Having owned many dogs over the years, I was interested to check out dog harnesses, particularly the lovely designs by Pebblina. Their reversible dog harness looks fabulous, but I hesitated, simply because I have always used a collar and lead, and sometimes, a choker chain for my dogs. I had always thought that dog harnesses didn’t give you much control over your dog, which is why I always used a collar and lead or a choker chain. How wrong I was!
One problem with choker chains is that they choke your dogs! Some of my dogs just wouldn’t behave on their walks and kept pulling me forwards, which on many occasions, nearly caused me to fall over! However, the noise they made when they pulled against the choker chain really made my heart leap, but what could I do?
So, I reverted back to the collar and lead, but the collar would need to be tightened or she would easily slip out of it, and I didn’t like it being pulled so tight around her neck. For many years I just went between the two options of collar and choker chain, not knowing that there was another option.
Why do we love the reversible dog harness?
There are so many reasons why this was the perfect option for my dog, that I don’t know where to start! First of all, my old dog, who hardly has the strength to pull on her walks anymore, can still dig up the occasional spurt of steam if she sees a cat on her walks! With a collar or choker chain, she would strangle herself, but with a harness, it’s awesome!
There’s no longer any pressure around her neck, because the lead is attached to a hook on the back of the reversible dog harness, just below her shoulders, taking the pressure off her neck. I don’t feel guilty anymore! As far as control is concerned, my old dog is now fine on the lead and behaves very well, but I can imagine that a young pup would still need to be trained to behave on the lead. I can’t see any reason why a reversible dog harness wouldn’t work as well on a younger dog, as an older dog, particularly when it’s so comfortable for them to wear. In fact, I know dogs that don’t like going for a walk, simply because they don’t like the choker chain! Maybe their owners should try a harness!
A friend of mine has a beagle who is a genius in backing out of her collar when walking and scooting off to play with other dogs she meets along the way. Tightening the collar raised the same concerns of strangulation, so that really wasn’t an option. When my friend changed to a harness however, all her dreams came true! One thing we learnt was that you do need to make sure that the harness is comfortably tight, because if it’s too loose they can still back out of it. All you need to do is adjust the length of the straps, making sure that it’s tight enough to prevent them wriggling out, but loose enough so that it doesn’t stop them breathing!
My dogs been wearing the Pebblina reversible dog harness for quite a while now and I am more than happy with it. As a final word, make sure you buy the right size harness, fit it properly, and you will have the cutest little dog in the park!