Harness Opinion for training?

[lonestarag05]

As many know, I am bringing home my first GSD at the end of this month. I pretty much have everything that I need but wasnt sure how soon to introduce a harness for leash / walk training. Hopefully my link below works, this is what I am looking to buy but not sure how old he will need to be before I can start to use it. Thanks!

Multi Purpose Dog Harness

[SchDDR]

There are only a couple of reasons to use a harness on a dog.

1- You're doing some sort of work where you want to encourage pulling. Agitation work during protection, sledding, etc.

2- You plan on using Michael Ellis's style of teaching leash-pressure to the dog when it gets older, and therefore plan to not put a collar and leash on the dog at any point before that training begins.

3- The dog has a severe health problem like megaesophagus.

Aside from that, a harness will just encourage your dog to pull. Put the puppy in a flat collar, and start teaching it to walk on a loose-leash from day one.
With puppies, you're better off buying the cheap nylon leashes [and if you insist, harnesses] at your local pet store, until they're done growing.

[lonestarag05]

Thanks, I had read a couple of articles and opinions here that seemed to indicate that leash/walk training was easier on the handler with the harness as opposed to walking with a collar. Good to know.

[WVGSD]

You won't have control of your dog's head and therefore, it's brain/focus and movement, if you use a harness. A flat buckle/quick snap collar is usually recommended for puppies.