Flyball Harness Review
Our dogs always wear harnesses for flyball, and we’ve gone through a variety of styles before finding ones that suit both us and the dogs!
This isn’t so much of a review as a explanation of how and why we chose the different harnesses for our different dogs, and what the advantages and disadvantages are of each style. I’ve also listed where we buy them from.
Lupine Harnesses
Kim and Dylan both wear Lupine harnesses for flyball.
Kim is sporting the 3/4″ New Wave and Dylan has the 1″ Bling Bonz, both Adjustable Harnesses rather than the Step-In style.
I love these harnesses! They’re great for flyball as when the dog pulls, the pressure goes across the shoulders and not across the neck or the chest. They’re also easy to hold, which is important! I like the Puppia harnesses but don’t have them as they’re too hard to keep hold when your dog is revved up and racing (plus they come in small sizes, no chance of fitting Dyl!). Having said that the Lupine webbing material isn’t very forgiving on your skin when you’ve got cold and wet hands, but of course it’s always sunny and bright in the UK so that’s never a problem. (In all seriousness, this is one of my only criticisms, but I wear fingerless gloves when I run the dogs in the cold so the material doesn’t get chance to bite).
The material does stretch a little so you may find you have to readjust the straps after a couple of training sessions, but we’ve never had the buckles break or heard of them breaking.
Lupine leads, collars and harnesses also come with a lifetime guarentee even if chewed, which means we’ve had about 6 replacements without question from Dylan’s escapades as a puppy. They do discontinue slow-selling or old patterns however, which means that although you can have a very unique set it’s hard to get a replacement or matching collar/lead! They’re also easy to clean, we just stick them in the washer when they get dirty without a problem.
We tend to order direct from http://www.lupinepet.com/ as the postage isn’t much more than from the British retailer Collarways, but there is a wider choice of patterns and sizes. You can also get the Lupine range from eBay, sometimes cheaper, but it’s very hit-and-miss as to which patterns and sizes are available.
Fleece Harnesses
Mollie wears a fleece-lined harness, and as you can see she’s very pleased with it.
My mum chose this for Mollie as it is much kinder on her hands. Unlike Kim and Dylan, Mollie doesn’t pull forward at a constant pressure, she likes to vary things by going backwards, twisting and bouncing on the spot and lunging forward to try and break your grip. With the webbing on the Lupine harnesses or similar, that means you usually have to let go because your fingers are being sawn off!
The webbing distributes the pressure across the same areas as the Lupine however, and you should note that the actual fleece on the edges doesn’t take the pressure itself, it’s the webbing inner that does. Therefore if you’re looking for a broader strap, don’t always presume fleece is the way to go.
Again, easy to wash and comes in a variety of pretty colours!
The fleece harnesses come to us direct from stalls at flyball competitions, so I can’t personally recommend a suitable online shop. http://www.dog-games.co.uk/newshop/Harnesses+-+Fleece+Lined/ is recommended by the ever-trustworthy guys on Ruffdogs, and eBay have a variety available too.
Note: Harnesses are designed to allow and encourage dogs to pull; the original design of a harness was intended for sled-dogs, tracking dogs, and now flyball dogs. If your dog pulls even a little on the lead, trying a harness will only amplify the problem. We only use harnesses on our dogs during flyball training and competition.
11 Comments
Katie
Lol Leanne you clearly have too much time on your hands 😛
Cat
YAY for fleeciieeess! 😀
Leanne
I have way too much time on my hands, and spending an hour writing this was a good way to waste it. Takes my mind off Julie to be concentrating on something else. 😉
Fleeciness is swish, can’t you tell from Mollie’s face that she thinks so?! 😆
Lora
“Note: Harnesses are designed to allow and encourage dogs to pull; the original design of a harness was intended for sled-dogs, tracking dogs, and now flyball dogs. If your dog pulls even a little on the lead, trying a harness will only amplify the problem. We only use harnesses on our dogs during flyball training and competition.”
I love it! Its amazing how many people put harnesses on their dogs and cant for the life of them figure out why they pull so hard. Good article 🙂
Ems
Bailey likes her daisy and butterfly example of the lupine, hehehe
she said her red fleece one reminds her of a certain S team, she would rather close in the draw with her red harness!!!! 😉
Vicki aka Giruff
We use the fleece ones. I originally bought Pips one for running as I have one of the running waist belts for me.
Its amazing how many people think putting a dog in harness will stop them pulling!!
Leanne
The idea that a harness will stop your dog pulling is such an amazing reversal of logic it baffles me. 😆
Bailey looks gorgeous in her girly Lupine harness! The fleece ones don’t suit Kim anyway, fat straps make her look fat and weird. Thin straps all the way!
Steve
These are a great idea.
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We’re looking for members with quality dogs, ‘tails’, and sales to add stuff to our site.
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Steve
http://www.wuffstuff.com
Cynthia Blue
Those look really nice. Chase doesn’t wear a harness and the Touch n Go seminar we went to, they advise against harnesses as they say the dogs are running in a girdle. =P I wanted one before that, but now… not so much. But I do like to find harnesses that don’t wear under the dogs arms.
Strangely enough, I have met a number of dogs that pull LESS when in a harness. Chase, when a leash is clipped on his collar, it’s like the cue to pull. On a harness he’s not nearly as bad. 🙂 Go figure. However, at flyball I have to have him in a halti or he’s a mess!
Leanne
Interesting perspective Cynthia!
I would never run our dogs without a harness at flyball, they pull way too much and I wouldn’t want to risk damaging their throats. Our harnesses aren’t tight fitting at all — not loose enough to catch on anything, but I can slide my hand between their ribs and the webbing.
I’ve never yet met a dog who pulls less on a harness, but I guess there must be some out there! 😀
Joanne
Quite right about not letting a dog pullar on a collar and lead, it can severely damage a dog’s neck leading to trachea problems. First signs of something wrong are coughing and wheezing from pressure on the neck through pulling. our fleece dog harnesses are non-chafing and escape proof if the correct size is chosen and the harness is also well adjusted to fit.