Collar or Halter?

[macturner]

I'm watching Animal Planet and on dogs 101 they are talking about brachycephalic dogs and they say due to breathing issues, you should NEVER leash to the neck and should only use a halter.

Since I don't believe everything I see on TV I thought I would come here to ask how you all feel. I have two 11 week old boxer puppies. I currently have then in halters, since they don't yet like to walk on a leash. I always assumed that once I got them trained though, they would be able to walk from a regular collar. Please let me know what you all think.

PS. I didn't intend to have two but a relative that had a littermate of our puppy, couldn't take care of her puppy and we took him so he would have a good home.)


Mary
mom of Laila and Luke

 

[Gatorblu]

Both mine are on a harness most of the time. I used to use a collar. One day Arabella pulled away with a hard jerk and ended up with a contusion on her neck the size of a small fist. So she is always on a harness and usually the Easywalk harness. With Thor sometimes I use just a collar, but he is a very well behaved boy. I also seatbelt my dogs and their seat belts hook on to their harnesses so they have to wear them anyways if we go for a ride.

 

[Kilby'sMum]

Both our girls wear harnesses on walks. Originally we got them because I actually felt I had more control over them that way when they were little but it does encourage pulling so training them to walk properly (i.e. not pulling my shoulder out of socket) probably took a bit longer. We're saving up for some Gentle Leader harnesses because walking both of them by myself, if they see something interesting and both pull in the same direction, I'm off for a ride :p

 

[auntthelm]

Roxy walks with an Gentle Leader Easy Walk harness, but wears a soft collar with her ID tags on it.

 

[Sansal]

I am also using the gentle leader but I am also spending time training my boxer girl to walk properly with a collar. But for long walks or when we go to a new area where there's more exitement we always use the harness.

 

[nalabear]

we tried the harness but our baby didn't like it at all. so we reverted to the collar and have never gone back. i do have to watch her neck though because if she gets over excited and does start pulling it chaffes her neck and i hate seeing her neck all red.