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What is better Collar or Harness??

sbowles76

Member
Will be getting my first BM puppy in a few wks......need suggestions on what is better collar or harness?.......pics or websites of some if you hsve them.......thank you....
 

sjdavenport

Well-Known Member
I'm in the minority here, but I really like a front attaching harness for my Cane Corso. We did initial puppy training on just a flat buckle collar. At about 6 months, we transitioned to a front attaching harness, and haven't looked back since. At first, we tried the Easy Walk harness, but I didn't really like the fit or the way it restricted his movement. Then we went to a Ruffwear Front Range harness, which is fantastic. It's the blue harness in the photos. More recently (Rheagar is about 20 months now), we switched to a sturdier harness, a Connected Control harness from Bold Lead Designs. That's the black leather one. It's too new for me to give it a good review yet. It just comes down to what tool works for the individual dog. I don't think you need anything other than a simple flat buckle collar on a puppy just starting training though. That's what I'd recommend starting out on.
 

scorning

Well-Known Member
I like to start with a harness for young puppies, I find that my puppies have been prone to backing out of collars so just feel more secure with a harness until they are confident in their surroundings. Then I switch to a martingale for walking, and use a harness for hiking and nosework. I generally don't use the front attachment / no pull harnesses, as I look for things don't constrict movement.
 

JamieHalverson

Well-Known Member
I like to start with a harness for young puppies, I find that my puppies have been prone to backing out of collars so just feel more secure with a harness until they are confident in their surroundings. Then I switch to a martingale for walking, and use a harness for hiking and nosework. I generally don't use the front attachment / no pull harnesses, as I look for things don't constrict movement.
I agree! I used a harness initially with my pup on the advice of my trainer. A harness allows a puppy freedom to move about to pull to investigate, sniff, happily greet people etc. without becoming at all accustomed to the feel of pulling against a collar and without inadvertently getting "corrected" during what should be positive socialization .

In the meantime, take some treats on your walks and when your pup is next to you, pop a treat in her mouth, this teaches that walking next to you is really great!Then you can introduce the collar slowly to teach a nice loose leash walk.

I can't tell you how wonderfully this worked for my pup. She's now almost 10 months old and I've virtually never had her pull a leash on a collar. I can walk her down my ice/snow covered driveway and know she's not going to make me slip, she walks nicely around other dogs, kids, people, whatever and I've never used more than a martingale or flat buckle collar. That's probably way more info than what you were looking for, but it worked really well for us!
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
I don't have anything to add to what's already been said, except that there are front hook harnesses that don't restrict shoulder movement. I don't care for the Easy Walk for that reason (and the fit was horrible for my boxers) and the Freedom Harness is made with the same design. I use the Front Range and am saving for the Connected Control that sjdavenport uses. There are a couple others that I haven't tried, but have a design that doesn't restrict movement. The Balance harness and the Together harness, if I remember the names correctly.
 

Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
I choose a collar because I was going to have Kryten learn to pull a cart and wanted a clear difference between when he couldn't pull (no harness)and when should pull (harness).

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irina

Well-Known Member
Collar here. Started with flat, then went to plastic prong, then to actual prong. He has a harness now, but that is just for tracking and nose work.
 

Hiraeth

Well-Known Member
Flat collar. No reason your dog won't be perfectly trained in a flat collar if you start at 8 weeks old and are consistent with it. Prongs and harnesses (unless being used for cart or weight pulling) shouldn't be necessary to walk a dog (in my opinion). I've never had to use anything else on my 6.5 month old 108 lb Great Dane puppy and I don't expect to need to.
 

season

Well-Known Member
I use a prong on walks and out in public. Got a fancy flat collar for the ladies and a Herm Sprenger fur savor for daily use. I also use a slip lead.


Carpe Diem
 

karennj

Well-Known Member
Season, Just curious. I consider a prong a training tool and like any other training tool you eventually phase it out. Do you ever plan to move off the prong to a flat collar for walks? If not, just wondering why. To the OP, a harness is a great idea for a pup because they often pull a lot in the beginning and can tend to back out of collars. It helps so they don't choke themselves as you are training.
 

CeeCee

Well-Known Member
I've never trained a puppy puppy, but I would think a flat collar or harness would work as long as you are teaching them not to put pressure on the leash i.e., doing some fancy footwork walking with them. How do you teach a puppy to walk on leash? (Both of mine came to me between 5 and 8 mos old.)
 

