Harness Recommendations Needed Please

We are taking Pippin on holiday with us and need reccomendations for a good harness / collar / contraption to reduce her pulling (or at least make it a little easier on my back)
It is entirely our fault she doesn't walk well on the lead as we hardly ever use one as we mainly walk her in the fields and woods etc and she just walks at the side of us or only ever 2-3 of feet infront / behind (unless she's swimming or playing fetch).... but on holiday we are going to sometimes be in crowded areas or by roads so she will need to be on a lead and once on one she is like a different dog.
We go away in 5 weeks and would like to get her used to walking nicely on lead

Hi Mamfa,

I've only tried one harness, a Halti with a double lead. It's the harness type, rather than the headcollar type http://www.halti.co.uk/haltiharness.php and Molly gets on with it very well. The harness part is quite narrow, I'm not sure how comfortable it would be with a bigger dog, but it works very well for us. When we're away from busy roads, I like to remove the long lead from under her chin and just use it with the lead clipped between her shoulder blades, it gives her a bit more space. It's been a great help to us as, like you, Molly's never on the lead very much, so I've not spent enough time teaching her not to pull, at least this way, we can enjoy our walks together without me worrying about the strain she puts on her neck!

A friend of mine has a large dog (leonberger) and she uses the headcollar Halti. She thinks it's great now, but her dog hated it at first, so it took more getting used to because of having something around the muzzle, than just the harness Halti.

xx

Thanks Mutley.

I went into my local pet shop to see what they recommended (putting money back into the community and all that) and despite their advertisement that they are all about what's 'best for your pet' the only harness they wanted me to buy was a pink leather contraption that they admitted took half an hour to put together and cost £150 Now I'm all for Pippin looking good, and it did match her collar but honestly £150 is not something I'm willing to pay out when there are much cheaper and more suitable products out there and I don't have 30 minutes to spare every time we go for a walk!
Guess that will be the last time I go in there for advice - I should of realised when I saw they were selling kittens for £120

Hi Mamfa,

I seem to remember that the harness and lead together cost me about £12 in total and that was from our local vet, so not the cheapest. I'd want gold plating for £120! Pink's nice though... !!

I just remembered, we also have a car safe harness for Molly to wear in the car, it's much wider and has a soft plate on the breastbone and it has a short "lead" bit that clicks into the seat belt clip, so she can be on the back seat while driving. She's absolutely fine with it in the car, but I don't trust it for walkies as she's discovered that it doesn't attach to her collar like the Halti, so, if she's quick enough, she can reverse out of it

xx

Bought one of these for Jorge, worked brilliant, but didn,t suit him due to his short snout

http://www.cannydogcollar.co.uk/?gclid=CKqD49yeuKkCFQRP4QodXGrk9g

My friend tried a Walkezee harness for her large GSD today and it was brilliant. He didn't mind wearing it (unlike his headcollar which he hated) and she felt she had more control than with a headcollar.

Fran