When my puppy was 6 weeks old he had really bad kennel cough (he came home from the Dog's Trust with it) and his throat was really red and raw (according to the vet). She said we should walk him on a harness because if we tried to walk him on a collar and lead he would just learn to hate it because it would be painful for him.

He was about 14 weeks old before his throat was 'normal' and by then he'd got quite in to walking on a harness. I asked the vet if it would be ok to keep using one and she said it wouldn't do him any harm at all.

Now, he'd much rather walk on a harness than a collar. He has managed (once) to slip out of his harness but it took a lot of wriggling (I'd made the mistake of tieing him up outside a shop for 2 minutes! He ran towards the busiest roundabout possible at evening rush hour time. I panicked. Ten minutes later my hubby called to say he'd turned up at our back door!!). He slips a collar with ease.

He used to have a Lupine Step-In Harness but it didn't quite fit right. He has been using a Clix car/walking harness more recently. I have been looking for a new one for him and had looked at the Ezy-Dog harness but then someone suggested the fleece lined ones (I had a thread on here somewhere about it). I am going to order him one of those when I get some cash at the end of the month as a late xmas pressie. I saw them at Discover Dogs and they look *so* comfy. I just need to decide on a colour.

And all of that just to say that our vet said it wouldn't hurt a puppy at all to walk on a harness if they (or the owner) preferred it.

If the dog is taught not to pull I dont see how it could cause much damage at a young age depends on how badly they pull.

On the muscle development front I will say that with my boy there was a marked difference in his build (front end) from using a harness for training (canix). He has always been a puller on the lead (i did spend ages with the stop drop and turn technique but he is never on the lead for very long ever so that fell by the wayside ) but with a harness well harness = work and he knows that he can pull till his hearts content.

We use a snugglepets harness and couldnt recommend them highly enough!


PS on the dobe neck point, i was told by our breeder that when playing tug games always pull left or right in a sweeping motion not up and down/jerky x

A fleece padded one sounds nice! Might get one of those for Hedley!