My First Greyhound! Issues With Walking With Harness

[SlinkSlinkSlink]

Hi all! A week ago I adopted my first ever dog, an ex-racer called Slink. He is a lovely boy who loves his walks. We've been walking him with the combination martingale collar/leash we were given at the adoption place, but when he sees a cat or a squirrel he has a tendency to pull and make horrible choking sounds (the adoption place think the dogs from his racetrack - the canindrome in Macao, China - may have some throat damage as a lot of them cough). So I got him a Freedom Harness.

 

He was really good at letting me put it on him and fit it, and once we had it on I took him for a short pee-break walk outside our house. Well, obviously it was too much too soon because he wouldn't pee, he started walking slower and slower and then he statued on the very short set of steps to our front door. I tried to coax him up, and walk him back down and around but ended up having to lift his rear end to get him up the steps. He's definitely a very tired boy today, we've both had an exhausting week adjusting and learning about each other which perhaps contributed to the issue. So I have 2 questions:

 

1) I'd really like to get him used to the harness, but obviously with everything being so new and overwhelming, it was too much for him right now. My plan is to wait a few more days at least before trying it on him again, and then just get him to wear it around the house, starting with a few minutes and working up to maybe an hour of wear, before we try again outside. Does this sound like a sensible plan?

 

2) I'm concerned about whether I've fitted it correctly. The instructions for the harness were a bit vague, and greyhounds have those wonderfully muscular upper front legs and the main thing I'm worried about is whether the straps that go behind his front legs (the velvety bit) are sitting too far forward and will chafe. But obviously I don't want it to be too loose either. How tight should the different parts of the harness be? (I'd like to attach some pics of the handsome boy wearing it to show you but I'm not sure how to do it - anyone know how?)

 

Thanks guys

[greysmom]

Lots of dogs have trouble walking with a harness, even ones that are well settled. Somehow they don't understand how it works, or they miss the guiding pressure on their collar. Most of us end up using either two leashes - one for the collar and one for the harness - or use a short "coupler" to attached one leash to both collar and harness. That usually seems to fix the issue.

 

If he's still statueing after doing that read through the two or three threads on it that are active in this section now.

 

There's a tutorial for posting pics on the top of the Cute and Funny section. Short version - you need a third party photo hosting site like Photobucket, Imgur, Flckr, etc.,. Upload your photos to the site. Copy the img code provided by the site and then paste that code directly into the "reply" box. Hit "Post."

Edited March 2, 2019 by greysmom

[Houndtime]

I use the freedom harness with a martingale collar. Mine has the double lead. I don't feel that my harness is too tight. In fact, I think it is a little loose.

[HeyRunDog]

Make sure the Martingale is adjusted properly and have the harness on the loose side as I caused bruising on the sides of my hound with one that was to tight. I no longer use a harness and just use a fishtail collar.

[Neighsayer]

I love the harness lead. All in one, no straps or bulky parts, check out their video.

[SlinkSlinkSlink]

Lots of dogs have trouble walking with a harness, even ones that are well settled. Somehow they don't understand how it works, or they miss the guiding pressure on their collar. Most of us end up using either two leashes - one for the collar and one for the harness - or use a short "coupler" to attached one leash to both collar and harness. That usually seems to fix the issue.

 

If he's still statueing after doing that read through the two or three threads on it that are active in this section now.

 

There's a tutorial for posting pics on the top of the Cute and Funny section. Short version - you need a third party photo hosting site like Photobucket, Imgur, Flckr, etc.,. Upload your photos to the site. Copy the img code provided by the site and then paste that code directly into the "reply" box. Hit "Post."

 

Thanks for the pic advice! I have a double leash, that I clipped on to his collar and the harness, but I guess the feeling of the harness was so alien to him. I keep hearing that greyhounds do really well with harnesses so fingers crossed he'll get there eventually. I have to say *I* preferred walking him with the harness, at least!

I use the freedom harness with a martingale collar. Mine has the double lead. I don't feel that my harness is too tight. In fact, I think it is a little loose.

 

 

Make sure the Martingale is adjusted properly and have the harness on the loose side as I caused bruising on the sides of my hound with one that was to tight. I no longer use a harness and just use a fishtail collar.

 

Yeah I'd rather it be slightly too loose overall, and just also clip onto his collar for safety, than be too tight and cause him pain/discomfort.

[cleptogrey]

I have had dogs slip well fitted harnesses.the harnesslead or spook harness are the only 2 that are almost secure.

 

Why a harness? For training it's useless. I have only used it for injured dogs(neck or shoulder injury) or a mobility aid.

[SlinkSlinkSlink]

I have had dogs slip well fitted harnesses.the harnesslead or spook harness are the only 2 that are almost secure.

 

Why a harness? For training it's useless. I have only used it for injured dogs(neck or shoulder injury) or a mobility aid.

 

Because when he decides to pull, he makes the most awful choking noises even without a lot of pressure. According to the adoption agency, a lot of the greyhounds that came from his racetrack (Macao, China) seem to do that so they were speculating that they were maybe treated in a way that caused damage to their throats.