The golden girls do very well with just a leash & collar. I use the Sensation harness on Cody since he has such spinal and disc issues. It's much gentler on their spine and is designed for pullers since the leash connection is in the front on their sternum. I also have been using this on my neighbors dog who is a part Dobe/ greyhound..... long story, but I've been walking and training her. She has a tendency to slip her collar and with the Sensation Harness I can clip the leash to both the collar and harness for double safety. BYW.... I'm way in love with this dog... gotta get a pic up of her.

 

I also use the sensation harness
http://www.softouchconcepts.com/
I works very well with a dog that has a tendency to pull. Although, it is not meant to be used for running. I have heard as far as this type of harness goes that the one made by gentle leader causes some chafing of the skin. We have not had a problem at all with the sensation.

 

I've always used a collar and lead on mine as i have had no problem with them pulling (fingers are being crossed as Reeva has not yet gone out on a lead), we used a gentle leader on Ralph, but only because if something spooked him he would turn sideways and freak out - the gentle leader meant i could control him better

 

Mandy does well with just a collar, but I sometimes wonder if a harness might be better. She has pulled out of her collar once, and it kind of scares us to think that she might be able to do that again and get hurt.

 

We have always used collars with our dog and they do very well. We did use a head collar on our German Shepherd when she was younger until she got over her pulling problem on the leash. We may use this on our Golden pup when he is a little bigger if he still tries to pull us. Right now, we use retractable leashes for our dogs and just regular collars.

 

We use collars, however I do have a harness that the boys get hooked up to when we're hiking or I'm running with them. Unless it's a no-pull harness, using one often turns them into a sled dog!

 

I use the Gentle Leader head collar with Rookie, but we're working on transitioning to a flat collar.

 

I chose both. we take regular walks with a collar & lead, they wear harnesses whenever I use the flexi leads.

 

I use the gentle leader head collar or just the leash attached to his regular collar.

 

I used to use a harness and started training her on a body harness which worked very well but due to being trained as a social therapy dog and the need to be in public palces to work and hospitals she had to be tested only using a flat collar so about 8 moths ago I switched her to a collar for ALL training and work and while it was definately work in the start now she's fully trained with the collar and I'm very glad since it's sooooo much easier to not have to worry about putting a harness on her before heading out, especially in a hurry.

 

I've always used a leash and collar with Asia with no problems but it was a different story with our Eskie. When he was a pup he would slip his collar like Houdini no matter how tight it was and used to pull so badly he choked himself so we had to use a harness. That worked well to addres the choking and I think it also helped because he felt more constrained and realized he couldn't slip out of it. He's much older and calmer now but we never bothered switching back to a collar as he is used to the harness.

 

Flat collar most of the time, but if we're out meeting lots of dogs, or actaully walking with her best frined Henry it's the gentle leader all the way. She's too strong if she sees something she wants to check out.

 

We have a harness with the front clip and they still pull. They both had Gentle Leader collars and Delilah hates her but walks so nice. Samson still pulls. I'm just about to get him a pinch collar since I often walk them both and I can't handle them pulling. Plus I have back problems and when he pulls it makes it worse for my back pain.

My husband and son both walk Samson with just a regular collar. He pulls, but they are stronger than I am.

 

I use the easy walk harness. I started using it because as a puppy Eleanor had a habit of backing out of her collar and this was safer. I am transitioning her to a flat collar but since she still tends to sometimes lunge when something exciting crosses her path.

 

I just switched over to a Softtouch harness with Woody as his pulling seemed awfully hard on his tracheae and he was chocking with even the slightest tension. I was just about to return the harness when I decided to give the company a call to see if I was doing something wrong as it didn't seem to be working as well as I thought it would in terms of the pulling.

I was actually put through to Linda Lady, the inventor of the harness, and she was wonderful. Now that I understand it I'm sold. But I'll still use both the harness and the flat collar depending on the situation.

Pete

 

Just a regular nylon collar and leash with Riley. He's never been a puller, so a regular collar is all I've needed.

 

I'm 100% in the collar camp. I want my dog walking next to me because he's trained, and I want the leash only to be there as a safety measure or because it's required in the area. I wouldn't want to rely indefinitely on specialized equipment to control the dog.

 

I agree. Relying solely on a harness (or any other equipment) can give you a false sense of security and can be very dangerous.

I've seen it firsthand with Gunner. I'll use a front-clip harness with him if I think we'll be in a situation where he might choose to forget his training and go suddenly deaf. I've found out, though, that if he wanted to pull me right off my feet, he could. The harness won't stop him. The only benefit it has is that it gives me just a little bit more control and buys me that extra couple seconds to get his attention, before he's actually in the act of charging. But if I were to fail in getting his attention, he could still drag me along behind him, harness or no harness.

