Pepperotti

Hi all, Indeed this was me, I haven't been so active on the forum this year for various reasons. Unfortunately I lost Pepperotti to bone cancer recently....she was a great gurl and is sorely missed. Otherwise Basil and I have had quite a busy year!

+ for Meg and Starkehre Rotti's

Elite K9 Tactical Harness Review Recently I have been in the market for a harness for the PepperDawg and I quickly became confused with the array of options available at a huge price difference for seemingly identical items. Living in Canberra means (amongst other things!) that there is a distinct lack of shop fronts and the shops that are available, usually don't carry much specialised gear so it's impossible to 'try before you buy', check for fitment and other important items. Being that we have 5 young kids in the family, when we go walking or on adventures, there's a lot of gear to carry and that's before we take anything for Miss Pepper. Requirements What I'd hoped is to find a harness that: - Allows Pepper to carry her own water/gear - Allows a range of attachables like Molle pouches, Go Pro mounting kits, first aid kit and the like - Is lightweight as far as heat/breathability goes (esp for Rotti's in summer with their double coats) - Have grab handles front/rear to assist her get onto the truck or over high obstacles As I started looking most of the options were only available through order via overseas. There was a massive price difference, even for seemingly identical items. For example I came across the OneTigeris gear and it ranged in price from $30 US up to $150US. Then I came across some gear which included some items but not others (like padding on girth/chest straps). It became very hard to find the exact item that covered off all the requirements and some of the 'nice to have' like extra padding. In the end rather than risk spending $30 on a product that may/may not cover off everything I wanted, I found many recommendations for a company called Elite K9 and boy do they have some awesome gear available! Options They have harnesses ranging from $130 right up to $1000 for bullet proof versions! (LOL). Remembering this is a company that handles alot of gear/orders for the military and police so it's understandable with some of the gear they sell but also means there's just about every option you could want from cut down, leather 'strapped' style harnesses to the style that we purchased. If I'm honest, I think the harness we have is not going to be suitable for our summer with a Rotti so I'll likely get another harness that is less of a 'vest/coat' and more the basic leather strap style however those ones aren't as friendly for all the extra gear/molle pouches. Fitment The tactical harness is very adjustable and sizing was spot on. Before the company accepts an online order, they check sizing and the compatibility of any extra's you've purchased or want to purchase. While we're still initially testing the harness, I am not 100% sure that the straps won't rub Pepper. IN the horse world we've used sheepskin padding on things like girth straps so if it starts to rub at all I might look at MacGyvering together some padding for the straps. There were other products on the market that did have padding as standard, this is where I discovered that harness didn't have things like a velcro patch all the way down the length of the dogs back so you'll need to search to see which items are more important and how you might modify the harness that fills most of your requirements but not others. I'd be less worried about padding, go pro mounts etc which can all be easily added yourself and ensure you get a harness that is the right length, places the girth straps in the right area (esp for boys!). The Cobra clips are great, very easy to plug in/out and are heavy duty, Use It's important to weight the harness properly, only attaching the water bottle/molle pouch for water bottle (with water) was reasonably heavy and had to be balanced out by another molle pouch on the other side (I used the first add kit, my wallet, phone and battery charger) or it would slide towards the heavier side of course. I also only 1/3 filled the water bottle to help weight distribution however as Pepper becomes accustomed to carrying such gear/weight I'll need to think carefully about how and where certain items are strapped Compare Hard for me to compare this to any other harnesses being the first one I've bought in this specific style. I do have a harness that is very basic that we'd use for walks or in the car however this new Elite K9 harness is in a different category altogether. Cost Not cheap > I spent $200 on the vest and between various add ons, that quickly went up to $400 but that included all the 'nice to haves' like LED chest torch, Go Pro mount, several Molle pouches but you get what you pay for as they say and we're very happy with the quality of the gear Would I recommend it? Yes absolutely. Pepper is taking a little time to get used to it and you need to be careful with adjusting the straps correctly to allow comfort while sitting/standing/lying down etc but otherwise we're very happy with how it performs, how much it carries and the overall quality. Anything else I've not covered just ask! That said I don't represent the company or have any interests so please feel free to contact the team over at Elite K9 who can probably answer more questions than I can!

The go pro mount, is pretty simple > it's also pretty cheap BUT honestly you could probably just make one your self. The one I have has a 1inchx2inch (approx) slightly curved piece of metal. On that is the usual go pro mount > it uses 2 strips of velcro to then either attach it onto a harness via velcro OR it could wrap around say a chest strap......

