stop pulling on the lead

Stop pulling on the lead – the use of equipment

Question: Can you stop pulling on the lead by using kind, supportive equipment? If so, what’s the best dog-walking harness to buy?

Short answer: Sometimes, with some dogs. Other dogs need more intensive training.

Question: Can you stop pulling on the lead without using equipment that works by causing discomfort or pain when the dog pulls?

Short answer: Absolutely.

Question: Why is causing discomfort or pain as a way to control behaviour problematic?

There is no short answer to this. There are several strong reasons to avoid intentionally making your dog feel uncomfortable or sore.

  1. Mammals feel pain and discomfort through the same biological mechanisms as humans. Therefore, using painful punishments to get dogs to change their behaviour is ethically problematic.
  2. Because you are putting the equipment on them, they associate it with you, and this can damage your relationship.
  3. If your dog is already sensitive, anxious, or reactive, these emotional states and behaviours will intensify if they are also uncomfortable or in pain.
  4. Many dog breeds have been bred to tolerate pain in order to fulfil the roles we created for them. This is especially true of bull breeds. terriers, etc. They will often pull regardless of constricted breathing, discomfort, tightening face or belly straps, etc. If this tug-of-war continues at both ends of the lead, it can lead to physical damage. For the dog this could affect the cervical spine, thyroid gland, nose, throat, or abdominal organs. For you it could mean rope burns, damaged fingers, and joint issues. Some harnesses pull up and under the dog’s ‘armpits’, which can cause irritation, skin damage, pain and even joint issues.

The best walking harnesses for dogs who pull

According to Statista, in a report published in 2023, the UK pet products market is worth just short of 8 billion pounds a year. It’s clear we spend a great deal of money on our pets (and dogs make up the largest portion of the UK pet population). Producers are more than happy to keep up with our demand for dog-related products. But with so many choices, how do we choose wisely and get the best value for money along the way?

Criteria for a great harness

  1. A snug fit. A loose-fitting harness can move around on the dog’s body, leading to friction, skin irritation, and catching on the dog’s hair. They also facilitate pulling, the opposite of what you want!
  2. Flat, comfortable webbing and clips make the harness more comfortable to wear and make adjusting the size much easier.
  3. There should be at least two points of connection (usually D-rings) on the front and back. More points of connection give the harness more flexibility in different situations.
  4. Opening neck clips. These are essential for head-shy dogs but will benefit most dogs, as it’s rare to find dogs who enjoy having equipment pass over their face and head. Breeds with a large head-to-neck ratio, like staffies, bulldogs, boxers, etc., also need a neck clip; otherwise, you will continually need to adjust the size of the head opening between a snug fit on their neck and a wide opening to pass over their head.
  5. An H or X-shape harness is best in terms of protecting joints and allowing a natural gait during use.
  6. Long-coated and double-coated breeds may prefer a fleece-enhanced harness to reduce pulling on the coat.

The balance harness

Harnesses that fulfil all of these criteria are sometimes called balance harnesses or two-point harnesses. I have no reservations at all about ONLY recommending harnesses that fall into these categories. However, there are still many types to choose from, and I have used all of them! Here are my conclusions.

 

My best all-round dog walking harnesses

T-Touch harness

Stop pulling on the lead. The best dog harnesses
Raffi modelling the T-Touch harness

The T-Touch balance harness is an H-style harness with back, shoulder and chest rings and an opening clip on either side of the neck. It’s pretty easy to get a good fit with the T-Touch harness because there is plenty of overlap between sizes. They also sell longer back pieces and smaller neckpieces. This makes them super accessible for dogs of all different sizes and shapes. Having the back extension draws the chest straps away from the armpits for dogs who have a longer body. It’s a helpful, joint-protecting feature.

The harnesses are made in the UK from colour-fast nylon webbing, which comes in black, green, purple, and navy. There are fasteners on both sides of the neck and either side of the barrel. This means you don’t have to pull it over your dog’s head or thread legs through loops! The fasteners are shaped to fit the contours of your dog’s body. Therefore they are more comfortable than a standard flat plastic clip.

Best for:

These are definitely my personal favourites. They are versatile, lightweight, and extremely easy to put on once you work out the correct orientation. They are also easy to adjust even when on the dog. The T-Touch harness is close to perfect for anxious and reactive dogs because its lack of clunkiness gives them a much lighter feel on the dog’s body than something like the Perfect Fit. Since wearing equipment can be a trigger for sensitive dogs, this can be a big plus point.

