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123lucky · Jun 16, 2008, 03:17 AM

Hi just starting to take my puppy for walks, what would you recommend a lead or harness?

tickle · Jun 16, 2008, 05:10 AM

All depends on what kind of 'puppy' it is, lucky. Would you like to tell us a bit more, it would help :)

123lucky · Jun 16, 2008, 06:16 AM

Sorry it's a cavalier spaniel, she is 13 weeks old. Tried both a lead and a harness, I have read somewhere that you should only use a harness because there necks are so little. She does seem to like the lead better.

rex123 · Jun 16, 2008, 06:35 AM

If she likes the lead better than that's what you should use. With my dog I use a harness for 3 reasons because it reduces pulling, you have control over the dog's body and not his neck and my dog can slip out of any collar he can even slip out of harness's normal and anti pull hraness's we had to buy him one online from manitoba(we live in canada, nova scotia) called an escape artist harness. We've had it for about 3 months and he still hasn't figured out how to slip out of it!

froggy7 · Jun 16, 2008, 07:47 AM

If the dog walks well on a leash and collar, I would go with that. If the dog pulls, then try a harness or gentle-leader type head collar. And you may want to try a martingale collar, if you are concerned about the dog's neck. It's also called a humane choke collar... essentially to loops of collar joined in a figure-eight shape. As long as the dog doesn't pull, the collar is loose, but when it pulls, the one loop will tighten up. They are also available in lots of neat designs. Here's a good explanation of How a Martingale Collar Works

smearcase · Jun 16, 2008, 11:54 AM

If you are training the dog, you normally have to pull on him frequently to correct him and have him proceed as you want him to. The harness puts much less strain on the dogs neck as you make those corrections.

froggy7 · Jun 16, 2008, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by smearcase

If you are training the dog, you normally have to pull on him frequently to correct him and have him proceed as you want him to. The harness puts much less strain on the dogs neck as you make those corrections.

This is true. However, it is also much harder, imo, to correct a dog in a harness. Because you are trying to move the middle of the dog, you can't control the dog's movements with the precision that you can a dog in a collar. My Trink does a really good job of walking on a loose leash, but the few times that we have differences of opinions about which way we are going, it's a bit harder to get her to go my way with the harness, since I am essentially pulling her sideways. Thankfully she's not a stubborn dog and will generally give in to what I want, but I'd hate to be trying to get a stubborn dog to move this way.