Your Experiences With The Front Clipping Harness

[sas]

Hi Guys,

I train via check chain or martingale with my foster dogs however when I hand them over to their new families training goes astray mainly I think because they need to develop good timing and so-forth, so...

I thought I'd train foster dogs in the front clipping harness as you don't need a great deal of skill?

So $70 later for a mini one for an 8 kilo puppy with the double connecting lead and I'm a bit pissed to tell you the truth.

The harness was fit snug however everytime the puppy pulled the ring at the front of the harness simply slipped around to the side and offered absolutely no additional control....I liken the walk to the same as walking an untrained dog on a flat collar.

Am I doing something wrong here?

I'm using food and she was great for most of the walk but does start to pull on the stretch home, when she pulled she was not turned back into me as I thought would occur with the front clip?

Edited December 9, 2010 by sas

[ish]

I tried the Sense-ation one and found it good, I probably had the size bigger than I needed for my bitch but it even though the front strap flexed a little, it still pulled her around to face me if she pulled out.

[sas]

I tried the Sense-ation one and found it good, I probably had the size bigger than I needed for my bitch but it even though the front strap flexed a little, it still pulled her around to face me if she pulled out.

I must be doing it wrong, maybe I need to video!

[Lollipup]

I was recently taught how to use one by a trainer and it went well even on a strong pulling young lab. She actually responded better to it than the check chain. It was tricky to get the hang of it at first though. I was told to mainly use the front lead and hold the back one as a guide. I have a gentle leader at home and it's no where near as effective as there is too much give in the front attachment.

[Gayle.]

Bloody hell, that's an expensive harness! I use one for Dusty, it's an Easy Walk brand, I think I paid around $29 for it and it's fantastic.

[wuffles]

I have the Easy Walk one as well, you don't need a double ended leash. I do find that the ring at the front slips to the side so doesn't have the full effect of a martingale design, BUT it still stops strong pulling. It's very noticeable with my girl, she is about 18kg. If she wants to pull hard on a flat collar I can barely hold her, whereas with the harness there is no issue.

[sas]

Bloody hell, that's an expensive harness! I use one for Dusty, it's an Easy Walk brand, I think I paid around $29 for it and it's fantastic.

Yes, pricey, that's with the lead as well.

[sas]

I have the Easy Walk one as well, you don't need a double ended leash. I do find that the ring at the front slips to the side so doesn't have the full effect of a martingale design, BUT it still stops strong pulling. It's very noticeable with my girl, she is about 18kg. If she wants to pull hard on a flat collar I can barely hold her, whereas with the harness there is no issue.

LOL Why am is it not working for an 8 kilo dog.

I had a look on youtube for any training videos and we seem to be using it correctly. I'm a bit stumped!

[Cosmolo]

I like the Sensible harnesses and use them quite a bit- i don't like the martingale attachment on the easy walk one at the front of the chest as i find it slips down alot, the Sensible harness doesn't do that when fitted correctly.

[sas]

I like the Sensible harnesses and use them quite a bit- i don't like the martingale attachment on the easy walk one at the front of the chest as i find it slips down alot, the Sensible harness doesn't do that when fitted correctly.

Is there a special technique I should be using? The packaging said to use a pulsating motion when the lead to the front clip when the dog pulled.

Reading back over other front clipping harnesses, there's mention that their suitability for a paticular dog may be a problem, so I wonder if that is that case here.

If I take a video would you be happy to comment?

Edited December 9, 2010 by sas

[Clyde]

Sas, what brand have you got?

I've got the Kumalong and it doesn't slip at all. I was a bit skeptical about their efficacy but they are amazing. I am going to the post office today and can loan you one of mine if you like. Although I think it's a medium which might be too big?

[sas]

Sas, what brand have you got?

I've got the Kumalong and it doesn't slip at all. I was a bit skeptical about their efficacy but they are amazing. I am going to the post office today and can loan you one of mine if you like. Although I think it's a medium which might be too big?

I have a Blackdog one, they're products are typically great so I don't know if I'm not using it correctly.