Not so good for:

Better options, like the Xtra Dog or Perfect Fit harness, are available for dogs with coats that easily snag, mat, or break off. Plain webbing can be tough on some coat types.

Leads:

The Tilley Farm Shop Website also offers matching double-ended leads, though colours are limited. Double-ended leads are essential for fully using the harness as intended. They enable you to maintain two points of contact with your dog. These leads come in 3 lengths and two widths – beware of the 1.5m (75cm when used on two points of contact). This is really too short to be versatile. The T-Touch leads are soft and easy to use, but I get all my leads from Mekuti, as they have great colour choices for all lengths. 

 

Xtra Dog harness

Stop pulling on the lead. The best dog harnesses
Marcus modelling the Xtra Dog soft fleece training harness

The Xtra Dog harness is a very different X style design, as it has a wide fleece background that the webbing sits on. The neck is fixed, not adjustable in size and has to slip over the head. Some dogs will object to this and start avoidance tactics when you go to put the harness on.  The Xtra Dog fleece harness only has one front and one back attachment ring. However, the design is otherwise good, with the short ‘x’ crossover piece between the shoulders, and – if well fitted – is very comfortable.

Best for:

I like the width of the fleece for larger dogs (it spreads the area of pressure across the body) but remains light by design. The smaller sizes are neat and can fit many breeds snugly.  I sometimes use this harness for dogs with long hair, as the fleece is kinder than webbing in terms of snagging and hair breakage.

Not so good for:

They’re less useful for any dog whose head is very large in proportion to its neck and body, dogs who are head-shy and those who pull strongly as they aren’t as stable on the body as the H-style harnesses. The wider matching leads are not as long as those sold with the other harnesses listed here, nor as easy to handle if you have small hands!

With this design, it is really important to order the right size for the neck opening, which needs to be snug. If you measure the dog’s neck—there’s a video on the website showing how to do this—and contact XtraDog, they will advise you. There are loads of sizes and colours, and like all these harnesses, you need a double-ended lead (which they also sell) to go with it.

Leads:

I never really enjoyed using the one Xtra Dog lead I owned, as it was fairly short and too chunky for my small hands. They do sell a slimmer lead, but it’s the same length.

Mekuti balance harness

Stop pulling on the lead. The best dog harnesses
Archie modelling a Mekuti harness

For many years, this was my go-to harness until it gave way to the T-Touch harness because of the double-sided neck openings as standard. The Mekuti balance harness is an H-style highly adjustable harness (even when already on the dog) and extremely versatile with chest, back and two side rings. It has clips that open on both sides of the body and has a neck clip option for dogs who are head-shy.

Best for:

This is an excellent walking and training balance harness with five attachment points, giving it great versatility. It’s essentially four to five harnesses in one. It can be used like any standard single-back point harness to prevent exerting pressure on the neck or face or with a single point on the chest if you are not training but want to reduce the potential pull on you when using a long line. The Mekuti can readily convert to the two-points-of-contact option on the chest and upper back should a situation call for your dog to be walking close beside you.

The fourth set-up is another training option: with one end of the lead on the back and the other threaded through the chest ring and onto the side ring. This gives optimum control and achieves balance for most dogs. A dog in balance can engage its brain and learn. Finally, there’s the option of using the chest ring to practice 180-degree turns. Allow the dog a completely loose lead, then as soon as they exert any tension on the lead, make the 180-degree turn, and the chest connection will allow them to easily follow. It is a versatile and well-conceived harness available in three webbing widths and seven colours (with matching leads). I’d rate this well for dogs who really pull.

Not so good for:

The webbing has the same issues as the T-Touch harness for snagging hair in some long-haired or double-coated breeds. The standard harness has an enclosed neck, so it has to go over the head. This is not an option for head-shy dogs, so make sure you get the single neck clip if you don’t know how your dog will respond to a closed neck harness.

Leads:

The best!  I prefer the Mekuti leads, which are made of very comfortable Softex and come in a variety of lengths and colours. These leads are soft, fairly slim, and easy to handle, even for small hands. They wash well and last forever! In many ways, they are similar to T-Touch leads, but I prefer the Mekuti colours and lengths. T-Touch does 1.5m, 2m, and 3m, while Mekuti does 2m, 2.5m, and 3m. The 2.5m is probably the most versatile length.

