Harness your dog’s energy and she’ll walk nicely beside you.
Leo wears a green front-clasp harness designed to improve the walking skills of pullers, even though he’s always walked pretty well on leash. I’ve read that these harnesses are tools to be used until the dog learns how to walk properly, and then you’re supposed to switch to a flat collar. Well, Leo continues to walk best on the front-clasp harness, so we’re sticking with it.
Mia wears a pink back-clasp harness that first belonged to Isis. Rob prefers walking her on this one, although we also have a raspberry-colored front-clasp harness, and she does well on just the flat collar too.
Next time I’m in the market for a new harness, I plan to buy a Freedom Harness. I saw one in action at the SoCal Pet Expo and I like how you can clip to the front or the back or both.
Harnesses are my favorite tool for walking dogs.
If your dog is an exceptionally enthusiastic puller, you might need to pair a head collar like a Halti with a harness.
For the A to Z Challenge, I’m using all positive language in my posts. Find out how I discovered the benefits of positive reinforcement training in my book, Bark and Lunge!
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Kari Neumeyer 
I’m totally sold on harnesses. My Jack Russell was a dreadful puller, gasping for breath after only a relatively few yards walking. We bought him a harness that distributes the pull over his entire chest area and immediately it made him easier to control without feeling we were inflicting pain on him. It wasn’t long after we got it that he practically stopped pulling of his own accord. Suddenly, walking him became the pleasurable experience it was always meant to be – for him and for us.
Glad that you found training tools that work. Thanks so much for joining the hop!
I’ve been meaning to do a similar post that highlights Ruby’s and Boca’s daily gear. I think you already know that I’m a HUGE fan of the Freedom harness and both girls have one, although I prefer to walk Ruby with the Sensation front-clip. Boca is not a puller so I use the back-clip on the Freedom. Now that I’m accustomed to harnesses I just can’t go back to leashes clipped to collars on a regular basis, but I will sometime walk Boca in a martingale collar because it’s so easy to slip on. Again – something I wouldn’t use on a dog who pulls. I love that Isis’s harness was passed to Mia.
I was using the wrong kind of harness for a long time before the Freedom No Pull was recommended to me. It’s been a lifesaver. It really is amazing what it did for my dog Laika whose a notorious puller. So lovely to see the harness being passed down.
Great advice for those dogs that pull. It can make all the difference between a pleasant walk and one where you’re so frustrated you don’t even want to go again the next day.
I think more people than we realize can relate to coming home from a walk in tears…
“enthusiastic puller” – nice. 🙂
All part of my strategy to frame everything in a positive light!
Hi Y’all!
I’m usually not a puller, but that’s interesting info about the harness.
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Great post! They are too cute! We use harnesses on hikes and longer walks. For potty walks I just walk them on their collars.
The pink harness is pretty 🙂 I was advised that dogs can learn different behaviours with different leashes based on their interaction with the human when wearing these different harnesses and collars 🙂 And that made sense to me 🙂
Sampson has the Freedom Harness and I love it. We got it after his ACL surgery because of his tendency to pull. Granted he was still recovering from surgery but the harness helped enough that my six year old grandson could walk him (with me right there of course!) I can highly recommend one and assure you it’s in the budget for Delilah. 🙂
Thanks for joining the hop!
harness are great training tools.and help out on the neck if pullers
All of our dogs are in the market for new harnesses, but I’m going to wait until summer to go shopping for them. I’m going to switch them all to front latch harnesses. I’m curious if walking multiple dogs with these will work.
Wonder Walkers are made in Seattle.