Am I The Only One These Days?

[aussielover]

I've noticed that the majority of dogs I see out walking these days are usually on a harness or head halter. I very rarely see dogs being walked on a plain old collar and leash anymore. There are also quite a few people in my area who do not feel the need to obey the law and use a leash.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it just my area?

Do you think people are choosing to use harnesses and halters because they think its more comfortable for the dog, or its safer or something? Is it more comfortable for the dog?

Is it ok for a dog never to be trained to walk on a collar and leash?

I have met a number of people who insist that their small-medium sized dog would pull them over if it didn't wear a front leading harness, which i find hard to believe. I am not a strong person and I have never felt my 25kg lab could pull me over.

Also we have heaps of puppy owners wanting to get a front leading harness or halter at the clinic I work at.

I think they can be a useful training tool for very strong dogs that are in thr process of being trained to walk nicely.

But are they really necessary on young puppies, particularly small/medium breed puppies?

When I ask the owner what training they do, they often say they don't want to or dont have time to train the dog, they just want something to make it controllable (a quick fix).

I guess its better they use this tool and actually walk their dogs more often, but whatever happeed to training a dog to walk on a loose leash with a collar?

Even at our puppy school it was recommended that ALL puppies, even if they didn't pull, used a front leading harness.

I think for a pet dog, its not that hard to teach a dog to walk reasonably nicely on lead

[Guest Pandii]

I walk one of mine on a slip collar because of his rolls a flat collar rubs, but he can walk nicely on a flat

the new pup is learning to walk on a flat collar too

But I see so many using haltis ect

[Guest Clover]

Mine are walked on flat collars and leads only (unless running off leash of course). Most dogs around here are walked on plain old flat collars and leads, although a lot of people dont bother using anything at all .

[persephone]

Plain collars here as well.

I believe people are using halters/harnesses in lieu of that bit extra training ...and belief that collars are 'cruel'

[corvus]

Well, you'd think it's not that hard, but evidence is to the contrary.

I do not walk my dogs on a plain old collar. They go out in harnesses. I believe it is safer. I don't like my only point of contact for my dogs to be their neck. Plus I love the handle on the Ruff Wear harnesses. It is incredibly handy!

The person running Kivi's puppy school tried to insist Kivi be taught to walk on a no-pull harness. I refused because Kivi did not need it. I had his LLW training in hand and he wasn't a natural puller. I could appreciate how important it is to get dogs out walking one way or another.

[newfsie]

Plain, flat collars for us too............Harness means tracking or pulling to mine ( because we cart). Our dogs walk very nicely on lead

Edited December 22, 2010 by newfsie

[Gayle.]

Mine go on slip collars, purely because they don't wear collars at home and the slips are attached to their leads and just go over their heads. No faffing around with buckles or clips.

[fainty_girl]

My stumpy tail cattle dog X gets walked with a check chain and lead. The check chain is only used because she needs to have something on her that she can't back out of, but she walks well on the lead and doesn't pull. Jessie is afraid of fireworks, so if the leash was attached to her collar and unexpectedly fireworks went off she could very well back out of her collar.

My kelpie X coolie is shocking on the lead and she has sensitive skin to top it off...she walked well on her halti but hated it so I won't use that on her. She walks reasonably well on her front clip harness, but she can only wear this for short times because it rubs on the skin behind her legs. I also tried her with a martingale style training collar that was meant to be gentle but that really left her neck sore even when she was improving and pulling less. I agree that they are quick fixes and would love to for her to be able to walk without pulling. I really should bite the bullet and hire a trainer to show me what to do.

Edited December 22, 2010 by fainty_girl

[W Sibs]

Charlie is only flat collar.

Emmy is flat collar or harness. Depends on where we are going and what we're doing.

Only time they are off leash when we go out is either at a friend's house where there is secure fencing or off leash parks. Everywhere else, they are leashed.

[tlc]

Flat collars and leads here x 4

[OSoSwift]

You have got me thinking, I do see many people around here with dogs in halti's and others, harnesses and no pull harnessess. With many at training if the dog is a puller, they wack on a halti. Hmmm.

Mine walk on limited slip collars purely for safety - they can easily slip flat collars due to the fact their heads are barely bigger than their necks. It means I do not have to worry about them getting away from me.

Harnesses are for the car, tracking or pulling, have never had a halti type thing on either of them and they are all taught llw.

