Will wearing a harness mean my dog is more likely to pull?
In a word: no.
A guy in a battered old pickup truck stopped on the lane today when I was out walking Juno, one of my regular walking doggos. He stopped so that he could tell me a) she was pulling a lot, b) he’d never seen a dog pull that much, and c) she shouldn’t be wearing a harness because it was making her pull. Now I’m not having a pop at the chap, because his heart was in the right place and he was trying to be helpful. And he was also a hell of a lot less patronising than lots of other people who have decided I needed to know all sorts of nonsense in the past.
And in fact, I’ll start with the ways in which the trying-to-be-helpful chap was right:
✅️ Yes she was pulling a lot
✅️ I also believe him that he’s never seen a dog pull that much. Who knows, maybe he just hasn’t seen many dogs before 🤷♀️ If he’d seen Chai with the sheep yesterday, then he’d know what pulling really was 🫣🤣
Ways in which the trying-to-be-helpful chap was wrong:
❌️ Saying she shouldn’t be wearing a harness… incorrect: she SHOULD be wearing a harness
❌️ Saying the harness was making her pull… incorrect: harnesses do NOT make dogs pull
Juno was pulling because she was a heady mix of nervous energy and excitement. She can walk beautifully on a lead, and does so when she’s out with me most of the time now. But not when she’s exploring somewhere new, like today.
If her lead had been attached to her collar, she’d have been pulling and half-garotting herself in the process. As it was, her lead was attached to her harness, and she was pulling but not doing damage to the fragile and very important physiology in her neck. Which is why she SHOULD be wearing a harness.
Yes, I’ll grant you that harnesses can allow a dog more purchase to pull harder than with a collar:
1️⃣ Because there’s more material on a harness that they can get their weight behind
2️⃣ Because their air supply isn’t being compromised by a thin band of material round their neck
And so if you’re worried about being pulled over by a large or strong dog – like some of the big ol’ chunks of love that I walk on a daily basis 😍 – then a walking belt can help. And/or two points of contact: a double ended lead attached to a harness with a front D ring. (And if you’ve tried a double ended lead in the past and found it tricky, try using one in conjunction with a T-touch connector or freedom handle)
But a harness does NOT make a dog pull.
There are lots of genuine reasons why a dog might be pulling:
➡️ Because generally dogs walk faster than humans, so walking at our “slow” pace isn’t natural for them; they have to be taught to walk at our speed
➡️ Because they want to move even faster cos they want to get somewhere quicker – maybe the park or the field where they know they’re going to get let off-lead
➡️ Or because they’re nervous. Or excited. Or like Juno, a mixture of both.
➡️ Or they need to move faster than you because they’re in some sort of discomfort and it’s painful to walk slower
➡️ Or because the lead is too short for them to get to that mega interesting sniff that’s just out of reach
Mr Battered Old Pickup Truck guy wasn’t around on the way back for him to witness Juno trotting along happily, just out in front of me a little bit, lead as loose as you like. Nervous energy and excitement all dissipated because she was now on what had become more familiar ground, and we were heading back to the car. Still wearing that harness. Not pulling at all ❤