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Reply To: Harness or Collar?

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Shasta220
Member

Haha no problem, Alexsandra. As I’ve said in my earlier posts – any training tool, from a gentle-lead head collar to a harness to a pinch collar, even a plain ol buckle collar…if in the wrong hands, can harm a dog.

I’ve noticed this a lot with chokers/martingales/pinch – they get such a bad reputation. It took me a while to figure out, but we think of animals as wanting to move away from pressure (after all, horses obviously do!), but dogs often go against it. That’s why you see dogs choking themselves, or struggling even harder to pull out of the collar (or harness/halter) when they get scared. That force is a barrier that they need to break.

Now, all of this is just my own personal theory, I’ve not backed it up with science or research, only observation.

Also, almost evvvvery type of collar i see is on the dog wrong – down at the base of the neck. A dog’s strongest muscles are down there; just look at the sledding malamutes, the main harness part goes around the base of their neck. If the collar is in the right place, right below the ears, the dog physically can’t and won’t pull against it, especially if it’s a quick tug instead of gripping/pulling constantly.