Easy Walk harness with our spoo puppy. I started her on the collar and worked on teaching how to walk for about 2 weeks. But she was really getting frustrated and showing what I considered aggression about being on the lead. At that young age, I had her outside every 1-2 hours for bathroom. Plus trying to take short walks for training. It just wasn't going well. 

So I read advice here and decided to try the Easy Walk harness while she was a young puppy. I was so glad I tried it. She acted like a different dog the first time we used it. She walked, didn't pull in all directions and was much easier to coax for "let's go!" It gave me several weeks to help with housebreaking and learning how to walk on the lead.

I just went back to the collar this week (she just turned 15 weeks) and she is doing very well with the collar and lead, but still needs some work when she finds really good smells. She's much more of a Stop and smeller rather than a puller. But since I was able to give her a good experience for weeks on the lead learning commands and walking manners, she isn't frustrated with the collar anymore.

Another tip for walking on a lead is have your children walking in front of the pup. Our spoo loves to follow them and it helps to establish the "pack" leadership. Use treats to lure spoo pup by your side and to follow.


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## 5monkeys (Jul 1, 2014)

Thank you everyone! Lily, I'll look into martingale collars. I will also have my younger ones help me hold the leash and see if that will help with the pulling when they're with me. SPGem, when my kids are in front of us, he pulls even harder because he wants to be with them. I think having my younger 2 with us really just get him excited no matter what. A friend of mine is coming over with a front harness for me to try, if it fits him. The older girls really do their part. They walk him several times, in short spurts, due to the leash training. I think I will have them carry more treats so they can have him sit more often and lure him to focus on them more.


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## Lainer04 (May 12, 2014)

Tucker has been walking quite well on the leash, but my problem is that when we walk in one direction he's great. Once we turn around to come back home, he sits down and doesn't want to move. I can coax him abit, he will come to me, then he sits again and takes in all the sights. Sits for abit, then decides to walk and plops back down. Mind you these are 10-12 min walks if that. Any ideas how to stop the sitting?


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

5monkeys I definitely agree that if your younger kids are out in front your pup will want to catch up with them and will pull. I still see that with Lily when I walk with Peeves and BF or mom and Wolfie. Whoever is behind pulls to try to catch up with the other. I am usually the one getting dragged along. Both BF and mom are taller and have longer strides and faster paces than I have. You should be able to find a martingale collar at Petco or PetSmart. Please consider trying it and the other strategies I suggested before you resort to the harness since it will mean you don't have to worry about fading the harness. Having your older girls take your pup out for more and shorter walks will work very well if they are armed with some treats and know how to get his attention.

If the harness your friend has fits do the two weeks without hooking it up part. I have training clients right now who tried a gentle leader before they hired me. They just put it on and started using it right away. It worked at first but the dog quickly figured out that she could still pull and lurch around with it on. Their dog is dog reactive (not mean but over the top excited) and almost impossible to walk when other dogs are around. She even pulls on the gentle leader and makes herself and the husband pretty stressed out. He walks her at 4:00 AM hoping not to run into anyone. We are going to use a different correcting tool after she learns to ignore wearing it. They are in the two weeks of wearing it with it doing nothing phase right now. When that phase is over we will put on a brand new bright orange collar that I have sitting in a ziplock bag with some fish oil capsules. It is my expectation that they will not need the aversive for very long. The dog was two years old and had little socialization before they got her. 

Lainer04 you can try making a game out of getting your pup to head for home. If you have a toy that he loves try using that as a teaser to get him moving, then if you can drape the toy over your left shoulder so he has to look up towards you as you move along. This will get him to understand the idea of checking in with you.

For all of you with younger pups get them to know to check in with you by lavishly praising and treating any look in your direction where eye contact is made. As you see the eye contact say something along the lines of "what a great dog you are Fluffy!!!" Once the pup has caught on to looking at you for feedback you will have the basis for centripetal attraction and will be able to do anything else you want with your dog.


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## 5monkeys (Jul 1, 2014)

Thanks Lily! The harness didn't work out b/c it was a regular one that hooked from the back. I did however work with him in 2 shorts spurts in front of our housing area just with his collar and leash. I had my 3 younger ones waiting for me so it was very short. BUT, he did well and i had him sit every 5 steps or so. I think i'll have to work with him and the kids this weekend, when hubby is home to help with the little ones, so they def know what to do and that we're all on the same page. Like i said, he's not a bad puller but he is strong, even for just 13wks. I know this is something we need to work on now, as he will only get stronger. Also, the trainer suggest we say "Look" and when he makes eye contact, reward with a treat/kibble. We did that at first and he does look when we say that but not always. I think we will have to continue with treating him for it so he gets used to paying attention to us anytime, anywhere. We kind of stopped the treats for that command. Thank you so much for all the replies!!


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

Another fun game to help with eye contact...I do it sitting on the floor but your older kids could probably stand up. Cookies in both hands, he will focus on your hands, sniffing, looking, pawing, etc. Eventually he will look at you like you've lost your mind. The look is when he gets a treat & praise, praise, praise. No commands necessary for this one but he learns that looking at you is a good thing. I still do this randomly for Racer. The treats are mainly a distraction for him.

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

I have used harnesses to help when walking young dogs who pull. Not for every walk but a lot when the dog pulled. I would also put a martingale collar on the dog and give the puppy a chance to walk with that collar. If I couldn't get the dog to respond well by using the martingale, I switched the leash to the harness he was also wearing. When the dog started walking with little pulling, I only used the martingale. Eventually the harness was left at home. I have also used the gentle leader, especially when around kids. These are temporary tools that I have no problem using. It may not be the best training method but it works for me.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

5monkeys if you continue as you did over the weekend to get a pattern set you should see results very quickly, especially since your older girls will work on it too themselves. Be patient and persistent and you should have a loose leash in no time. 

poolann I love your attention game. I still do variations on that at oddball moments with Lily and Peeves. It is a good opportunity to remind folks that training is a life long journey, not something that gets you a little certificate and your dog is a finished product.


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## SusanG (Aug 8, 2009)

Callie was a terrible puller as a puppy and would choke herself with a collar. I used a Four Paws mesh harness but the downside is, then they pull more because it is soft and doesn't hurt. I got sick of her pulling and pulling and couldn't train her to stop until I put a collar back on when she got older. It took a few months of me stopping every time she pulled. Believe me, it was not fun stopping every 3 feet for a mile, over and over, but it finally sunk in she wasn't getting anywhere until she stopped and came back to me. Now we take walks around the neighborhood with a collar on, but for playful times at the park when I want to let her run relatively free I use the harness with a 27 foot flexa-leash.

I'm really bummed, her purple one is wearing out and they don't make purple any more! I've looked all over, even called the company - every color but purple! Darn!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

SusanG you hit on a good point that there are uses for harnesses, but not so much for walking. Lily has a harness she wears in the car attached to a tether to keep her from being able to fly around while I am driving. I also put this harness and a flexi attached to it to play ball with her when we are away and it isn't safe to let her off leash.


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Just know at 13 weeks, he's kind of like your six month old baby in terms of ability to concentrate on anything. No more than you'd force your baby to be fully potty trained at six months could anyone expect full attention, understanding, and obedience at 13 weeks. Babies both (and adorable both, as well, I'm certain) !


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

SusanG, did you look on amazon.com and online? If you post the size you need, I'll keep an eye out at our local stores.
Wonder if Rit dye would work LOL .


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