Harness woes

Parodius

Parodius

Afternoon all, just wondering if anyone had any insight on an issue we’ve been having recently as I’m pretty much stumped at this point and more than a bit stressed!

We have always walked Neo on a harness from a young pup. I tried to make the harness itself and the actual ‘putting it on’ a positive experience for him with praise and treats etc and he’s been fine with them. We have never had any issues and he was always happy to put one on and get a snack. However over the last couple of months he has been getting more and more reluctant to have one put on.

I never chase or corner him to put it on, I have always just held it and let him come to me, but we are now at the point where it will sometimes take up to 1/2 an hour for him to come over to have it put on, then some other times he will pretty much have it on straight away 🤷‍♀️ This is getting very frustrating and I just can’t work out what the issue is. I’ve checked the fit of his current harness to see if it was maybe rubbing him or something but it’s a good fit as far as I can tell. I bought a new harness with wider straps to try to see if he found that more comfortable but he was the same with that one too. I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t want to go out as he genuinely seems to enjoy his walks and sniffs. Also, I think I mentioned in a previous post, as he refuses to toilet in the garden anymore he has to go out several times a day. Unfortunately I can’t walk him on just a collar as whilst he’s a lot better with loose lead walking, he’s still inclined to pull on occasion and chokes himself, plus he’s very strong!

I’m just really struggling to understand what the issue is and how to help him. At the moment I feel like I’m pretty much bribing him to put his harness on and I can’t go on waiting him out indefinitely, there’s obviously an issue there and he’s not happy to have it on, I’m just not seeing what it is. Has anyone experienced similar? Any ideas/suggestions gratefully received as always.
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
This is tough @Parodius . Kipper doesn’t love his harness, or anything over his head or round his neck. I worked really hard on this when he was young, but something at some point made it weird/uncomfortable/scary for him, and while I beat myself up for a long time trying to work out what it was, eventually I decided we just needed to start where we were and go from there. We’ve reached an equilibrium where he will tolerate having the harness put over his head, and he will tolerate his collar being put on, and once on he seems okay with them. But it’s really hard and makes you feel wretched so I completely sympathize.

I’d suggest a two pronged approach. Firstly, you want to walk him in the harness so is there anywhere you can put the harness on him relatively quickly and easily, like the back of the car? Or by the back door if you’ve got his lead on? This allows you to actually walk him on a harness while you’re doing the longer work to make putting it on comfortable for him. For the second prong, I’d suggest changing the environment if possible - so doing practice inside if you used to do it outside, in a different room etc. - and then building the cooperative care stuff really slowly, starting with a large loop that you slowly get him to put his head through by treating through it, slowly slowly bring your hands each time closer to and then through the loop until he’s comfortable putting his head through to get the treat - then making the loop slightly smaller, rinse and repeat until he’s okay with a bit of resistance to push his head through. Then train with the harness but introducing slowly, so next to you - treat treat treat, session done. Next to you and you reach towards it, treat treat treat, session done - etc. The goal being to be able to handle it with no stress, then get Neo to put his head through, then get to putting it on no clips, then fully on. This might be obvious or stuff you’ve already tried, but I think this would be my plan.
 
Atemas

Atemas

UK Tour Guide
Location
North Cambridgeshire
I’ve had similar problems with Red and a harness. I noticed in photos Neo has a Perfect Fit harness. Red had one too and she hated it. Was never sure why as it was fitted on her and I was sure not rubbing anywhere. They are really good harnesses. F never uses the harness on her and manages well with her lead on her collar but I found Red pulled with me which I hated a) because she’d almost choke herself and I really worried about her neck b) for a relatively small Labrador she is extremely strong and at times, I’ve found her difficult to hold. A while back I had her fitted for a Julius K9 harness which I’d say has been successful. She’s not too keen on having it on and like you I don’t want to force her. What works for us, is getting ready and leaving the house via the garage. Once in the garage from the house, I put the harness on - useless doing it in the house as she runs away and hides. It’s almost like she accepts it there. I say ‘let’s get ready for our walk’ and as soon as she moves a fraction towards me, I pop it over her head. I then feel all round it to make sure it’s sitting right on her. I don’t treat her but I do say ‘good girl’ and then ‘let’s go play ball’ which always excites her. Once it’s on it’s not an issue at all and like you, I’ve never been able to work out what the ‘problem’ is - I think it’s just a learned behaviour for whatever reason only known to Red 🤣. I am absolutely sure it doesn't hurt her. I hope you find a way with Neo
 
Emily

Emily

Location
Melbourne, Australia
Parodius said:
Has anyone experienced similar?
Click to expand...
Well, not with a harness but Ella is a sensitive dog. This isn't necessarily going to help the harness situation but might add to the understanding of the reaction.

The reason for Ella to react and become upset with something can be so ridiculous (to us) that you may never realise unless you see it. For example:

She loves carrot. I chucked a bit of carrot at her while preparing dinner and it hit her nose and made her jump. She then wouldn't go near it on the floor so I had to pick it up and show her it was ok.

She did zoomies and slipped on the floor. She then didn't go near that part of the floor for TWO DAYS! I had to give her breakfast at that spot, just so she'd go near it again.
 
Loraseal

Loraseal

Location
The Hague, The Netherlands
I had the same issue with Hunter. For some reason overnight he found it as punishment. He hated it going over his head. As he has joint issues we opted to stay with the collar. He has no issue with the collar. All the harnesses were too close to his elbow and bribary did not work. I think I would have gone for high treat bribery and tried to make it more fun if his joints were better. I miss the grab handle on his harness when he meets his nemesis the long haired collie. Hope you work out the best solution for the 2 of you. They do have quirky straits don't they that are completely illogical!
 
Parodius

Parodius

Thanks all for sharing your experiences and ideas, it’s such a frustrating issue, especially if you have somewhere to be on time! I think I’m going to have to focus less on the ‘why’ and try and up my treat game and do some work on positive associations and see how we get on. Hopefully we can reach the point of acceptance on his part if I can make it more worth his while, and I can stop planning to leave the house with a 30minute buffer just in case.

@Emily we had a similar incident with Neo where I accidentally dropped a tape measure on the floor when he was in the room and startled him. This was over 6 months ago and even now he’s extremely wary if I get the tape measure out of the drawer, they can be such sensitive souls at times.
 
kateincornwall

kateincornwall

Location
Cornwall , UK
Parodius said:
Thanks all for sharing your experiences and ideas, it’s such a frustrating issue, especially if you have somewhere to be on time! I think I’m going to have to focus less on the ‘why’ and try and up my treat game and do some work on positive associations and see how we get on. Hopefully we can reach the point of acceptance on his part if I can make it more worth his while, and I can stop planning to leave the house with a 30minute buffer just in case.

@Emily we had a similar incident with Neo where I accidentally dropped a tape measure on the floor when he was in the room and startled him. This was over 6 months ago and even now he’s extremely wary if I get the tape measure out of the drawer, they can be such sensitive souls at times.
Click to expand...
I think this is the very best approach for you both . Its so easy to overthink and actually make issues worse , so yes, accept it for now , plan your trips and have lots of high value treats , well done x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top