Will a harness teach my dog to pull?

If you’re struggling with your dog pulling on lead you’ve probably seen some very conflicting advice about what equipment to use. Some people will tell you that putting your dog in a harness will teach your dog to pull and there’s no way you’ll ever train your dog to walk with a loose-lead if they’re wearing a harness. These people will probably tell you that the only way to train loose-lead walking is with a slip lead or prong collar (I do not EVER recommend you use either of those). And then there are other people who tell you that buying the right harness will instantly stop your dog pulling.

It’s no wonder you’re feeling confused. The truth is that neither of those groups of people are right. A harness isn’t going to teach your dog to pull. And a harness isn’t going to stop your dog pulling. Unfortunately, there’s no equipment that’s going to stop your dog pulling - only actually teaching your dog to walk calmly on lead will do that. But despite that, there are very good reasons that my first recommendation to anyone training loose-lead walking is to buy a good harness…

Harnesses don’t teach dogs to pull

For your dog, pulling on a collar is going to be unpleasant. Pressure around their neck will restrict their breathing and be painful. When your dog pulls wearing a harness, that pressure is distributed across their chest. So you might find if you switch your dog on to a harness it feels like your dog is pulling more. But the harness isn’t teaching your dog to pull, it’s just that pulling isn’t painful anymore. That probably makes it sound like a harness is a bad choice if your dog pulls. But they’re the safest choice for pulling dogs. If your dog pulls hard on their collar they could injure their neck. So if your dog is pulling at all, you need to walk them on a harness for their own safety.

Some people will point out that harnesses are used for sled dogs. And of course, sled dogs need to pull HARD. So it seems logical to think that a harness is going to make your dog’s pulling worse. Yes, sled dog harnesses are designed to help dogs pull harder. But they’re a very different shape to a standard pet dog harness. The clip on a sled dog harness is much further back (close to a dog’s tail). As long as you’ve bought a harness designed for daily walks (my favourite is the Perfect Fit) and not a canicross or bikejoring harness, your harness won’t be encouraging your dog to pull.

A sled dog harness is designed to make pulling easier, but a normal harness definitely isn’t

So why do dogs pull on lead?

There are lots of reasons why dogs pull. But for most dogs it’s because the world is exciting. There’s lampposts to sniff, abandoned takeaways to eat, people and dogs to greet and a park to get to. Pulling is the quickest way to get to those things. And every time your dog pulls and gets access to what they want they’re rewarded for pulling. So they’ll pull more. Your job is to teach your dog they can have access to everything they find exciting (as long as it’s safe), they just need to walk nicely. And even better, they’ll get some tasty treats for just walking with you without pulling.

For some dogs pulling is more complex. Dogs who find the world scary often pull too. Sometimes that’s to get away from things they don’t like. But sometimes they’re just too stressed and panicked to think. They’ll pull chaotically, not to get to or away from something. But just because they don’t know what else to do. These dogs don’t need to be taught how to walk with a loose-lead. At least not yet. They’re way too stressed to focus on you and learn anything. They need to learn the world isn’t scary and that they can relax before they learn to walk without pulling.

Harnesses can help teach loose-lead walking

Just putting on a harness isn’t going to instantly transform your dog’s lead walking. But it can improve your training. Training loose-lead walking is EXHAUSTING for you and your dog. It takes A LOT of concentration. And in the early stages your dog will only be ready to train for a minute or two in quiet places. So you’re just not going to be able to suddenly decide you want to stop your dog pulling and then spend every second of every walk training. Don’t even try it. You and your dog will be really tired and really frustrated within about 5 minutes.

But like with any training, it’s important to be consistent when you teach your dog loose-lead walking. If your dog is expected to walk with a loose-lead sometimes and allowed to pull other times they’re gonna get really confused. And if your dog is still getting to where they want to go when they pull, pulling is still getting rewarded. A harness allows you to let your dog know when you’re training and when you’re not. All you need to do is clip your dog’s lead to their collar (or the front clip of their harness) when you’re focusing on your loose-lead walking. And then clip their lead onto the back clip of their harness when they’re off duty and they can pull. Your dog will soon learn the difference. And any time you can’t, or don’t want to, train loose-lead walking you won’t be undoing all your hard work.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter