As you know from yesterday's post, we're trying to get a handle on Athena's walking skills. When we first brought her home in July, she quickly learned how to walk on a loose leash, but as the weather started to get crummy here in Portland, us humans really slacked off in the walking department. We are totally to blame for Athena's recent pulling habit.
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| Athena modeling her Freedom No-Pull Harness |
The first day we brought Athena home from the shelter we had her fitted for an Easy Walk Harness because we had heard that it was the best for training a dog how to walk nicely on leash. It worked well for a while, until Athena developed some pretty nasty hot spots under her arms. After the sores healed, we tried the Easy Walk again, only for the hot spots to return with a vengeance.
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| As Two Pitties in the City would say, here's vintage Athena on her first day home from the shelter wearing her Easy Walk Harness! |
That's when we ditched the Easy Walk for the Gentle Leader Head Halter. At that point we couldn't find any body harnesses on the market that would eliminate the rubbing under Athena's armpits, so we decided to try out a head halter. Besides tricking people into believing that Athena was wearing a muzzle, the Gentle Leader actually worked some pretty good magic to help Athena in the walking department. We continued to use the Gentle Leader through our very first Respectabulls walk, but Athena's pulling in the presence of other dogs was no match for this head harness. She was left with deep groves on her muzzle from the rough nylon of the harness.
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| Another vintage Athena, this time wearing the Gentle Leader |
So, we invested in a more high-tech version of the Gentle Leader called the Holt Walking Collar (also known as the Head Halti). If you're in the market for a head halter, this is definitely the best compared to the Gentle Leader in my opinion. Although the harness is much bulkier on the face (making it appear even more like a muzzle), it is thickly padded and doesn't twist from one side of Athena's face to the other (a major flaw of the Gentle Leader). We ordered ours for a very fair price on Pet Mountain.
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| Athena wearing the Holt Head Harness |
The Freedom No-Pull Harness had been on our radar for quite some time, but it wasn't until Doodlebug's recommendation that we gave in and purchased it. We were pretty much sold when we heard that this harness has soft velvet on the underside to eliminate chaffing. I was positive that this would be gentle enough for Athena's sensitive skin, but I decided to first contact the Wiggles, Wags and Whiskers company to make sure. I wrote them an e-mail explaining Athena's discomfort with body harnesses and asked if they had heard from any customers who had seen an improvement with this harness. Here's the response they sent me:
"The velvet lining on the harness does really help prevent the rubbing and chafing sores but depending on how the harness is fitted, your dog could possibly still have some armpit irritation. I wish I had an absolute answer for you, I am so very sorry. I will say in 99.999% of all dogs, it eliminates the problem, but there is occasionally one that still has an issue."
With that, we took Athena into our favorite local pet shop for a fitting. Technically she should wear a medium, but we decided to go with the large to allow for extra room in the armpit department. We also bought the 1" training leash that has a double connection. The great thing about the Freedom No-Pull Harness is that it has a connection point on the chest and on the back. You can attach a double connection leash to both, or simply attach a leash to one or the other depending on the kind of puller that you're dealing with. This leash has turned me into a 4' leash lover. No longer do we take Athena out for a walk on a 6' lead. I feel like I have much more control with a shorter leash, and it helps Athena to stay right by my side.
So far we've been very pleased with this harness and we're happy to report that Athena has had zero armpit irritation! We've been using the harness on daily walks, for jogging practice, and at flyball practice.
Freedom No-Pull Harness/Holt Head Harness Combo:
One of the very popular trends on Respectabull walks is for dogs to wear multiple harnesses for added support. The most common combo is the Freedom No-Pull Harness and the Holt Head Harness. We gave this combo a try on our last walk and did notice a bit of an improvement in Athena's racing walking in the group. We attach a double connection leash to the back clip of the Freedom Harness and to the front clip on the Holt Harness (leaving nothing attached to the front harness clip).
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| Mr. Moose modeling this harness combo |
Do you walk your dog on a harness? Which one (or combo) works best for your dog?
