Harness or Collar?

[Jjgibbs]

We just got a 9 week old GSD. We have tried three different collars and finally a harness. I know that since Gibbs is so young it is going to take time to adjust to either. However, we wanted to know your opinion...harness or collar? Both?

If it's harness that wins the poll, do you keep the harness on at all times, even during sleep? Or do you constantly remove after an outing? We are anxious to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for any opinions that may come!!

[BlackGSD]

I use a collar. They really need to get used to it if you ever plan on using one. Though I don't leave it on when they are unsupervised.

If you choose to use a harness, I would NOIR leave it on when the pup is unsupervised either. The puppy could very easily either chew it up, or worse yet, gret its jaw caught in the harness and injure itself.

I only use a harness when I WANT them to pull. Not for just everyday walking.

Why have you used 3 different collars?

[onyx'girl]

I liked to use a harness on my baby pup. But I didn't use it for training, just when we were going on walks and he wasn't trained yet. I never left it on him without a leash attached. I'd much rather have a pup pull than choke.
Though many say they will learn not to pull if they are choking themselves off.

During training sessions, I didn't have him on anything....just worked on engagement/focus with food rewards.
When he outgrew his puppy harness, we went to a flat collar and during training, I never had a problem with pulling. But he is pretty handler sensitive, flat collar, leash pop is enough unless we are doing protection work.
On recreational walks I didn't mind his pulling as it build a bit of muscle on both of us!

[Msmart]

I'm a big fan of the martingale collar. It is similar to a choker but a lot easier on the neck but you can also use it as a harness so the pressure is on there chest. Works wonders with my girl.

[onyx'girl]

A martingale is a collar that the dog can't slip/but won't restrict tightly. It isn't a harness.
Can you link to me a photo of what you are writing about as far as using it as a harness, Msmart?

[vicky2200]

It all depends on the dog. Daisy has to have a harness because she will pull until she chokes herself. Ditto and Dakota do fine with regular collars, but would probably do good with a harness. I have never had any problems with leaving collars on my dogs but many people have had problems with it. The choice is yours. We leave Daisy's harness on when the weather is good but take it off when the weather is bad (extended bad weather in the forecast.) Again, she has no problems with it. She ignores it and so do the other dogs.

[qbchottu]

My dogs only wear a collar/harness when they are in public. I have 10 acres fenced around me and we don't have to deal with other dogs/people so my dogs run naked at home.
I use a harness when they are babies. It doesn't rub their neck raw like collars can. Once they get a bit older, I switch over to the fur saver or rolled leather for when we are around others at shows/training. For protection work, they wear an agitation harness. For obedience, Whiskey wears a prong and the others wear a fur saver.
I would never leave a harness on when you aren't around to monitor the dog. I also don't like leaving collars on dogs. I've just heard of too many accidents when dogs get their collars caught on things and panic.

[doggiedad]

i got my when he was 9 weeks old. he used a flat
collar untill he was 9 months old. at 9 months old
he had a choker. by the time he was 9 months old
he was trained to heel on either side with or without
a leash. my dogs collar is never on when he's home.
if i used a harness it would never be on him when he's home.

[elisabeth_00117]

I do a harness for the first few weeks, this allows the puppy less stress on his growing joints to pull and explore their surroundings.

Once "leash training" starts, we move to a martingale collar, I feel safer with this with a young dog who doesn't have a rock solid recall yet, just in case they slip their collar.

My youngest (9.5 months) is on a martingale right now.

[Dakotasmom23]

In my experience, a harness only encourages pulling and does not train the dog to heel (or loose leash walk if that's all you want). I too like the martingale type collar because if they do pull, it will tighten and keep the pup from slipping it off, or backing out of the collar. If you are consistent, eventually they learn to stop pulling. If they don't, then the gentle leader head collar is perfect for pullers (but that wouldn't be something for everyday use, just walks, when pup is older). Also, regarding the harness, I had 2 fosters chew their harness right off.