I am looking to get a new harness for Bode for walking. I don't like just walking him on a collar, it just doesn't feel secure enough to me. I'm not really worried about getting an "anti-pulling" one, just a simple one for easy neighborhood walks, etc...We currently have a Freedom No Pull, have had it since he was a puppy, and he really hates it. He will literally run away from us trying to put it on even though it means he gets to go for a walk.

I'm thinking the Lupine Step In harness. Any thoughts or experiences?
http://www.backcountryk9.com/Products/Lupine-75inch-Step-In-Harness

From my experience although its probably rare I would stear clear of this harness. One day Siku hit the harness just right and he was able to get out of it and I was stuck holding a leash with a harness attached while Siku was running around a non fenced in area near a road. Now, I doubt that happens often but it has happened once and almost another time to me so if you getting one I would be cautious but thats just my opinion.

As far as suggestions go. I'm not sure, we use alpine urban trail for most of our every day walks and I attach a neck line to the harness and to their collars just in case anything for to happen, but I don't think their harnesses are better than any other one out there, it just happens to be what we have.

Erica, that's interesting. I can never picture how dogs can get out of harnesses, especially one like this that you attach to the two D-rings. Do you know what happened, did it slip forward over his head?

I currently walk Ami with a rather convoluted system - if security (and I assume you mean afraid he might get loose?) is the issue. I use a prong collar for control (he no longer pulls against it, but if I try just a regular collar or a harness, its not long before he's pulling again  ), I have his buckle collar for his tags and I use a third collar attached to another leash that wraps around his rok stretch leash for redundancy (in case of leash or collar failure), both of which are attached to a third leash to give him 10' to roam. The rok leash has a traffic handle near the shackle as well as the normal end of the leash handle so I effectively have 3 control points for him.

I also have 2 different harnesses - one is for his car tether the other was given to me by a neighbor and I'll probably use it for the walky dog bike thingy. I tried walking him on both harnesses but they scrunch up, he pulls, they slither left and right and I'm afraid the way it fits behind his front legs that he'll get chafed if walked too long.

Don't know if this is helpful but food for thought.

I don't know, we had been using it for a long time before that too and one day it just happened and I caught it then the next time it happened and I didn't. I also thought the way it was attached it would never be possible but some how Siku figured it out, and it was very tight.

All I remember is maybe seeing one leg out after he jumped or something (its really all a stressful blur now), and then the other followed but how he got it to that point I have no idea, and I know it was on right because I triple check everything before I leave the house.

I'm sure plenty of people have used it without fail, but I'm positive that I should rent Siku out to husky test things for companies because he always surprises me with what he able to do and get out of!

Erica-lol

Amy-By security, I just mean the potential for buckle failure. Bode doesn't pull too bad, I am just paranoid that a collar is going to have a buckle failure. Also, I just feel like a harness is more comfortable without the pressure on his throat. He doesn't pull, but he is usually at the end of the leash.

MGoBlue wrote:

Erica-lol

Amy-By security, I just mean the potential for buckle failure. Bode doesn't pull too bad, I am just paranoid that a collar is going to have a buckle failure. Also, I just feel like a harness is more comfortable without the pressure on his throat. He doesn't pull, but he is usually at the end of the leash.

Buckle or prong failure is my concern also, which is why I have the double leash and 2 collars. I would really like to transition Ami to harness for walking for the same reason and was actually considering the freedom no pull. But, from all the pictures I see of harnesses on dogs (excluding the X back design) it looks like they are right behind the front legs? And really, the 2 that I have (admittedly, not really good quality) rest just behind his front legs and twist all over - maybe because on our walks I allow him to wander everywhere - I try to give him a pseudo off leash experience to sniff and explore whatever he wants since he's on trolley-tether a good deal of the time. Maybe if I were to have him just walk a straight line, the harnesses would stay put?

I forgot to mention this but I do love our ruffwear harness, I feel safe with it, and I bet Bode would look very handsome! Just a bit pricier..

NVM. i'm clearly not observant he has one in your picture.    Why don't you try that one out on walks?

siku&nikolai wrote:

I forgot to mention this but I do love our ruffwear harness, I feel safe with it, and I bet Bode would look very handsome! Just a bit pricier..

NVM. i'm clearly not observant he has one in your picture.    Why don't you try that one out on walks?

I just don't feel like it has the level of control necessary for neighborhood walks for some reason. I also try to save that one for more recreation activities where he's got a little more freedom so I try to keep it separate in his mind. I like having a separate harnesses for "behave in the neighborhood" walks and "feel free to wander a little at a faster pace" hikes.

I'm not a fan of the lupine step in, but I bought a wonder walker harness and it's great. Jeff suggested it to me and it works well. It has a front clip and a back clip option.

http://www.softouchconcepts.com/

Our positive reinforcement behaviorist recommended the Softouch Harness. I bought one for each dog. They've worked great. I have complete control and it deters pulling. I normally walk multiple dogs at one time. I switched from a prong to this, as I wanted to transition away from a prong. I went to a prong originally after walking on a flat collar, and Paw Paw was pulling so hard that he was coughing and choking himself out. He's been through all sorts of obedience training, but he's just stubborn and hard-headed sometimes, and has a high pain tolerance. Silly man! We haven't had a single issue once I got him the Sensation Harness. Oh, and he's never backed out of this harness.

Hope that helps! Good luck.

Following this thread with interest as I'm thinking of getting one for Ripley. I've never used a dog harness before.

