Harness recommendations

[Marmaladegin]

Never used a harness before but my SIL has convinced me they're much kinder,so I thought I'd treat Ddogs for Christmas... any recommendations or tips of what to avoid? DDogs are both small poodle crosses. One sprints constantly and the other plods.

Also thinking of treating them to new beds in case anyone really rates any, for washing, style or coziness.
Thanks!

None, teach your dog to walk to heel with a collar + lead or slip lead.

Mine has a perfect fit harness - it's the only one found that he will tolerate. It's nicely padded and fully adjustable, its basically modular so if you're dog is a weird shape you can buy a small back piece, and a medium chest bit etc - there's plenty of info on how to measure your dog and i still wasn't sure so i sent them an email and they were really helpful. I've been through a LOT of harnesses and this was the best one by far. Stay away from those julius style ones - bad for their shoulders.

My dog is trained, but he can easily wriggle out of a collar if he wants to. A harness is much safer and also better as it never puts pressure on his neck.

Slip leads can tighten too much and cause pain.

We've tried several harnesses and our favourite is the 'step in harness' from Fuzzyard. Our Cavapoo wears the XS size and it's perfect. There are loads of lovely colours & patterns. Our dogs seem really comfortable in them.

@Girlsjustwannahavefundamentalrights the point about slip leads is that if a dog walks correctly to heel then the lead will never tighten. I have always used a slip lead and all of my dogs walk to heel with it hanging down loose. To be fair in all honesty they don't need a lead but I use one for safety on roads.

It's very debatable whether harnesses are better than collars and leads. They all seem to impact gait.

If you're worried about your dog slipping its collar, and about a slip lead getting too tight, you can get slip leads that will only tighten so far.

Slips also have the benefit that they are very quick and easy to get on in a crisis, or with one hand.

Another vote for Perfect Fit harnesses. My old dog's chiropractor recommended them to us. Now I sell them in my shop. Our vet has them for his dogs, and most of the local dog trainers also recommend them. They don't suit every single dog, of course, but they suit most. They come in three sections, so they can be customised to your dog's body. They also have a D ring on the chest as well as the back, so can be walked on a double-ended lead. The Y shaped front is much better than a horizontal band, as a PP said. If you can find a stockist local to you, it is worth having it fitted.

How do you guarantee your dog will never ever get spooked and back out of a collar?

My dog is well trained but nervy. There's only so much you can train a dog out of its natural disposition.

@Girlsjustwannahavefundamentalrights because I don't use a collar as most of the time I am on private land and I've only got a few 100 yards of pavement/road. If your dog can slip out of its collar then the collar is too loose or you train the dog to stop if the lead/collar comes off.

Make sure a harness is y shaped at the front (with a central chest piece between the dogs legs) rather than h shaped with a strap across the dogs chest, and that the shoulders can move freely.

Loads of studies on harnesses and collars and majority return the result that a well fitting Y fronted harness causes less issues to the dog.

Personally I would never use a slip lead on a small dog.

Any y fronted harness would be a good bet OP

Ruffwear
Dog Copenhagen
Mekuti
Perfect fit
there are a lot on the market

OP, I've been down a rabbit hole about collars and harnesses. I won't go into all of it (and it has in no way made me think that using a slip lead is inhumane) but if you opt for a Y-harness, be aware that they do seem to impact locomotion. This is possibly due to poor fit and this article explains why and how, and how to make sure you fit a harness correctly:http://www.highlineaussies.com/files/To-Harness-Or-Not-To-Harness-That-Is-The-Question-Avidog-Zink-Ventures.pdf

Another vote for perfect fit harnesses. One of our dogs is an oddly shaped mongrel and another a very slim narrow cockerpoo. These are the only harnesses that give a proper fit. Also recommended by vets, dog trainers etc. xx

Perfect Fit.

couldn’t recommend anything better

Use Ruffwear Webmasters for all my dogs. Safe, secure, easy to adjust and make comfy. Not cheap but worth it.

We use Perfect Fit. Properly fitted, the dog will have full range of movement.

For our puppy we use collar and lead for heel walking and PF harness with longline if we want her to be able to roam a little (although she tends to trot beside us even then).

And another vote for the perfect fit harness. I had measured ddog wrong and were super helpful, exchanging pieces until everything fit perfectly.

We have a big greyhound boy. We were recommended the Ruffwear Webmaster as the safest. It's expensive but seems as if it will last forever.

@Marmaladegin +1 for perfect fit harness they are AWESOME andnth customer service is great. I have them for my ten stone boy and can control him with one finger for the most part. I'm pretty strong but my mum weighs less than the dog and can also control him using the front clip. We also use them for any other dogs we walk and even really strong pulling dogs eventually give up and walk calmly. I tried a few things with my dog before his trainer recommended perfect fit and I've never gone back, I can just see the difference in the dogs of them enjoying the training rather than being confused or scared by corrections. Not saying everyone who uses choke collars, slip leads etc is wrong just saying they don't work for me, my dog and other dogs I work with.

@FailWhale slip leads don't work on corrections if you train dog to walk to heel off the lead first. If you have to use them to correct then you haven't trained the dog correctly in the first place. The issue always is that people don't train their dogs to walk on the lead nicely in the first place,then they go to dodgy trainers who recommend awful choke chains etc.