Perfect Fit modular harness

This is an innovative and ingenious harness that does what it says on the tin. Because the harness is modular, any one piece of it can be changed or renewed. Its main advantages are that it’s truly possible to get a perfect fit and that worn-out or broken pieces can be replaced without buying a whole new harness. I truly have to split this harness into two groups by size to make any sense for a review.

Best for:

All of the smaller sizes with small clips and rings are wonderful harnesses with comfortable fleece lining and webbing for durability. They are great for getting a perfect fit (see what I did there), and it’s easy to muffle the clip noise for noise-sensitive dogs. The light feel is great for touch sensitive and they are kind to longer, thicker coats.

Not so good for:

I have a big “however”! Even the tiny ones can look somewhat overgrown and clunky on tiny dogs, and once you get up to labrador size, the harness is a large, heavy piece of equipment with massive rings and large, noisy clips.

Stop pulling on the lead
Tilly modelling the Perfect Fit harness

For many dogs, these features won’t be a negative, but for some, they make the Perfect Fit H harness impossible to tolerate. Noise-sensitive dogs often struggle with the clicks of harness clips closing – watch carefully, and you’ll see little flicks and flinches at each fastening. With small clips, it’s possible to dampen this noise down to almost nothing just by using your fingers to absorb the click. If you’re careful, you can relieve the stress for the dog without injuring yourself as the clip closes. With the larger Perfect Fit clips, this isn’t so, and it’s easy to snag your fingers while trying (ouch!). Several blood blisters later, I gave up trying. A definite no for the noise-sensitive dogs in my world.

Sadly, the same applies to larger touch-sensitive dogs, as many of our clients’ dogs are. The sheer weight and mobility of the open harness when you first start to move it around the dog’s body can cause tensing and body flinches. I am extremely skilled at putting all kinds of harnesses on our dogs. We mainly use H harnesses, of which the larger Perfect Fit harnesses are by far the most weighty and challenging for body-sensitive dogs to accept. They are great harnesses for dogs without these issues.

Leads:

Perfect Fit sells matching 2m leads, which are a fair length. However, if a dog has to stay on the lead, I usually go for the 2.5m or 3m Mekuti lead for extra “exploring length.” Remember that if you have a large dog that needs to remain on two points of contact for safety, 2m becomes a 1m range, which can feel restrictive. These leads are a similar fleece-with-webbing style to Xtra Dog leads. Although they feel less comfortable in my (small) hands; others may prefer these to the softer Mekuti

Other options

There are a few other harnesses that aim to offer a similar product to those above but at a cheaper price. One is the Halti Anatomy Dog Harness, and there are several similar (cheap) copies now on Amazon. This harness does have three points of contact with a single chest, neck, and back ring, but that’s where the similarities end. It has a sealed neck opening (so the only option is to go over the dog’s head). It can be really difficult to resize if the sliders move under the buried pouch on the chest, and it is far from easy to get a really snug all-around fit. Part of the problem is that many dogs have a bigger head than their neck. So, you either have to repeatedly adjust the size, have the neck baggy, or squeeze it over the dog’s head. This action is universally hated by dogkind!

Here’s a video that shows some of these harnesses in action.

Equipment versus training

Remember that a harness, however well-designed, should be used as a training aid to stop pulling on the lead. The harness and the training go hand in hand. While a two point harness with double lead attachment can help you to achieve physical control over your dog, that’s not the point. The idea is to use training alongside the right equipment until your dog learns to remain relaxed and in balance on the lead. Generally speaking, a harness alone can only stop pulling on the lead by constraining a dog. The dog hasn’t learned anything. All unwanted dog behaviour requires our time and attention in terms of training. The two-point harness helps you show your dog the behaviour you desire.

Of all the dogs I’ve met and walked over the past 13 years, I can only recall three that were transformed just by putting on a harness with two points of contact and using a double-ended lead. I assume these were individuals for whom the pleasure of walking in balance after constantly pulling was great enough to reinforce the non-pulling behaviour. For most dogs, this requires us to teach them focus and a different walking position to be successful. There are many ways to train loose lead walking, but I’ll leave that for another blog post!

Stop pulling on the lead – best dog walking harness