Hiraeth

Well-Known Member
I've never trained a puppy puppy, but I would think a flat collar or harness would work as long as you are teaching them not to put pressure on the leash i.e., doing some fancy footwork walking with them. How do you teach a puppy to walk on leash? (Both of mine came to me between 5 and 8 mos old.)

Are you asking OP, or in general?

If you're asking in general, I taught Titan by first luring him forward with treats and allowing him to stop and look around if he got overwhelmed. I also attached the leash to his collar and ran around in the yard with him to allow him to get used to the leash in general. Then we went on short walks with one of the other dogs, then eventually on our own. He did start to pull eventually, so I immediately began carrying treats in my pocket and luring him into a heel by holding the treat and only allowing him to eat the treat if he was at my side. Now he walks with his head at my knee in a flat collar without a leash at 6.5 months old (though I leash him if I'm taking him anywhere there's traffic, just in case). There are a lot of ways to teach puppies how to walk on leashes, though, and it's highly dependent on how the puppy reacts to new things :)
 

season

Well-Known Member
Season, Just curious. I consider a prong a training tool and like any other training tool you eventually phase it out. Do you ever plan to move off the prong to a flat collar for walks? If not, just wondering why. To the OP, a harness is a great idea for a pup because they often pull a lot in the beginning and can tend to back out of collars. It helps so they don't choke themselves as you are training.

If it ain't broke why fix it? All collars are tools. I also use a slip lead from time to time. I also can walk Solo on a flat collar. But I like the prong when on walks and out in public for those just in case moments. For me training never stops or is "phased out". We were walking the other day and a rabbit decided to cross our path. I'm glad I had the prong.


Carpe Diem
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
If it ain't broke why fix it? All collars are tools. I also use a slip lead from time to time. I also can walk Solo on a flat collar. But I like the prong when on walks and out in public for those just in case moments. For me training never stops or is "phased out". We were walking the other day and a rabbit decided to cross our path. I'm glad I had the prong. Carpe Diem

I'm going to admit that I have a very, very hard time wrapping my head around this. It bothers me that a dog fully capable of walking nicely and trained to ignore it's surroundings is still being walked on a prong. In my head it means that the dog must not be capable of walking nicely without it - which therefore means it's not been trained. This is me figuring out my own head, not aimed at you, Season. Clearly you've put the time in with Solo. I don't have anything against a prong, although I honestly believe that positive methods and verbal direction are equally as effective. I've used a prong before. I no longer do and I feel I'm a better, more creative, and more intuitive trainer now.

I think my problem stems from my location. Around here most dogs on prongs are NOT able to walk nicely without them. People are lazy and don't use them as a training tool. The put them on their 8 week old puppy and start yanking and yelling no. The second the collar comes off the dog is out of control. Or it's a status symbol to prove they have a bad-ass dog. Many are going for the mean dog look and those are the ones that are actually yanking on the collars to cause the dog to get more agitated and yeah - to cause pain. I'm not far from an area that had a lot of dog fighting and just a small drive away from what used to be the murder capital of the US in the 90's. There are a lot of wanna-be bad boys/girls here. I'm sure we've all seen those wanna-be toughies with their dogs. So while I get why you, Season, and others on here use a prong long after the dog is trained, I still think that you all are the minority that takes the time to learn to use one properly and actually put in the training time. Most people will never ask questions or watch a video on a forum. They'll go to the pet store and buy the tough looking collar and listen to their buddy that still yanks on their dog.

And that was my rambling self-examination for the day. Sorry for hijacking, OP.
 

season

Well-Known Member
That's cool. Doesn't affect me any. Like I said, a prong, a flat, a choke, a slip lead are all tools. Tools don't hurt the dog. Prongs don't hurt dogs. Humans hurt dogs.


Carpe Diem
 

season

Well-Known Member
Like I said. Any collar is a "training tool." Training never stops. I can't control distractions. I can't control the crowd at the parade or the off leash dogs running around in the neighborhood when I least expect it. Or the rabbit that ran out in front of us. If I'd have had a flat collar or slip on him he would have choked and possibly hurt. That doesn't happe


Carpe Diem
 

season

Well-Known Member
Happen with the prong. I'm not trying to convince anybody. They can use whatever they want. I know what works for me and Solo.


Carpe Diem