Do Dog Harnesses Promote Pulling?

Dog harnesses are a popular choice among pet owners for various reasons, including comfort, control, and safety. However, there is some debate about whether harnesses promote or encourage pulling behaviour in dogs. In this article, we’ll explore this question and separate the fact from the fiction!

Understanding pulling behaviour

Before delving into the role of harnesses when it comes to dogs pulling, it’s essential to understand why dogs pull in the first place. Pulling is a natural instinct in dogs. Quite simply, they want to go from A to B with no obstruction. They may be pulling to explore their surroundings, chase after stimuli such as prey (or the neighbouring cat!), or there may be other factors at play such as breed traits, or their level of training.

Myth vs Reality

When trying to answer the question “do dog harnesses promote pulling” it is important to recognise the role that training has on pulling behaviour.

If you are using a harness without addressing underlying behavioural issues or lead manners, your dog is likely to continue to pull.

There may be a perception that harnesses encourage pulling because they are inherently more comfortable for the dog. A dog pulling in a collar is likely to cause themselves harm, potentially reducing their desire to pull. This is not recommened as an anti-pulling technique, of course, due to risk of damage to the trachea. In a harness, the pressure is distributed evenly which means their pulling behaviour is less inhibited. It is understandable this might result in the belief that the harness is causing the pulling to be worse.

TRAINING TIPS TO STOP A DOG PULLING

Focus: A pulling dog is a dog that is more interested in its environment than it is in its owner. Start building up the value in the dog paying attention to you by creating a focus word. Pick a word that is easy to say with a nice, high voice, and one that you've not used before for any other command. Also ensure it's not a word you happen to say a fair amount in casual conversation. As an example, we'll use look. Start loading the word by saying it when the dog is calm and not distracted, ideally within the home. Reward immediately. At this stage you're just creating an associated between the word and the reward, but you can start to build it up by pausing after saying look and seeing if the dog focuses on you. If so, reward. Keep building this up until the dog is reliably looking at you for the reward, and then you can start practising in other locations that are still not distraction-heavy but provide a little more challenge than your living room. Eventually, this tool can be used to aid loose-lead walking by getting the dog to refocus on you rather than the environment.
Premack Principle: This is the principle that a behaviour the dog wants to do, can be used as a reward for what you want it to do. In the case of working with a pulling behaviour, you'll need to determine what the self-rewarding behaviour is that the dog is after. This could be sniffing, or peeing, or chasing, or saying hello to another dog. If a dog is pulling for a sniff, don't allow them to reach that sniff until they've let the lead go slack. Instead of a food, toy, or handler-orientated reward, you can release them to do the behaviour they were after - in this case sniff that spot. Eventually, the dog will realise that they will get to what they want quicker by offering a compatible behaviour.
Management: Whilst you work on training the pulling behaviour, there are several tools that can be used to help manage the situation in the meantime. These include be no-pull harnesses, head-collars, double-clip harnesses, double-ended leads, and even waist belts. Just remember that all of these tools are great when used in conjunction with a solid training plan.

how can harnesses help pulling behaviour?

With proper training and reinforcement, harnesses can be effective tools for teaching dogs to walk politely without pulling. There are some harnesses that are not just a walking aid, but do help the training journey.

no-pull harnesses

These are harnesses specifically designed to stop pulling. They usually involve some sort of tightening element to restrict the dog’s movement when they pull. A good fit is even more important for these types of harness.

front-clip harnesses

Front-clip harnesses, or double-clip harnesses, not only have a clip on the rear of the harness in the normal place, they have a clip at the front, on the chest, enabling greater control over the dog when moving.

helping you to help your dog

Now you know more about why you’re dog pulls and what you can do to help train them out of the behaviour, we hope you feel encouraged to work together with your dog to create happier, more balanced walks!