No Pull Harness/ Sense-Ation Harness/ Walk With Love Harness

[Amanda & Riley]

I have been having some issues with walking Riley on the leash. She is very pushy and likes to boss me while walking. (Not to mention our issues in training class)

 

I have used a harness with her, which relieves me of feeling that she is choking, however it does not help with her behavior. With the harness on she looks a little supermanish as the harness is holding her back around her back but not eliminating the bad behavior.

 

I was given a Sense-ation harness and thought I would try that... I am wondering if anyone else had issues with this harness as the clip is on the chest area. Riley is a leash grabber and so it seems this harness is encouraging that behavior. I am not sure how to always correct this when the leash is right in her face... I was hoping for this harness to be the answer as I have heard great things about it, but has anyone else had issues with it?

 

My next step/option is a prong collar. I have been looking into the herm sprenger ones. I talked with my trainer who also suggested one (as she has seen Rileys crazy behavior in class!!!)

 

Any thoughts/ suggestions?

Thankyou!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Easy Walk Harness is the only way to go (that and heel work). http://www.amazon.com/Premier-EWH-HC-SM-RYL/dp/B001PO2EO0/ref=sr_1_... 

 

it works miracles for my little puller. I just got Winston one today too, because he gets excited about squirrels and rabbits. They both walk like a dream on it. It's unique in that the leash attaches in the front, which means everytime the pull forward they get tugged sideways, so they quickly learn pulling doesn't work.

 

If I don't have the harness, I bring some training treats with me and work on the heel command... basically luring her along with the treats. She's getting there but it's a long process lol.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I loved the harnesses that clipped in the front!   The problem with harnesses and  head collars, they did not work for one of my dogs.  As I have said many times, these are CONTAINERS~ NOT TRAINERS!  In other words, I failed miserably to train my happy hyper dog to walk correctly on a leash.  He was contained while on the harness or headcollar but once off, he was a monster, AGAIN.   Today I handed him back to my husband on our walk. He is almost three years old.  We have worked very hard to break him of the habit.  We are almost there but we really have to work with him constantly~ still.

I loved collars but nothing can replace the tried and true methods of good old fashioned training.    Others though,  have had success. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I have to agree here .... gentle leaders are wonderful containers.  We started our two on them at around 5 months.  We made the mistake of using a harness on them when they were 3 and 4 months old and all this did was allow them to really learn to pull.  They are now 3.5 and we are trying to wean them off of the gentle leaders onto regular collars.  Trust me, that would have been easier done when they were 5 months old because they weigh a whole lot less.  My advice, for what it is worth, is to ask your trainer for the needed tips for training to a regular collar before he gets any bigger.  Then MAKE THE TIME, right now to get a handle on the heel and loosh leash walking.  It is a pain, but it will be worth it down the road.

[Rose Ann and Amante]

I like the easy walk harness like Sherri. It really helps.

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

I have used a prong collar with Monty while he was in training based on the advice of the trainer. It worked okay for pulling, and I guess it helped Monty to focus more while walking with me.  But I was not mentally okay about seeing prongs on the neck of my baby. Then the local humane society was giving out Sense-ation harnesses in an exchange for a prong collar. So I surrendered the prong collar and got Monty fitted for the Sense-ation harness past January....he was 10 months old at that time. Just like your Riley, Monty was a leash grabber, and sure enough, he would bite down on the leash that would be clipped to the harness in front of his face. I even bought a chain link leash to discourage the behavior and it seemed to work. After some time he got used to the leash being in front of him and we don't need the chain link leash anymore. So be patient. As for the effectiveness of the harness, hard to say. He is still able to pull when he sees a squirrel or a rabbit. But I guess it's not as bad as it could be using just a regular collar. He can heel nicely "if he chooses to". That means, we are still working on it. He passes the Canine Good Citizen test and we were allowed to use only a regular collar (we did not have the harness at that time yet). Monty is 19 months old now. So bottom line, I think the Sense-ation harness does help. On the other hand, we owners have to work with our doods and really enforce heeling while on the walk, no matter what collar or harness we are using. Monty would probably be much better at it if I did not allow him to walk on a retractable leash, run around and smell everything. :-)  One thing that I don't like about the Sense-ation harness is that I feel like it loosens up. Back at the humane society, they fitted the harness to fit Monty, but I think with his pulling and moving around, the length of the individual parts of the harness changed. I guess you can just fit it back in, so that should not be a problem. However, the buckle on the harness sits directly under Monty's right "armpit". I walk him on my left side and with the pulling and movement, the hair in his "armpit" got shaved by the buckle. I realize this might not be a problem for everyone, since it all depends on what the length of the harness is.

 

A couple of months ago we visited a Pet Expo where one of the vendors was demonstrating a "Walk In Sync" harness.

http://dogwalkinsync.com

I got quite intrigued, even though the harness and the leash system is $50 bucks. Again, the leash attaches on the dog's chest, but Monty will be okay with it by now. I'm planning on purchasing one this upcoming week in a local store and really start working on proper leash walking with Monty.

[Adina P]

Get into a GOOD training class that focuses on results and you'll be advised on the right tool and how to use it.  I agree with the statement above that no-pull harnesses and such are 'containers not trainers.'  Train your dog to respond to commands like "heel" and a more casual walk command and you'll go farther than you will by using tools that only 'contain' your dog.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I use the "Canny Collar" with my Riley and it works perfectly  http://www.cannyco.us/

 

[Amanda & Riley]

Thankyou everyone for your advice!! It is just getting very frustrating working with Riley. She is just a very rambunctious puppy!! There are two other doodles in our puppy class and they are so well behaved!!

I will continue to work with her on the sense-ation harness. I like the idea of the leash that has the chain at the clasp.

 

Although my trainer suggested the prong, in class we are practicing walki on a leash while holding the treat next to our thigh. I will continue to work with her on this.... although I feel like she is just too rambunctious for this technique.

 

Nicky- We have a similar collar here, I cant remember what it is called though!

[Amanda & Riley]

my trainer actually let us borrow a martingale collar for the week to see if we liked it... however, she just pulls right through it, even when i try to give her corrections!!! Im sure It may be because I do not know how to use it fully, but she just continues to choke with it...

 

I was just practicing walking with her on a normal collar with the treat at my thigh and she nearly nibbled off my knuckles because she knew I had a treat!!!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Well, as far as the harness you were given, you could try spraying bitter apple or vinegar on it so she doesn't like the taste when she grabs on to it. This sounds similar to the easy walk harness which many people have great experiences with. Ours are terrible like this and we tried them all. Then we went to a kennel club for training and they REQUIRED us to use the herm sprenger prong collar in class. So from there out that's all my husband wanted to use. They are small dogs but they pull and we cannot get them to stop. I hate seeing them in the prong collars, but if you have it high enough on the back of the neck it slows them down a bit. They are 3 & 4 and still use them but I think they are immune to those also now. Good luck!

There's also martingale collars that do a similar thing.

[Amanda & Riley]

Thats really interesting... I know it looks scary on them but I have researched that they really do not harm!

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

We bought the sensations harness for Ollie and I don't really notice any difference when he had it one so I just stopped using it.  Have you tried the Gentle Leader or the Halti?  Both of them are worn on the head and offer more control.