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Collars, Harnesses, Halters, a bit more discussion

Posted November 22nd, 2007 by Marniem

Aidan was kind enough to respond to a question I had about an email he had sent, which resulted in the following discussion. I'm posting it so that everybody can benefit from his comments and suggestions. My very first email (which I can't find) had some questions about the training recommendations of someone mentioned in one of the Positive Petzine emails.

I wrote:

Hi Aidan,

Thanks for your email! I really think you should leave your Tasmanian Devils behind and come to Virginia to train my dog. ;-)

clever guy, but one of these "strong beliefs" types who can
sometimes get a bit dogmatic.

I sort of caught that. It seems to happen a lot in fields about which folks really care. (Was your pun intentional?!)

I would use a head halter, it makes life much easier. Even if you
never train loose leash walking, it gives you the balance of power.

Tell me more! I worry about neck injury, but also about my own habits since he and I were introduced to a training collar early on. I'm in the habit of giving him a little "pop" to correct, or steer, and have to be particularly vigilant not to do that. I *would* like more control of him than I feel I have with the harness (although a moment of excitement at seeing a new person yesterday when we were testing it went pretty well, actually). I try to be vigilant of those things which will get him revved up when we are walking, and catch them 7 or 8 times out of 10 and get his attention and move forward or away as necessary. The training collar gives me the sense that I can control him in an emergency, and I would like that sense with whatever we switch to. Do some head halters interfere less with the eyes than others?

I've been working with the critter off-leash in our back yard, and have gotten several minutes in a row of nice walking at heel (encouraged by treats, of course), with great eye contact. When I put him on-leash, though, especially out of the yard, he tends to move forward about 8-14 inches, so that I have to call him back to get eye contact again, after which he oozes forward again. Every now and again, though, he'll give me a *brilliant* walk at heel just 'cuz, with a huge "U" of a leash—just often enough to keep me hoping, and treating!

Thanks for your help, and for listening to my whine!

A dog will do what works ... what is he getting out of his
behavior ... what would I like him to do instead? (Have I got
it?!) :-)

You've got it!

Haha. So, I've passed the "written test". Now all that remains is the practicum!

Cheers,
Marnie

He replied:

You can either go for a front attaching harness (D ring on front of harness), or a head halter. Both will give you good control, the head halter more so.

None of them interfere with the eyes enough to be a problem. I would suggest that it bothers you more than your dog ;-) But your dog might tell you otherwise if you let him ;-)

A head halter needs to be very tight, worn high up around the neck. You should be able to get just one finger underneath. The nose loop should be relatively loose, just loose enough so that it won't slip over the nose.

If you can't stop the "pop" reflex, you can get a hands-free belt. I use one when I'm jogging (so, not very often!). I think a hands-free belt is a good idea anyway, even with a flat collar. The belt is at your centre of gravity, your strongest point.

I've not heard of any neck injury resulting from a head halter, but I'm sure it could happen. Dogs usually aren't silly enough to injure themself, it would have to be something the owner did. I would be careful if there was a history of neck injury.

If you are worried, front attaching harness and hands-free belt makes a good option. I don't know if you're exceptionally petite, but even if you were Flim-Flam would have to be completely out of control and very fit to pull you over with that combination.

I like the Black Dog hands-free, you can over-ride the "safety" release with them. I suppose the safety is a good idea, but personally I would rather sustain a few grazes than lose my dog across a highway.

If you get a chance, could you post this all to a blog? It's pretty useful information that others would be interested in. My connection is too slow where I am right now, and I'm on the road this week for work.

Regards,
Aidan

Comments

harness

On November 22nd, 2007 dogwalkerartist says:

I was wondering if you have any experience with the Gentle Leader harness? It's at their website.

Gentle Leader Harness

On November 24th, 2007 Marniem says:

We've experimented with the Gentle Leader. It may be that we didn't get the right fit, but it was unwieldy and didn't please either of us. My dog will tolerate all sorts of collars and harnesses, and did so with the Gentle Leader too, but it didn't seem like a good fit physically, or in terms of "information sharing" between us.

A trainer on a positive methods newsgroup mentioned that she likes traditional harnesses, but with the leash attached to the front ring. (Not all harnesses have this.) That may work better with his build. I'm wondering, if I front-attach for walking, if I could attach a flexi to the ring on the back of the harness to let him explore. There are times that a flexi would be perfect for letting him snuffle and snoop, but I don't want to encourage him to pull at other times.

His LLW is really improving. I just feel like I need a safety net for unexpected situations until his self-control is stronger.

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