Collar or Harness

[mikroma]

we used a choke chain (our previous boxer did well on on a thin choke chain, not a puller, we would lightly move it to signal 'this way' and he would follow) on nero when he was a puppy but he didnt care it pulled him and we thought he would injure himself, so we switched to a collar. He is still a puller, so we switched to a no pull harness for long walks and at a year and a half are graduating him to a collar, his patience and focus is finally starting to come around. We would like him to be off leash and walk beside us, forget the harness, collar, etc, our goal is a calm dog that walks nice. We are in this for the long haul!!

We tried a regular harness (clip on back) and it was like strapping a donkey to a cart and saying PULL!!!!, didn't work. We have the kind with the martin gayle in the front of the chest and he improved in 2 minutes. amazing harness.

good luck.

 

[jboboxer]

we used a choke chain (our previous boxer did well on on a thin choke chain, not a puller, we would lightly move it to signal 'this way' and he would follow) on nero when he was a puppy but he didnt care it pulled him and we thought he would injure himself, so we switched to a collar. He is still a puller, so we switched to a no pull harness for long walks and at a year and a half are graduating him to a collar, his patience and focus is finally starting to come around. We would like him to be off leash and walk beside us, forget the harness, collar, etc, our goal is a calm dog that walks nice. We are in this for the long haul!!

We tried a regular harness (clip on back) and it was like strapping a donkey to a cart and saying PULL!!!!, didn't work. We have the kind with the martin gayle in the front of the chest and he improved in 2 minutes. amazing harness.

good luck.

Have you tried the same collar from the company that makes the gentle harness walker? It's kind of a choke, but it pulls on both sides and doesn't hurt your dog as much as it makes it tighter. My mom has it and really likes it, but she has it just as a regular collar for her dog and she uses the gentle harness.

I was seeing some videos maybe on youtube, I can't remember that some people were using both the collar and the gentle harness together and they would clip the lead in the front going through both to have better control of their dog. I'm not sure if this is over kill or not.

My puppy is outgrowing her collar, so I'm looking to get another one, so I've been considering buying this one. My mom told me she only bought it, because her dog used to try and pull the collar off of his head and this gets highter the more you pull, so it's hard to pull off your head. She uses the harness and doesn't clip it to the collar as well.

 

[mikroma]

We never tried the harness that you clip with the collar as well. They type of hardness that worked for us sounds like the one you describe, it has a clip in the front of the chest, and if they if the dog pulls it gets tighter. There is about a 3" loop of fabric so it can't get too tight, but just enough to make the dogs uncomfortable when pulling.

That harness seriously changed our life. He is so good on it. You know what is funny, sometimes he is scared of noise, and with this harness on it didn't bother him as much. I recently looked into the T-Touch method, for calming dogs fears. And this harness 'touches' in some of the exact same locations. Maybe that is why it works! Who knows, but I would try it out.

 

[dsmit]

Gentle Leader Harness works great

I was a big advocate for using a collar. That was what I have always used. Tyson has been pulling more than usual and it was making walking difficult. So yesterday i decided to buy a gentle leader harness by premier. It has done wonders. His work this morning was great. He saw his usual distractions, squirrels and people, but no pulling. I was easily able to control. At 6.5 months, he is very strong and control is vital. I will definitely use the harness for now on.

 

[tasham]

All my boys have been very hard pullers. I finally took Cyrus to a wonderful trainer this summer who suggested (and only will use) the Sensation harness. The leash ring is on a front strap across the chest, no choking potential at all. We had tried Cyrus on the choke collars and he literally would pull so hard still with that that he would start to cough. The Sensation is super easy to put on and when the dog does pull, it gently turns them toward you. Cyrus still pulls a little bit, moreso when he sees something like another dog, but it has made a huge difference in his pulling and he is so much easier to walk. Walking him now is a much more pleasant experience. Still not perfect, but who is?

I had to order it from the company directly, but I also saw a very similar kind to this design at PetSmart called the Easy Walk harness. I got one for Charlie to start training him (he's 3-1/2 months), and it's been nice to have a harness to train a puppy on where he's not choking himself to death. I've been very pleased with these harnesses.

 

[HL Hendrix]

Hendrix was started on a leather collar. He started to pull around 6-8 months old, so we got him a no pull harness to train him to walk properly. Now he is just over one and we don't use the harness anymore because he learned not to pull.

 

[dbetz]

I have 2 Boxers - my wild child Rudy uses a No Tug Harness and a leash with a 2nd handle on it for better control. Duke on the other hand is a great walker and just has a martingale collar and has no need for a harness.