At our PPS people are told about these peices of equipment and their benefits and down falls. We recommend ALL dogs are taught to walk on a LL properly. In reality probably 10% or less actually put the effort in, or they can't seem to get it to work, so rather than seek help they wack them in a easy fix piece of equipment.

I think it is a reflection of society in general people want it to happen now, they do not want to wait or potentially have to put lots of time and effort into having it happen. Of course there are poeple like ourselves that do put the effort in.

[persephone]

In reality probably 10% or less actually put the effort in, or they can't seem to get it to work, so rather than seek help they wack them in a easy fix piece of equipment.

I think it is a reflection of society in general people want it to happen now, they do not want to wait or potentially have to put lots of time and effort into having it happen. Of course there are poeple like ourselves that do put the effort in.

[Bully]

Martingale collar here because Pele can back out of a flat collar Harness is for in the car, and then when we start tracking.

I see so many people walking dogs wearing head collars on extenda leads

[Simply Grand]

Flat collar and leash here (or extendy leash), no problems with loose lead walking. Although with a 5kg dog, it is quite manageable to teach good walking!

I think there are plenty of good reasons for using a harness/check chain/other training aid, but I also think for some people they just haven't and don't want to put in the training effort. Still, a walk on a harness is better than no walk, and you can't tell the situation just by looking at someone walking past.

I have seen a number of medium to large dogs around here being walked on the good old KraMar car harness (harness around chest, lead clips to D ring between shoulders on back) - I would think this would make walking the dog harder, with the pulling, but maybe people don't know... or have other reasons???

As far as walking dogs off leash in public (non-off leash) areas, I've said it before - I think it's lazy and unfair... Whether my dog stays right by me off leash or not, I want him within leash length when walking in public, so why not just clip on the leash? If it's a hassle to walk your dog on a leash, seems to me the dog is not well behaved enough to be off leash...

[aussielover]

I think its a bit sad that puppy schools are recommending people go straight to a no pull harness, regardless of whether the dog pulls or not, rather than teaching the traditional llw.

Our obedience club won't let you use a check chain but any dog that is naughty or pulls is told to use a halti, which i think is just wrong!

I know personally with my current dog that i would be able to achieve a better result using a check chain if needed than a halti.

[Adnil444]

Hi, I see lots of haltis, harnesses and plain old flat collars around where I live. I use a sporn mesh harness on one of mine - he is a terrible puller. He is brilliant in training classes, and in very quiet streets, but in traffic he pulls like you wouldn't believe - 3 years of obedience training has him most times being a lovely dog, but walking along a medium to busy street and he will pull. He is approx 20kgs. My other dog is easily walked in a flat collar, and she lopes beautifully beside me and only after a couple of training lessons got the idea of how to heel. Each dog is different and some unfortunately can't be trained out of pulling, it is in them.

[Gayle.]

Mine walk on limited slip collars purely for safety - they can easily slip flat collars due to the fact their heads are barely bigger than their necks. It means I do not have to worry about them getting away from me.

Benson can back out of a slip collar, he's the only dog I've ever seen do it deliberately. He walks quietly beside me, relaxes his neck muscles, drops his chin and somehow or other, just a bit of a gentle flick with his head and voila, he's off and running.

So, I walk him with it up under his chin and on a short, taut lead. He has way too many brains for his own safety and figures things out that I would never think a dog could understand.

[lilli_star]

I walk Roo on a normal collar and leash. I tried the front leading harness, and all it did was encourage her to grab the lead. Then I tried the Sporn harness which seemed magical, but she really doesn't like it. We haven't used it in awhile. She does pull at times though- still need to work on our LLW We don't meet many other dogs when we walk- lots bark at us though from their yards Thankfully, Ruby doesn't bark back.

[rubiton]

Use a choke chain and harness combined (through the end of the chain and at the same time clipped to the harness. Choke chain stops her getting her head down to pull and harness stops the chain getting tight and choking her (also helps when she tries to pull such as if there is a cat up ahead).

She leans sometimes but doesnt pull for me for does for others - expect if there is a cat and then the harness is very handy as she cant pull nor choke herself pulling as the front end lifts up (and after a decade NO amount of training is going to get the cat chase instinct out of her its just her understanding of the world that cats were put there as chase toys for dogs end of story).

[huga]

Cloth martingale here