 

Ranger pulled like an out of control train when I got him a year ago. I used a choke chain then upped it to a pinch collar for a few weeks as he had NO sensation around his neck. After about 3 months, I subsided the aids and dropped from the pinch back to the choke chain and now he can walk in a martingale collar just fine. NO buckle collars for this guy since he can pull out of them in a snap. In fact, even the martingale worries me since it can only tighten so far...I'm sure he'd be able to get out of it if he tried. I stick primarily to the choke chain for our walks and he never pulls anymore (even if he sees a bunny).

I tried walking him in a harness a few times and he quickly realized he could pull backwards out of it (and many other harnesses). Which is why I don't feel comfortable with him wearing them, even though it'd be great for when we hike or rollerblade.

Edited to add: Tippykayak - exactly how I feel...

 

I use a step in harness, Lucy pulled out of her collar in a parking lot, that did it for me, she was 6 mos. she came right back, I scooped her up and carried her into petsmart for her 1st class, pretty ironic, huh?

 

I should add that I might use a martingale if I had a dog who had an attention problem or who had learned to slip a buckle collar.

 

tippykayak - and that's the reason I don't trust Ranger enough to walk him on his buckle collar. As I found out, if he wants something badly enough, he no longer pulls on leash to get it; he snaps backwards, lifts his front paws and ducks his head and oops, I no longer have a dog. He'll do it in the blink of an eye and he's running loose around my neigbourhood and his recall isn't where it needs to be, especially when his prey drive is full force.

I don't trust the martingale one hundred percent either - he tried getting out of it once in a high traffic area when he decided he wanted to go visit a canadian goose and it was only a fluke I managed to tackle him before he got more than one ear free. It's not worth my dog's life to walk him in a buckle collar or harness because some people think it's cruel I walk him in on a loose leash with a choke chain.

 

I don't think there's any way Woody could pull out of the Softtouch harness but I know some dogs are pretty sneaky and can get out of just about anything and that's why recall is so important.

As far as the dog pulling on the harness Linda recommends stopping and then walking in a full or half circle with the dog on the outside of the circle. This sure made a difference for me. Reward the dog as soon as there's a loose leash.

I agree with tippy regarding having to fully rely on some sort of devise to keep your dog from pulling but I do think it's reasonable to train with these aids and then work your way out so no such device is needed. I do think it's very important to have a way to secure your dog while on lead so he is unable to pull free in the event of an emergency and some of the aforementioned devices are very good at achieving this.

Pete

 

I'm one of the most paranoid dog owners ever (just ask Stephanie or Melissa, LOL) and I'm convinced that the collar will like... break or come on buckled or something if I walked with one.

So.

We use a harness or halti, depending on where we're going/what we're doing. If it's somewhere I know he'll be going nuts (into public with a lot of people or other animals) then I use the halti. But normally it's just his harness.

 

I'm one of the most paranoid dog owners ever (just ask Stephanie or Melissa, LOL) and I'm convinced that the collar will like... break or come on buckled or something if I walked with one.

That's why I don't use anything but buckle collars on dogs. Those ones with the plastic "clips" just seem so breakable to me. I'd be scared of it snapping if the dog ever pulled or got excited or whatever!

Ranger's flat collar is a 2'' leather, double stitched and with a buckle. He could pull like a moose and that collar won't break. When I picked him up from his foster mom's (when he did pull like a moose), he was only wearing a half inch wide nylon collar with a plastic clip. I thought he was going to break that before we'd even make it to my truck!

 

I too use the easy walk harness with Junior. I only used a flat collar with Jean-luc.

The difference????

The switch to the easy walk harness came while I was having my knee surgery from a staph infection last year.(not MRSA.... thank goodness.) Anyway.... My Aunt and I had taken Junior to get him washed at a doggie salon. In the parking lot.... Junior pulled backwards out of the collar!!!!! OMG!!!!!! Panic... becasue I knew with my knee the way it was I would never be able to catch him... and I knew my Aunt could not either.

Fortunately.... even with my knee surgery... I quickly grabbed Junior and threw his collar back on. Whew!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness.

At that point I switched over to the easy walk harness.

That was last year.... fortunately... now... my knee has almost made a full recovery.... I can even run.... just not very far. (I think I surprised Junior the other day when I chased him around the backyard....... I still can't run as fast as I use to but it is getting there.)

 

Always used a collar. But after the LP surgery only a harness is allowed no more collars.

Mike

 

With Tessa we used a collor ALL the time. When she was a puppy she tried to pull us many time's, but that stopped shortly after we got her and I normally didn't walk Tessa on main road so we would walk on trails and she would always be lose (she had AMAZING recall).
Now with Saadiah we actually just got her a harness today and I already notice a difference. When we first got her we were having trouble with even wanting to leave are property, now she know's if she leaves she gets to go play ball at the park (her FAVORITE thing). Anyways we tried the harness and she was so mcuh better. And she listened to things we told her to do a lot better as well.