Dog Keeps Getting out of Harness

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LucyDog430

Forums Novice
I'm having major problems finding a harness that will hold my 7-month old Sheltie. I'm hoping someone will be able to help

Lucy is a sweet little angel, 99% of the time. Then we take her out for a walk. We started out in a regular harness. She freaked out at having something put over her head and eventually chewed through the leash. We switched to a velcro wrap harness. That lasted for about a month until she lunged for a passing car and ripped the velcro. Thankfully I was able to catch her and carry her home. Then we switched to the Easy-walk harness. We didn't even make it out the front door before she got out of it. Then we got a step-in harness that went around her middle, paws and neck. On Saturday, we were in a training class working on loose-leash walking. She somehow did a dive/twist move and came completely out of the harness without it unbuckling. I don't know how it happened. The trainer was able to catch her this time. Now we have a greyhound collar that's part chain and part fabric. It's loose when she's standing and then tightens when she pulls. She hates it and tries to drop and roll out of it. I haven't taken her out in it yet because I don't think it will hold. I'm at the point where I am afraid to take her for a walk. I am terrified of losing her or of her being hit by a car. There has to be a way to fix this. I hate the idea of a chain collar anything. I feel like I'm abusing her. And I feel like just a collar isn't enough to hold her.
 
The collar you have is called a martingale collar and in my opinion is the best thing for keeping a dog or pup from slipping a collar. My girl Sadie occasionally see's something that freaks her out and used to easily slip out of her collar. She hasn't been able to do it once since getting her a martingale collar. She still freaks at the silliest things too. for instance, the other day a dump truck full of road salt when right by us and she just looked. 1 minute later she freaked out when she saw an upside down white plastic chair on the side of the road out for the garbage!

Anyway, you should be able to adjust the martingale collar so that it tightens just enough that she can't pull her head out of it but it but it doesn't choke her.

You need her to look forward to putting the collar on and you may have to start from scratch to do so.

If your dog is food motivated, get a treat that she REALLY likes, hold the collar up and coax her toward it with the treat. Give her lots of praise and a treat for just moving forward, then gradually get her closer and closer to the collar. Eventually put the treat on the opposite side of the collar (pup on one side, treat on the other) and encourage her to put her head through the collar to get the treat. Hopefully with time and patience she'll eventually associate the collar with something she likes and be happy to have it put on.

My only other suggestion with the leash would be to put it on her collar and let her drag it around for short periods and gradually increase the amount of time its on her so that she gets used to the feel of it. Also, when you're trying to walk her, encourage her forward with treats and not by pulling, then maybe she won't mind it so much.

These methods can also be done with a favorite toy if you don't want to give treats. Make sure the toy is something she really likes and is special, something you use only for training and that she doesn't have access to all the time.

Good Luck!
 
I experienced this with a neighbor's 5 mo old sheltie, who stayed with me over the holidays last year. She got spooked by something while we were walking, put on the brakes, and backed out of her harness without really meaning to do so. It terrified me. When she is taken for walks now, she always wears a martingale collar; and she seems to know that she can't back out of it.

If you've got a fenced in yard, you might also want to put the collar on every time you take Lucy outside to potty and then play for a few minutes, so she'll associate putting on the collar with going outside and having some fun.
 
Ruckus will back out of any harness or regular collar no matter how tight it is on him. I have no idea how he can manage, but he does. Ruckus is a basket case and freaks out over tons of stuff.
I have to walk him with a martingal no doubt! I am positive now, that if he backed out of his harness or collar out of fear he would indeed bolt.
 
Thank you all so much! I feel much better about the Martingale now (especially that it has a name)

I looked online and saw that they make Martingales that are all fabric and no chain. Do those work as well?

Thanks again
 
LucyDog430 said:
Thank you all so much! I feel much better about the Martingale now (especially that it has a name)

I looked online and saw that they make Martingales that are all fabric and no chain. Do those work as well?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

I haven't used one totally made of fabric buy my feeling is that the chain would allow the collar to get smaller quicker when pulled, which is what you'd want in an emergency situation like your pup trying to pull out of the collar
 
You said she chewed through the leash to get out of the normal harness?

Maybe try putting something on the bottom part of the leash, like something she wouldnt like the taste of. for ex: Deodorant or anything that wouldnt be harmful to them.
or did u already try that?
 
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