Dog Harnesses

My sled dog(s)/foster dogs have always worn the Freedom-No-Pull-Harness. It has a ring on the chest to clip to for leash walking (always also clip to their martingale collar) which helps convince your dog not to pull. It also has a ring on the back on a martingale fabric loop. I ended up just stitching the martingale loop closed so it couldn't tighten. The idea with this is if the dog pulls, the harness constricts and it is uncomfortable so they stop. This may work with a dog that pulls just because they have never walked on a leash before. With a retired sled dog - the dog has been purposefully trained to pull for many years. This has been heavily reinforced, and when excited/anxious/scared and on-leash this is going to be the dog's fall-back. So now they are pulling because they think it's their job, AND they're uncomfortable and their breathing is restricted. So I just sewed it shut. If we're walking and I want less pulling I clip to the front. If we are going for a run or hiking up a hill and I don't mind a bit of pulling, I clip to the back.

My new dog is some sort of husky-heeler mix - she has shorter legs and is just shaped differently. She also came to me very fat and with a skin infection, so her skin is still currently an issue as she has blown her undercoat, lost a bunch of weight, and still has some bare patches filling in. And she pulls because she knows nothing. And crashes through the underbrush after squirrels when she's off leash. She's hilarious. The freedom harness was just not fitting her shape properly, and was rubbing her skin raw. I got her the Front-Range-Harness from Ruffwear just last week. I've seen it on a bunch of other dogs and it looked like it would provide some protection from branches when crashing around off leash, be good for visibility, and not rub her when on-leash.

So far I really like it in general. It's padded and fits nicely and is super bright. It does twist when you front clip to it for walking and the dog pulls, there's not much you can do about that, so I'm still working out the best setup for leash walks. So far I haven't seen any skin abrasions from being rubbed when it twists, and I also like the back clip for tethering my dog in the car.

Some other options that look interesting but I have no personal experience with are:

Urban Trail Custom by Alpine Outfitters

Padded Harness by Trixie