Harness or Collar

My 2 dogs pull like crazy on a lead and collar, so i thought i would use a harness to stop them hurting there neck and throats, low and behold they stopped pulling on the harness, so the question is do you use a lead with a collar or do you use a harness and why.
Simon

I use both a collar & a harness I initially used a harness because I have a small dog and I was told that they're more likely to get a collapsed trachea if you use a collar with them. I now also use a collar attached to the harness because she's a slippery little thing and has a tendency to slip her harness so the collar just means if she does slip it, I still have a hold on her!

Hi Simon,

Max wears a collar (for legal reasons) but he is walked on a harness. He is a rescue dog and not overly good with other dogs, a couple of times in the past when dogs followed behind us he tried to back out of his collar, never got away but I have read on Dogsey about dogs who have managed it. Also I feel if he lunges towards another dog or squirrel or anything a harness will not hurt him as much as a collar would.

I use both, depending on what i'm doing, long walks I use a harness, but he still wears a collar.I think he walks better on a harness and it gives me a bit more control if something unexpected happened.
What kind of harness did you buy?

I use a collar. I should warn you that dogs can learn to pull in just about anything. I was `given` a Hound who had been walked in a harness because no-one could hold him in it. However, having just returned from the Continent and having seen dogs like this being hunted wearing harnesses (the hunters run along behind) I just put a collar on him and lead-trained him.
It takes a long time with some dogs but it can be done.

I've got Kiba on a half check collar. I'd like to do scootering with him in the future and don't know if using a harness to lead train would be detrimental when training him to pull a scooter later on.

Ive always been told that harnesses make the dog more likely to pull since they can use there power. And thats why when dogs are used for pulling sledges etc working they typically wear a harness? Just good basic training can help using positive reinforcement when they walk along side u. I use a half check myself.

I use a half check,we were trained how to use it correctly at puppy classes & I've just stuck with it since as she has so much scruff to get a normal collar around!

When they're puppies I use a harness and use a collar as they get older but I train them to walk to heel offlead before expecting them to do so onlead.

in my opinion if you are using a harness to ease the pulling you are only masking the problem, a good quality slip lead is the key and within a few minutes I can have a dog walking nicely on a lead, no harsh treatment.

don't mask a problem sort it