Following an interesting discussion about head halters and harnesses at Eva the Sheltie’s blog, I pressed Freya into service as a model so I could write about the front-clip no-pull harness that I’ve found helpful: the Gentle Leader Easy Walk harness.
Although it sounds like Eva’s training is going well, and she may not need a no-pull harness, I’m going to write about harnesses anyway!
The top harness is a front-clip no-pull harness. The bottom harness is a conventional harness.
You will often hear people say that harnesses encourage pulling. A conventional harness does encourage pulling due to opposition reflex. A conventional harness applies pressure across the dog’s chest and the opposition reflex will cause the dog to push back against that pressure, thus pulling on the leash. You can use opposition reflex for good, such as in building drive while training the protection phase in Schutzhund, or to proof solid sit-stays and down-stays in obedience, but that’s a thought for another day.
Freya is modeling a conventional harness in the photo above. This harness belonged to one of her dearly departed larger siblings, so it does not fit her perfectly. You can still see where the leash attaches at the rear of the strap on her back, and how the front strap crosses her chest. When she moves forward and presses into the front strap, opposition reflex will cause her to pull even harder.
Here she is again, modeling the Easy Walk harness above. The leash attachment is on the front strap, which sits lower on the breastbone than a conventional harness. If Freya attempts to pull forward while wearing this harness, the pressure is distributed across shoulders and chest, and because of the position of the leash attachment, she would be steered slightly sideways, towards the handler.
I still don’t fully understand how the front-clip harnesses work, since the position of the straps doesn’t seem radically different from a conventional harness at first glance. But they definitely do work to reduce pulling and helping to make a walk with a large, overbearing dog less pain and more pleasure.
(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 18 of 31)
Amanda & the Mutts says
I’ve tried many, many different no-pull harnesses and contraptions, but everything keeps coming back to the main issue for me – they don’t teach anything, they manage behavior. They’re very similar to keeping a dog on leash his whole life so you don’t have to teach a recall.
I really never recommend head harnesses or no-pull harnesses anymore because I find it to be more valuable for a dog to be taught and to understand instruction when it comes to walking on leash. My dogs know what “heel” means, and they know what “walk nice” (not a perfect heal but no pulling allowed, we use this for when we go for walks) means, and they know what “don’t pull” means – no particular collar/leash required.
The trainers I work with do not allow these kinds of harnesses in their classes. I’m always curious what kinds of things they are using in other places.
kathi says
Thanks for stopping by, I’ve added your blog to my feedreader! I agree with what you are saying about teaching vs. management. I don’t think it’s a problem to use a management tool to help with control while teaching skills and behaviors, but it sure is a big mistake to only manage and not teach.
Priscilla says
Thanks Kathi and Amanda for your advice.
Freya is indeed a wonderful model for showing us your harnesses! What a beautiful girl she is too!
It may be the case that we won’t be using any harness but we’re going to teach her leash manners as Amanda said.
She does heel well when we’re training but once we’re out, everything else is wayy more exciting!
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Jana Rade says
I believe the way this is supposed to work (at least the one I was looking at) is that the pressure is actually transferred to the front legs from BEHIND. So that way the reflex should make the dog step backwards.
That’s how it was explained to me.
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kathi says
Thanks, Jana… that sounds logical. You know I am going to have to ask Freya to model again, and maybe shoot some video, so I can observe how it really works.
Nick says
I think I’ve used just about everything except for a harness. I’ve never owned one or put one on my dog.
I’m always amazed in protection work when people have 3 collars, 4 leashes, a harness and a long line on their dog.
I’m a minimalist, a fur saver and a leash, for everything 🙂 Of course, that’s for a Rottweiler. For a sheltie or any other breed… I can’t speak from much experience 🙂
kathi says
That really surprises me! I would have thought you’d have tried a harness at least once for SchH tracking.
Since you’ve actually seen my “impressive handling skillz” I bet you can picture exactly what would happen if I tried to work 4 leashes and a long line in the same week, let alone the same session 🙂
Nick says
Nope, never felt like a harness would help anything in tracking. I like the leash under the dog when tracking so if the head comes up, I can use the leash to get it moving back down. With a harness there is no control of the neck/head at all.
Chunky is the third dog I’ve done any real training with, and he does fine with just leash and collar in pretty much everything. Case and Cleo before him have been the same way.
Maybe I’ve just been lucky in that regard 🙂
Well, Case did need some electricity, a sharpened prong collar and a double dose of a SchH 3 dumbell to get over his issues with other dogs, but never a harness 🙂
Nick says
BTW – I no longer advocate the “techniques” we used with Case. That was many moons ago, and he was… um… special 🙂
kathi says
And you just have to do what’s best for that dog, with what you know at that time. I’m glad for the opportunities to keep learning and finding better ways!