Thanks for the offer, yeah, I think it might be too big, from memory the girth was 41cm and she's around 8 kilos so pretty small at the moment.

However thinking about the reason I got it was so new families could use it without having to worry too much about technique...surely it can't be that hard?

Edited December 9, 2010 by sas

[Aidan]

If the front bit is too tight or too loose they don't seem to work so well, maybe just play around with that? I clip the other end of the leash to the collar, btw. As I understand it the T-touch people have a special technique for using the balance leash which you have to learn.

[corvus]

I've spoken to a couple of people that found the no-pull harnesses didn't work. One was a Gentle Leader brand, but not sure about the others. No idea what's going wrong as I don't know much about them.

[sas]

If the front bit is too tight or too loose they don't seem to work so well, maybe just play around with that? I clip the other end of the leash to the collar, btw. As I understand it the T-touch people have a special technique for using the balance leash which you have to learn.

Yeah I saw on some youtube videos some people clip to the collar on the same clip as the front ring on the harness.

Others clipped it to the back ring which is what Blackdog instructions say to do, they say to use the clip on the dogs back as the break and the clip at the front as the steering, however pulling a dog back on a normal harness creates the opposite reaction so I'm not sure why that would work.

I'll check the tightness ont he chest, from memory it seemed pretty spot on.

[The Spotted Devil]

Sas, what brand have you got?

I've got the Kumalong and it doesn't slip at all. I was a bit skeptical about their efficacy but they are amazing. I am going to the post office today and can loan you one of mine if you like. Although I think it's a medium which might be too big?

I have a Blackdog one, they're products are typically great so I don't know if I'm not using it correctly.

Thanks for the offer, yeah, I think it might be too big, from memory the girth was 41cm and she's around 8 kilos so pretty small at the moment.

However thinking about the reason I got it was so new families could use it without having to worry too much about technique...surely it can't be that hard?

sas - I've got a Blackdog one as well. I found it to be more about technique than anything (which I still don't have completely right) - I was shown how to manipulate the leads by someone who uses harnesses a lot in t-touch. With the front lead, I was told to bring the lead more upwards than backwards if that makes sense. I was surprised at how very little pressure was required when you do it correctly. Sorry I can't help more.

[Quickasyoucan]

I bought one for my stafford x a few years back. Couldn't get the hang of it either, didn't seem to work and slipped a lot. Didn't stop the pulling either. It is in the bottom of my dog box somewhere. I think mine was a gentle leader too.

We now walk on a martingale, works great for us. I don't consider myself skilled or that I have great timing, but I actually think it is pretty easy to get the hang of.

[sas]

Sas, what brand have you got?

I've got the Kumalong and it doesn't slip at all. I was a bit skeptical about their efficacy but they are amazing. I am going to the post office today and can loan you one of mine if you like. Although I think it's a medium which might be too big?

I have a Blackdog one, they're products are typically great so I don't know if I'm not using it correctly.

Thanks for the offer, yeah, I think it might be too big, from memory the girth was 41cm and she's around 8 kilos so pretty small at the moment.

However thinking about the reason I got it was so new families could use it without having to worry too much about technique...surely it can't be that hard?

sas - I've got a Blackdog one as well. I found it to be more about technique than anything (which I still don't have completely right) - I was shown how to manipulate the leads by someone who uses harnesses a lot in t-touch. With the front lead, I was told to bring the lead more upwards than backwards if that makes sense. I was surprised at how very little pressure was required when you do it correctly. Sorry I can't help more.

Bugger, if it requires tricky technique I might just go back to a check chain :D

I'll see if I can find some youtube videos from the TTouch clan.

[raineth]

we got one for Digby when we were in the process of teaching him to walk nicely. we thought it would be good because he had hardly any hair on his neck and its a bit scarred...

but it just didn't work for us I couldn't work out why (I tried adjusting it). I think maybe I was just too used to using a collar and it felt weird to me. and he is also so so strong that it was completely useless when he saw a cat!

I think it was KM brand.

[Clyde]

I'm not sure how the others work, but I know with the Kumalong that it really needs to be quite fitted across the shoulders at the side.