Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Flip

Original poster

collar or harness for puppy?

16 replies

rogersmellyonthetelly · 23/05/2011 18:34

ok so Peppa does not like her collar. I've been trying with it for 2 weeks now, and she HATES it. As soon as I put it on she starts scratching at it, dragging her shoulder and neck along the ground and basically it driven to distraction by it. I'm wondering if a soft neoprene puppy harness would be more comfortable for her to wear when out walking, also, as soon as I put the lead on she rolls over on her back and bites the lead - this would be harder for her to do with a harness on as the lead is further back.
Finally - she's a staffy and they tend to pull like a steam train be a bit keen when out walking, so I was thinking a harness would be better for her in that respect too. Of course, I will be training her to walk to heel from an early age, but I'm expecting she will have a mind of her own on this one, like everything else!

OP posts:

midori1999 · 23/05/2011 18:48

A harness will encourage pulling more than a collar.

Persevere with the collar. Put it on when you are about to feed her so she is distracted by her dinner and ignores the collar. Put it on and give her treats/do some training with her.

When you are walking her use a treat to 'lure' her along and into correct position to stay by your side/on a loose lead/to heel. This will not only distract her from the collar/lead but it will teach her to walk in the correct position. Hold the treatin front of her nose and every few steps, when she is in the correct positon, say 'heel' and give her the treat. It's painstaking at first, but she'll soon ge the hang of it and you can reduce the frequency with which you give the treats.

Once she is getting the hang of it, if she does pull, simply stop at once ad use a treat to get her back into the right position, only walking forward again when she is where you want her.

Strumpypumpy · 23/05/2011 18:54

Stick with the collar. They do get used to them. Maybe try a soft one or a half choke as they are looser. But my DH likens the harnesses to the ones "the world's strongest man" competitors use to pull cars! It gives the dog more power as they can use their paws and body for leverage. I have GSDs and I prefer a full choke chain, not popular I know but I know how to use it for it's proper purpose. They hate the noise of the chain clicking. I learned how to use one a training classes. Made a huge difference to my boy. Or halti head collars, they are also good IMO. But again you need some help with how to use one.

Toughasoldboots · 23/05/2011 19:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

emptyshell · 23/05/2011 20:07

I had quite a nice anti-pull harness I got off Amazon for a while - don't use it much anymore and now only use a (different) harness if he's going out in the car that doesn't have dogbars fitted so I can clip him into the seatbelt.

I did the turning around IMMEDIATELY he pulled thing... walk 5-6 steps and then turn back around again, praising (helps if they're clicker trained) when he was in the right position and rewarding him then. You have to stick with it for a while, may get nowhere fast at first (and the neighbours will think you're mental) but now it only ever takes a couple of turnarounds when he's getting overenthusiastic on the way to the park and he gets the message and trotts along beautifully to heel, harvesting compliments and fusses from old ladies all the way there!

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 23/05/2011 20:39

I used to believe that using a harness was some kind of training 'failure', for those who couldn't teach their dogs not to pull.

I was completely converted by Turid Rugaas, who is the most amazing dog person.

Watch .

I do have collars for my dog, but tend to walk him on a harness if we will be lead walking for any length of time, I believe it is much kinder and hugely under-rated.

I would highly reccomend a harness from Dog Games though you may want to wait until she is older.

I would point out that she will need to wear a collar though, for ID purposes, you need to put a soft cat collar on her and leave it on all the time, except for when she is left alone, she will eventually get used to it and I know it can be hard, it took my current puppy three whole days of acting like his collar was murdering him before he accepted it.

diddl · 24/05/2011 08:10

Our dog has a harness-just seems kinder tbh!

WTWTW-why would a collar be needed for id purposes?

emptyshell · 24/05/2011 09:45

Legally the dog has to wear an ID tag with certain details on when out and about (think it's contact number and name but don't quote me on that - ours has our surname - was buggered if I was putting HIS name on and making it easy if anyone did nick a mongrel who happens to be the best dog in the world, phone no, house number and postcode on). So even when I take woofbags out on a harness - he still wears his collar with the ID tag on it.

diddl · 24/05/2011 09:59

Oh- Ihave the id tag on the harness.

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 24/05/2011 11:39

diddl because ideally your dog should wear id at all times, even in the house, just in case of the very unlikely event of it shooting out of the door or similar.

diddl · 24/05/2011 11:57

Yes, I get that.

Well, he´s never in the garden alone & I always make sure that he´s shut in the sitting room before I open the outside door to the hall-in case the gate has been left open(too high to jump).

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 24/05/2011 12:15

Well it's a personal choice, there is no legal requirement to wear one in the house. I take every step possible to make sure I don't lose my dog but even so I like him to wear id all the time 'just in case'.

memphis83 · 24/05/2011 13:18

we are taking our pup to classes and the trainer insists I use a collar eventhough he hates it so he has a collar for classes and when im training him in the house/garden and harness at othertimes hoping that he will get used to both, one tip for a pulling dog she gave was when they pull turn and walk the other way, so they are pulling the oppisite direction, it seems to be working for us

diddl · 24/05/2011 13:22

Why did she insist on a collar?

A problem I have is that you seem to have to have them "too" tight to be secure.

Unless our dog is an odd shape/particularly adept at getting them off!

musicposy · 24/05/2011 13:39

Our year old dog had a lovely pink (indulgent? moi?) harness until she was about 5 or 6 months. She hated the collar and wouldn't walk properly on the lead with it because she kept turning round all the time to try and get it off. I liked the harness as I felt she was so secure in it without pressure round her neck. Once she got a bit older we seemed to gradually move to a collar and we haven't used the harness for ages now as she seemed to be fine with the collar once she was a bit older.

She's never been a pulling sort of dog, really, though, so I can't comment on whether the harness would make pulling worse.

midori1999 · 24/05/2011 14:50

I have to admit, I don't have collars and tags on in the house, but my dogs just aren't going to run out of either the front door or any gate.

Most good trainers/classes insist on a plain, flat collar for training. I've certainly never felt that a collar restricted my dogs in any way or was too tight in order to be secure. IMO it's merely a sort of 'failsafe' in case of emergencies, just like the lead, neither really do anything on a day to day basis as the lead is always loose and so the collar not pulled on.

ellangirl · 24/05/2011 15:17

I was wondering about this. Can I use a rope slip lead for a puppy? I use one for my adult dog, just wasn't sure about a puppy.

Flip