Collar and lead or harness?

[Bootz482]

We will be able to Zak out for a walk in 3 weeks time(he'll be 15 weeks old by then) and i was wondering what would be better for him, a lead attached to his collar or an harness?
I'm leaning towards getting him an harness but i just wanted to get some opinions. Also is it a good idea to get him used to wearing the harness in the meantime for example practice putting it on and taking it off etc.

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[8 Hairy Feet]

We have just moved Ellie over to a harness
after years of collar and lead...although she
still doesn't much care for it being put on she
walks much better on it and she wasn't a puller
anyway.
I think for the little ones it's kinder on their neck too,
and yes practice on and off too

[Londongirl]

Definitely a harness, I'd say. We had an old-fashioned trainer who insisted on the collar and lead as he taught the 'flick' method of heel training. So we had Henry on a collar and lead in the early months. Needless to say the 'flick' training didn't work and Henry pulled like a horse. Not good for his little neck. We switched to the Walk Your Dog With Love Harness for lead walking and it's brilliant. For walks when he on and off the lead we use a Perfect Fit harness with front and rear lead attachments. Great for longline training and double-ended lead walking where I can steer him!

[Blueberry]

Our puppy trainer is not happy about me using a harness, although he said it is my choice at the end of the day.  The reason given is that it's preferable to teach a puppy to walk on a loose lead and not to pull.  Once attached to a harness, even a small puppy can pull like a horse pulling a cart.
I do prefer using the harness, I think it's kinder to the pup and I find him much easier to control in terms of preventing him from jumping up and lunging.
I use the Perfect Fit fleece lined harness from Dog Games, I especially like that the three component pieces are available to purchase separately, so I only need to replace the bits that he grows out of, or eats.  It's easy to put on and he seems happy enough to wear it.
Hope this helps.

[Mudmagnets]

For 5 months puppy Toby atm I use both, for walks and fun I use the harness with a retractable lead so he has some freedom, but if I am training I use the collar and lead so I have control. He, as all mine do, have their collar with ID tags on at all times.

[Ambler54]

A friends son in law is a vet and He has had so many injured dogs, crushed wind pipes mainly, from dogs pulling on collars that He says He would ban them. The kennel club training classes now accept harnesses in behaviour training although collars are needed for showing.  Rosie walks quite well...mostly...but sometimes pulls like a train so we are working our way through non pull harnesses to find one that works, but happy to do that and I am sure We will crack the pulling...eventually.

[bizzylizzy]

Its one of those endless discussions where opinions are strongly divided. I had a "discussion' again with our "local dog expert ( some of you might remember my previous posts!  ) who keeps asking when I'm going to get rid of that stupid thing (the harness), it apparantly encourages them to pull and feel dominant (that's one argument I've never heard until now!). My answer was, as always, well you've never had a cocker! I did loads of reading up on the net before I decided , it was all very confusing, so in the end I tried both and can say without a shadow of a doubt that I prefer the harness. I have the walk your dog with love one for normal use and a ruffwear for the long lead (although London Girl's solution for both sounds good).
I was advised against a retractable lead as it apparantly also encourages pulling, so I don't use one but to be honest, cockers need no enouragement anyway  , so its a personal choice.
Best of luck, let us know how you get on!

[Bootz482]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll go with the harness. The Perfect Fit harness looks good as i can just replace the bits that need replacing as he grows rather than keep buying new harnesses.

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[Theo961]

I have both for Reese. The harness I use when we are out for a long walk somewhere nice where he has more freedom, if he needs to be on long lead or if i let him off and the collar and lead I use for training class and if I am walking him somewhere he needs to be close such as through town. I was worried this would confuse him but to be honest he does walk much better on the collar and will walk loose on the lead where he is all over the place with the harness (but he has more fun!)

[tenaille]

My two cockers were completely opposite in how they walked. The first pulled like a train when on a collar, lunging at cars, so we decided a harness was safer and suited him better. Our second was the opposite, he was easy to train on collar and lead and walked beautifully. Martha is now nearly 6 months and walks well on collar and lead (she only pulls to get to other dogs and people).
My advice would always be to give collar and lead a good go first but if you don't feel that you are making any progress then try a harness which may make walking easier, safer and more enjoyable for you.

[Briggo09]

A lot of good posts here. I tried collar for a while but did not like how Charlie choked himself so moved on to a back clip harness, it did make it easier for him to pull but I didn't feel so bad. Now on the front leading walk your dog with love harness which he's only just started on and first impressions are good. Try what you feel you want to and do what feels right for you and your pup. Would def practice putting it on and off a lot. I had problems with my boy accepting this and it took me a long time to build him up to accept both collars and harnesses- in hindsight doing it a lot when he was really small would probably have helped. Good luck

[Bootz482]

Oh I think i will give them both a try then and see which one he walks better with. I suppose it will be trial and error. I really like the walk your dog with love harness. I just watched the video on youtube. I'll let you all know how he gets on, 3 weeks to wait and i'm counting down the days. Thanks again for all the advice,it's very much appreciated🙂

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[MrsOmalley]

I always use a harness and we are encouraged to use harnesses at dog training.  i feel a harness is kinder on the dog as they are not being pulled on their neck.

[zenon_bass]

Harness for me, every time...
At some point in the past, Millie's throat has been damaged by her pulling on her collar.  She sounds as if she has a partial laryngeal paralysis, like my sisters dog years ago, and a diagnosed CKC at a friends house.
I do worry when she's asleep and I can't hear her snoring! 

[BobnDot]

While both of our two always have collars on through the day we also use harnesses when exercising them.
Milly once disappeared from view in some long grass when being taught recall on a long lead. She'd gone down into a rather large hole in one corner of the field which was hidden by the long grass and was having difficulty getting back out.
The lead was attached to her harness so it was quite easy to apply sufficient pull to help her scramble out, much more pull than could have been safely applied had the lead been attached to her collar.

Bob.