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http://dogpositivetraining.blogspot.com

"Properly trained, a man can be a dog's best friend."
Corey Ford

Thanks, I'll definitely look into that one, I'll have a look in a few places this week, see whats on the market and hopefully get a few tried on her.

On a plus note the walk I took Lady on this evening was a lot better than usual, except for the neighbours cat following us, I'm sure it sets out to wind my dog up, walking along side her but just out of reach, and Lady hates it, after the few run ins she's had with that cat in my garden she gets all stressed when its near her and starts behaving like a dog possessed, much to the amusement of others

I don't like harnesses that go round the chest, most do encourage a dog to push into them. Technically dogs don't pull, the push into the harness, the strap round the neck allows them to do this more than the straps that go down either side of the neck. In fact it is very difficult for a dog to push into the straps that go either side of the neck.


CautiouslyOptimistic, try putting the feeding bowl inside the harness on the floor when you feed her. You can also have it on your arm when you are giving her treats etc. Get her used to seeing the straps before you try to put it on so that she starts to associate the harness with nice things. It will take time but worth the effort.

The padded harness that Merlin has on has a buckle either side for the belly strap, this makes it easier to put on. The straps go either side of the neck so difficult for him to pull, but gives him lots of freedom and is very comfortable. Merlin also travels in this harness and can have it on for quite some time.

Many sighthounds and Lurchers wear these harnesses because they are so comfortable for the dog and give the owner control.

This is the harness Melin has: Dog-Games Shop::Harnesses - Fleece Lined

__________________
http://dogpositivetraining.blogspot.com

"Properly trained, a man can be a dog's best friend."
Corey Ford

I took Lady to a few pet shops today, it was an effort getting harnesses on her, but I found she was more tolerent of the yellow ones, weird lol. Anyway I was recommended the easy walk harness too, unfortunately I think I'm going to have to wait a couple of weeks. Lady got herself a sore on her body, just under her front leg, where the harness would be, and I don't want it irritating her, I've only just managed to get her to stop scratching it. I found my eczema cream worked wonders, that and sudocrem lol

You are right, the worst thing you can do is to make her wear the harness when she has a sore sport, this could be why she doesn't like them.

Angela,

My worry with any gadget is the lack of instruction that goes with them, if there is someone to show you how to use them, all gadgets are fine, but if you just buy them and no instruction, the dog can be unintentionally hurt. Look at how head halters are use and how many dogs suffer because there is no instruction on how to use them. Owners always use the lead attached to the head halter even if they have a lead attached to the collar or harness. If CautiouslyOptimistic was here so I could show her, I would recommend the Easy Walk Harness.

If your dog never gets in front of you he can't pull but is always playing catch up to you. I used to teach horses to walk next to me the same way>

__________________
http://dogpositivetraining.blogspot.com

"Properly trained, a man can be a dog's best friend."
Corey Ford

I dont mean to be annying, by all means, try the harness but we had an easy walk hrness, our dog just started pulling us backwards instead. in the end we used a normal collar and lead but had him walking with a target stick. takes some training (particually the distarctions) but it worked.

I don't really want to put the dog on a normal collar and lead, I was doing that for about two week, and when she pulled I was stopping, saying "no pulling", calling her back to my side, praising her, carrying on. But she would pull with such force she'd be wheezing, We got to a point where she'd not pull so much all the time, but she'd still be pulling a bit, until she got a scent then she'd be wheezing again. Doing that we got no further than about 3 steps without stopping for her to fall back. I don't really fancy going back to it, even if she walks well within a few week, because I'm certain it can't be doing her throat any good.

My friend lent me a harness she used on her dog, to try and get Lady used to it, and after a whole lot of coaxing and belly rubs I managed to get it on (It just avoids the sore so we should be ok lol) she went off to sulk about it for a little bit, we had a little walk around the garden. She didn't pull, but I'm pretty sure it was just because we we're in the garden, she was sort of looking at me as if to say "You know this is our garden right? There's no interesting smells here mate, what are you playing at."

Hopefully I'll have a better view of what its like tomorrow - I'm taking her on a walk though some woods I think I can safely say she'll spend most of the time tangling her long lead around trees lol

lol. If its just the smelling, id just let her have a good sniff and once she starts to look less interested call her back and give her treats. Slowly bring forward when you call her back till she only gets one sniff then comes straight back, its perfectly natural for her to smell things, its the main form of communication so she will be keen to sniff at any smell that comes her way, by slowly decreasing the time shes allowed to sniff youll get much furthewr on your walks. eventually it may become just a breif head turn to sniff things on the way past. however there will always be those few smells she just cant get enough of. lol