Should you put a harness on your puppy?

To harness or not to harness, that is the question. There is often a lot of debate within the dog training hemisphere on whether harnesses are an appropriate tool to use, especially on puppies. When it comes to this debate, my standing is that it doesn’t matter what you use. However, when it comes to puppies specifically, the type of harness you use is important.

Because puppies’ bones and joints are still in development, some harnesses can cause damage to their growing bodies. The safest type of harness to use on a growing puppy is often referred to as a “Y” shaped harness. This type of harness avoids putting pressure on the puppy’s shoulder blades and instead evenly disperses the pressure throughout the puppy's chest. Putting too much pressure on the shoulders at such a young age can potentially cause irreversible damage to the bone alignment.

Knowing this information, you may begin to think, why are harnesses a controversial subject? The short answer to this question is that there are many trainers out there who believe harnesses encourage dogs to pull on their leash. There is also a considerable number of trainers who may say that harnesses offer no sense of direction to the dog since it is clipped behind them. I believe that both of these reasonings are inherently flawed. This is because the leash should not be used as a directional tool, it is only used as a safety measure. The act of using the leash itself as a directional tool encourages pulling, not the harness.

Another thing worth noting is that harnesses can make great tools for dogs on walks. Some dogs, depending on breed or possible medical conditions, can’t wear collars or be walked with anything around their neck. In these instances where collars aren’t an option, harnesses make great tools for being able to safely and enjoyably walk your dog.

The key to walking your dog efficiently using any tool, including a harness or collar, is using proper vocabulary. We will be going over this topic, vocabulary and proper leash usage, in my next blog post. Keep an eye on our blog or social media for updates on leash walking.

This young puppy is wearing a properly sized and shaped harness.