Agitation collar or harness?

[lhczth]

I usually work young dogs on a flat collar. I worked Donovan on both a harness and a pinch at one point because he was pulling too hard into the collar. I run both lines. I use two diferent colors so I remember which line is which. In your case with an injury I would have someone be the pole for you (once Grim is big enough) on probably a harness and then you have the second line to a collar for carrying.

The collar is easier for carrying because you can control the head.

[Chris Wild]

I prefer to use a harness when doing back tie work. IMO the dog feels more free to pull (and likewise isn't practicing pulling into a collar which is something I like to keep to a minimum for other reasons). There is also less potential torque on the neck and less potential restriction of barking as compared to a collar.

With the exception of puppies I do usually have a second line to a collar though so that I can use it to communicate to the dog as needed and because it is much easier to get a dog to circle/carry with a collar. Plus it's a safety back up should the harness break or the dog somehow get out of it. I've never had that happen to me, but have seen it happen on rare occasion.