Dog resists or runs away when putting on collar or harness
Puppies immediately resist, squirm, or take off as soon as they realize someone is trying to put on a collar or harness, causing owners to spend excessive time coaxing or chasing them. This ongoing daily struggle leaves owners feeling frustrated and worried about facing a lifetime of forcing their dog into gear for walks.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1giving high reward treats during introduction
- 2trying to desensitize the puppy to the collar
- 3stopping when the puppy resists to avoid fear
- 4attempting to quickly snap the collar in place
- 5leaving the collar on all day
- 6Cornering the dog to force the harness on
- 7Using treats like cat food to tempt the dog to put her head through
- 8Switching to a three-buckle harness that does not go over the head
- 9Using an elevated spot like a bench to put the harness on to stop the game of chase
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“we are struggling with a very important daily task: getting her into a harness or collar. As soon as you approach her with either she takes off.”source ↗
“Tonight I just spent a half hour sitting on the ground with a package of Churro (semi-liquid gogurt-like cat food) to try to tempt her to put her head through the harness. She would get her nose through and flinch back if I made any movements at all.”source ↗
“I’m not getting anywhere and I don’t know what other methods to use. I’m trying to get ahead of this so I don’t have a life time of forcing her into her harness every day for walks or car trips.”source ↗
“his collar I got him has always been a struggle to put on him.”source ↗
“When he realizes he immediately resists.”source ↗
“Squirm and pull away and if it goes on too long, he cries out.”source ↗
“I'm with you on this. I don't want to spend her entire life chasing her around to get a harness on. It's so frustrating.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 7How to get a rescue dog to stop freezing on walks