I use a Hooner-Hybrid pulling harness on Loki, But that is probably a bit excessive for just walks. But, I am bringing this up because it has a strap on it that hooks the harness to the collar, that way if the dog manages to pull free of the harness, The harness still stays hooked to the dog and therefor you still have your dog on the leash so you can grab them and fix it. You may simply look into a sort of double clipped strap that you can hook to a harness and to the collar.

If you are interested in the Hooner, They are custom made to fit your dog. You do 3 sets of measurements then they make it to fit. It has great padding for comfort and he has pulled a fair bit of weight in it and it has never once tried to malfunction. It has also never slipped off of him.

You can see the strap here, It is sewn onto the harness and then has a clip at the end for the collar. I do not have it hooked to his collar in this picture, just to the back D-Ring. (As I was just walking him on the collar at the time. He is trained to walk with slack lead on collar and to pull in harness.) Could be something useful to any of you that has a dog that will pull out of harness or collar.
The harness sits farther back when being pulled on, It was sort of bunched up in these photos from playing in the water.

You just slip it on over their head and then clip each side closed.

Here is a picture of one not on a dog, so you can see it better. Comes with custom colors and reflectors. (Blue, Pink, Red, Black, Bright orange, camo colors, I don't remember what else.)

Has anyone used the EQDog Pro harness?

it looks great but 54,90 €
is a bit steep.

I need to order a flash second skin tonight. just keep forgetting to measure.
irrelevant to this thread as i encourage pulling. I'll share my harness experience anyway.

Cheap car harness with the rubber strap is comfy and held up okay. broke the stitching. so i used the strongest string available to restitch it. would be strong enough for regular walking.

bought one of those flashing led one's in the largest size it barely fit so i snapped the plastic clips off and used the two D-rings which surprisingly fits but the leash potentially can dig in if Furai isn't pulling.
also dropped one of the flashing lights so make sure you actually have it switched on if using the lights.

still using it as its such a snug fit. and non adjustable.


thanks on the insight on options people.

I really like indi-dog harnesses for comfort and not worrying about pulling. Padded front part. Now she has many, many, many styles and this one is actually one I custom ordered as a design thats not even on the website, so this one isnt very secure but her other types are. I just chose this one because Yuki doesn't try to escape and I hate harnesses that rub on the arm pits.
https://www.facebook.com/indidogcollars

Not suggesting the FaceBook link isn't good but here another link for IndiDog While I haven't bought any of her products she is active on several other forums and seems quite responsive to people.

aljones wrote:

Not suggesting the FaceBook link isn't good but here another link for IndiDog While I haven't bought any of her products she is active on several other forums and seems quite responsive to people.

Yeah I only gave the fb because she responds really quick to her fb inbox and has tons of custom pictures on the fb site that aren't on the normal site. but thats cuz I order everything through private message with her xD

Man, what perfect timing for me to come across this thread. Kohdi managed to break his harness in two places tonite (was really fun walking him back home tonite...hunched over and as ready as I can be for any escape attempt he might make.) He doesnt even pull!!! what he does do though, and he did it tonite was when he reaches a big grass area, he does one of two things, both are a bit annoying, first he slides like a ball player sliding into base, then flips up and does sommersaults to his hearts content before flipping over on his back and doing his wiggle thing, OR, and this is what happened tonite, he hits the grass and starts running at full speed, then stops and goes back, and before I can react, hes going back the other way again, and goes on and on and on...and on, all the time I'm making his leash shorter but doesnt do much. Anyways, he somehow snapped all the stitching at one of the metal loops (where the leash attatches) AND he somehow gets the clip to unclip yet when I got him home, I snapped it together and with me pulling on it and a friend pulling it (like tug of war) we pulled as hard as we could but it stayed snapped together, yet on the walk it unsnapped twice (second time is when I realized walk was over and the fun of getting him back home begins) Mishka had her surgury ysterday so Kohdi hasnt been able to be as active at home so his enrgy level on the walk today was like way up there. Anyways, I need something by tomorrow so I dont have time for internet orders, and Petco only has the type I already have so...might have to get one anyways for the time being and order a second from online. Do have a question though, and I hadnt even noticed it til I read everyones posts...some have leash loops on the front, others on the back, and some on both...I always attatched Kohdi's leash on his back, does this put extra stress on the harness itself? are there advantages to attatching to the front? I believe Kohdi's harness has both options.

Just a quick post on the topic from me.

We are currently using these:
http://www.zerodc.cz/en/eshop/10_postroje-podsite/-/273_short-sm

for our dogs and we absolutely love them. They are very comfortable for the dog and very solid on the same time. Our boy Snow loves to pull a lot and he was literally chocking himself in the last harness, it is fixed ever since we got the ZeroDC. Its european brand and they proclaim to have business partners in the USA.

Originally it was small family business and its kind of "from mushers to mushers" kind of gear.

for the US distributors,  Google "zero dc harness us" that brings up more than I'm going to type.

er ... on second thought, many of these are NOT in the US, tryAnimalGrace who are located around San Diego (from their area code) ... Huh? San Diego!!!!

Not too pricey - seem to run between US$45 and $55

Al thank you for the link. For a second i thought that they use different name for the brand in the US as i had some issues finding US distributor from my british IP.

Edit: They are actually quite cheap for the quality from my point of view.
Edit2: Only bad thing about this harness is that the D lock is placed on the very tail end of the harness so it might be a bit more challenging to control the dog during the walk. For me its not a problem as we mainly do canicross and running with the dogs.