All good, police, DAS and rangers are on our side....he has settled down now it's gotten serious and he's been breached for the orders himself. awwww...hahaa yes we do love her! Terrific ok I'll spend some time later tonight writing a proper review. The harnesses come with 2 optional go pro mounts, one can be attached to the chest or to the back......depending which harness you buy and which mount is then required for the location you want the camera ;)

I guess it's fairly normal for most pups to 'mouth' or even bite but while they're young, it's a good time to teach them what is acceptable and what is not while they don't have the power in their jaws, granted the puppy teeth seems so sharp! Do you have children? Something I've taught our Rottweiler (from a young age) is that rough play is ok, but the word I use for Pepper when she might get a bit too rough is 'OUCH!' as whether it's a family child, visiting child or any adult, I guessed that most ppl's reaction to a dog biting them (playing or otherwise) is most ppl are likely to say OUCH! That's the word I want her to associate with to STOP playing again esp with children or strangers. I'd also put on a bit of an act, like a fake cry or be upset (not angry), lie on the floor, telling her 'That was not gentle Pepper!' > nowadays and at age 4, if anyone says OUCH she stops playing immediately. While I am playing with her, I quite often change the 'focus' and get her to sit, re-focus and shake hands or something that isn't so rough and then stop the rough play altogether. Changing a dogs focus is quite easy. Funnily enough, when I ask her to lay on her bed and she just lays on the floor I might say 'Pepper that is NOT your bed' and she will get up and go and lay down on her bed. So saying 'that was NOT gentle' I believe she understands this as well. When we do play rough games with her, I'll let Pepper "win" frequently....ie: I will let her mouth my hand during rough play. RATHER than continuing to wind her up and up and up as I figure if she doesn't 'win' she might escalate until she has won or gotten too rough. Animals quite often use their mouths as we might our hands. Ever heard of the saying 'You scratch my back and I"ll scratch yours;'? I thought that came from horses when they scratch each others withers with their mouths. I sorta see dogs in a similar way when they're mouthing but that's different to aggressive biting. They need to understand how hard they can 'mouth' when playing and it's best to start that as early as possible and also helps develop the bond with new puppy Considering I have 5 young kids around my dog I've taken the approach that since kids do random things, I have to train her what is an acceptable response. Kids might go to pat her while she's eating (rightly or wrongly) which is in part training kids too but also a safety mechanism for a child who visits who does not have experience around dogs. Caveat: I'm no expert so take my advice with a grain of salt and i'm open to advice or critique if I am doing the wrong thing! That said, I'm now 39, had Rotti's (dangerous dogs they are! hahahaha) since I was 8 and not once with any of them have I had any kind of serious bite that required any kind of attention even with pretty full on rough play.

Haha yes.... I stopped short of getting the army camouflaged model LOL or the bullet proof version! We've recently had issues with our new neighbour - he has fabricated a story about our Pepper dawg and myself and took personal protection orders against me so am finding video surveillance very handy atm. We've now proven our dog is innocent and that he is the violent person causing issues but because he's 78 the police don't want to arrest him even though he's taking photos of our kids, making threats against our family amongst other things. As much as I hate a surveillance state, the go pro while walking the dog ensures that claims by him or anyone else will be proven wrong.

Hi all, After much deliberation we settled on some items from Elite K9 in the States (sorry Huski, I did look at your site several times but was after something a bit different - great looking Web site tho and reading over your posts I'm certainly impressed with your approach). If anyone is keen for it I'm happy to do a review. I purchased the tactical harness with: Go Pro mount Doggie water bottle and Molle carry pouch First aid kit Molle pouch LED light for chest strap At this stage I'm happy if Pepper just carries her own water and the first aid kit but will be getting Pepper to carry a bit of other gear as we look for wascly wabbits

In talking to a breeder about their pups recently I asked a trick question - they advised they would not allow their pups to go home with owners until after 8wks so as a test, I asked if we could take the pup home earlier and they were adamant about the 8wk rule. Had they agreed to an early take home I'd have walked away. If the deposit you've left isn't a big one I'd walk away....

Absolutely agree. I'd never get her to carry heaps for the first period. I only asked because I'd prefer to purchase all the gear at once to save on postage. FYI I've grown up in a family of horse breeders and trainers (dressage) as well as a raft of other animals. I'm quite careful and prudent when training my animals and alot of the same 'rules' apply.... I'd never throw a full saddle and person on the back of a young horse, nor would I add a bunch of weight for pepper to carry on a harness straight away. Although you probably come across alot of ppl who don't use common sense as we did with various horse riders over the years so I understand why you'd want to mention it so thank you! :)

This has to be one of the better water carriers I've seen... Dog can drink directly from it http://www.elitek9.com/H2O4K9-Stainless-Dog-Bottle-Bowl/productinfo/H2O/

Hi Pepperotti The max size for girth is actually 105cm (the size chart shows this as 'around waist'). It goes to a max of 73cm around their neck. Have another look at the size guide pic in the comments :) Haha oppps! Reading fail right there lol thanks for pointing that out. Could I ask, would this harness be suitable to carry: Large drink bottle (for dog) EMT kit And at least 2 medium to large Molle patches for being able to carry a hunch of other stuff?

I had a close look over this website recently.... Only issue is they don't make one big enough (that I can see unless they sell extension straps?) Max size for girth is 73cm - Pepper is 81cm!

FYI here's the item I'm considering above others http://www.elitek9.com/Special-Operations-K-9-Harness-with-Cobra-Buckles/productinfo/MH025/ I'm not interested in the typical harnesses from most Pet shops, I need Pepper to carry her own water, a first add kit amongst a few other things I just wish some shops in Australia would stock stuff like this so you could see it in person!

Hi Brainstrust, Looking for a harness for Pepper Load bearing Go pro compatible Molle strapping So far looking at items from Elite K9 and before I pull the trigger just wanted to see if anyone recommended anything else. I've looked at Ray Allen and Onetigris gear but open to all suggestions! Thanks