Choosing A Harness

Here at Canine Counselling we love harnesses and actively promote their use. A good harness doesn't restrict any range of motion across the shoulders and doesn’t tighten or cause discomfort to our dogs when they are pulling.

There is a misconception about harnesses that they teach our dogs to pull, which isn’t true. A harness won’t suddenly make our dogs walk nicely on the lead - we have to train them to do that. If a dog pulls on a harness, chances are they also pull on any other equipment. The harness will make it more comfortable for our dogs and not cause any damage to their joints or throat.

Typically, I would still favour a harness even for a dog that walks well on the lead. This is because there may still be instances where our dogs feel inclined to pull, such as if a loud noise frightens them and they try to flee. If our dogs are on their collars in these instances, then they may cause damage to their necks, as well as choking themselves. There may also be times where we have to quickly pull our dogs out of the way, to avoid speeding cars for example. Having our dogs on a harness in these situations will be more comfortable than on the collar.

I would suggest avoiding any harnesses that restrict movement in the shoulders, for example the popular Julius K9 harness. I would also avoid any harnesses that promote ‘no pulling’ by having aspects of the harness that tighten. These cause discomfort for our dogs and can have negative affects on their behaviour.

It should go without saying that I do not recommend the use of choke collars, prong collars, shock collars, or anything similar, for welfare and ethical reasons. I also wouldn’t recommend slip leads, except for those that have a secondary stopper. These I would use for flight risks in conjunction with a harness for added security.

I also generally do not recommend the use of head collars, most head collars have tightening elements that cause discomfort to our dogs. There may be extreme cases where the use of a head collar could be considered, but this would be alongside a harness, with careful training and conditioning.

With that being said, here are some of my top picks for harnesses:

Perfect fit harness

The Perfect fit harness is what I currently use for Sesame. It comes in three separate, adjustable pieces that can be combined in any size combination to suit your dog. It’s padded with soft fleece for comfort and has two connection points for a lead, one on the back and one on the front of the chest. It completely unclips, enabling you to do this harness up around your dogs neck rather than going over the head. The top piece of the harness comes in many colours.

Ruffwear front range harness

The Ruffwear front range harness is a great everyday harness. It goes on over the head and is adjustable in four different areas for a good fit. It’s padded for comfort and also has two points of contact for a lead, on the front of the chest and on the back. It comes in a variety of colours, boasts reflective strips and has a pouch for ID tags.

T-Touch harness

The T-Touch harness has five points of adjustment to achieve a good fit. It completely unclips, like the perfect fit, so doesn’t need to go over the head to be put on. It has a simple, thin, light weight design, and offers three different points of contact for a lead; one on the front of the chest and two on the back.

True love harness

The True love harness is a similar style to the Ruffwear, but with a much smaller price tag. It goes over the head and is also has four separate points of adjustment to suit your dog. The harness is padded for comfort with two points of attachment for a lead. It also has reflective stitching and a safety handle should you need to use it.

All of these harnesses allow for free range of motion and I’ve personally used each of them during my career.

Other harnesses

Obviously, my top picks are not the only harnesses that are great to use. Some honourable mentions include: Poy pet harness, Bully burrows harness, Blue-9 balance harness (this one has six points of adjustments!) and Haqihana harness.

I would suggest slightly different harnesses for dogs that are a flight risk. The harnesses that I would opt for would be those with an extra set of straps that clip up around the waist. This typically means that the dog can’t slip out of the harness as the strap around the waist is much smaller than around the chest. The rest of the harnesses is basically the same. An example of a harness I would use for a flight risk is the Ruffwear webmaster harness.

Whichever harness you ultimately go, for as long as it is comfortable for your dog, non-aversive, and allows free range of motion, you should be good to go!