Which leash harness is best for a growing puppy that pulls?
Rapidly growing puppies quickly outgrow equipment, making expensive gear a waste of money while they learn not to pull. Different trainers offer conflicting advice about harnesses versus collars, leaving owners worried about restricting the dog's movement or wasting money on gear that fails on larger breeds.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Switching from a standard collar to a Y-front chest harnessDid this help you?
- 2Asking for recommendations on community forums and evaluating pros and cons of different optionsDid this help you?
- 3Buying harnesses designed for cats, kittens, or rabbits.Did this help you?
- 4Cutting and sewing existing harnesses to make them smaller.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I just got a golden retriever and was looking for harness recs. I want a good one for training since my dog pulls some.”source ↗
“I have a 1.5 pound chihuahua puppy (11 weeks old) and I am having the hardest time finding a harness for her.”source ↗
“I have probably spent 100+ dollars on four different harnesses in the three weeks I’ve had her, and they are all too big, especially in the neck and chest.”source ↗
“One I did find that fit nearly perfectly did not have an adjustable head hole, and it was perfect for her neck but her head was too bit to get through it, and I had to cut it off of her.”source ↗
“Looking for everyone’s opinion/ recs bc I’ve heard different stuff from trainers and vets! My pittie is 4 months old and he was okay on the collar but pulled more than I’d like so we switched to a Y harness that goes across his chest and it’s been amazing but I worry about it restricting his movement over time.”source ↗
“I don’t want to spend $10000 trying harnesses he’s going to grow out of immediately and I’ve heard mixed reviews about them actually working on larger breeds.”source ↗
Where this came up
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