Harness training

maxy24

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I bought Willie a harness and I was wondering how to go about getting him used to it. I put it on and he tried backing up, twisting about and finally settled on trying to bite it off. I am afraid his jaw will get stuck if he continues like that (don't worry he is supervised). He was not frantic about it, he seemed more annoyed. I brought out his toy and played with him for about an hour. Five or ten minutes into the game he totally forgot he was wearing it. About ten minutes after the game he rediscovered it and tried to bite it. I took it off once he stopped biting it for a second.

So my question is, how can I get him used to wearing the harness? Should I put it on, play with him and as soon as the game ends take it off? Or should I just put it on and let him fuss about it until he finally gets used to it? Or should I put it on for like 2 minutes and take it off, slowly increasing the time if he seems comfortable with it? I don't think he will be too difficult to train but I want to make it as easy as possible for him.
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by Maxy24

I bought Willie a harness and I was wondering how to go about getting him used to it. I put it on and he tried backing up, twisting about and finally settled on trying to bite it off. I am afraid his jaw will get stuck if he continues like that (don't worry he is supervised). He was not frantic about it, he seemed more annoyed. I brought out his toy and played with him for about an hour. Five or ten minutes into the game he totally forgot he was wearing it. About ten minutes after the game he rediscovered it and tried to bite it. I took it off once he stopped biting it for a second.

So my question is, how can I get him used to wearing the harness? Should I put it on, play with him and as soon as the game ends take it off? Or should I just put it on and let him fuss about it until he finally gets used to it? Or should I put it on for like 2 minutes and take it off, slowly increasing the time if he seems comfortable with it? I don't think he will be too difficult to train but I want to make it as easy as possible for him.
I think you just have to have a lot of patience and keep trying. I just did not have the patience with Persi. He threw such a fit over having it on I quit trying. The only reason I wanted to train him with one is to walk him around the block so that he would know the neighborhood should he ever escape the house. But like last night for instance, we had company and the front door and back door were open almost all the time, and he had no interest in going outside. Meanwhile, Alley was hiding under the bed. Anyway, I did not have enough patience, I guess. I had dreams of parading him through the dog park that is just a block from our house on a harness.
 
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maxy24

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Well if he gets used to it then I will use it on him when he goes to an after school program in a few weeks. I also might bring him in the back yard but only if I am 100% sure he can't maneuver himself out. His fits are very minor he just starts grooming and his tongue hits the harness and he bites it and pulls on it. If I keep him moving or distracted he could care less.

I am also wondering how tight it should be. There is an adjuster for around the neck and one for the strap under his forearms.
 

larke

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It should be on tight enough so that you can only get one finger in there (without forcing of course). And once it's on, and you have the stomach part adjusted, don't undo it for any reason, only the neck part, and each day he can step into the tummy part as you quickly slide it over his head and he learns to step into it, then the neck gets done up. Leave it on him in the house for short times at first (no leash and no walkies yet) til he forgets about it and til you have no trouble getting him into it, then let him outside so he 'gets' the connection - he gets to go out when he wears it.
 

beandip

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Those are some good suggestions, I think you have the right idea.

Also maybe give him a treat after you put it on him, so he has one more good thing to associate with the harness.

They can back out of those if the fit isn't quite right. I think the "one finger" rule sounds good.

Leopold enjoyed the harness. He would come running when he heard the clasp jingle...no problems there. My problem was I didn't have the patience to "train" him to behave once we were outside. He wanted very badly to get away from me. He thoroughly enjoyed being outside, but didn't care for the restraint of the harness and leash. It became a game for him, and he won more often than I did.
I gave up.
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by beandip

Those are some good suggestions, I think you have the right idea.

Also maybe give him a treat after you put it on him, so he has one more good thing to associate with the harness.

They can back out of those if the fit isn't quite right. I think the "one finger" rule sounds good.

Leopold enjoyed the harness. He would come running when he heard the clasp jingle...no problems there. My problem was I didn't have the patience to "train" him to behave once we were outside. He wanted very badly to get away from me. He thoroughly enjoyed being outside, but didn't care for the restraint of the harness and leash. It became a game for him, and he won more often than I did.
I gave up.
Sounds like we ran out of patience at different times, but you lasted longer than I did!
 
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maxy24

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Well I put the harness on again today, twice. The last time he forgot about the harness VERY quickly (and started beating up my Aunt and Uncle's dog) So I put the leash on. Well that bugged the heck out of him since he wanted to play with it. So Dad said if you bring him outside I'm sure he'll forget all about the leash. So I brought him out on the deck and he LOVED it. The belly was a little loose so I readjusted it and we walked through the yard. He's not a huge fan of the grass since it has not been mowed all winter so he has to take big steps. The only thing I dislike about taking him is that he found it fun to roll in the dirt! He got filthy, rolled in some ant mounds
and then saw a bumble bee... Oh boy. He wanted that thing bad but I had to stop him, it would have taught him not to attack bumble bees but I have o idea if he is allergic plus it would kill the bee and I just don't like being responsible for a being's death (weird I know).

So now I just hope he will associate the leash with outside and not the door with outside. I used the back door since there is a door that we keep closed, then the porch, then the sliding door which we keep closed, so that if he goes on the porch we can just put him back in the house before we open the slider. I also carried him out so he might not figure it out. I do worry that in the Summer when we go on the porch and have barbecues and leave the door from the house to the porch open that he might make a break for it when the slider opens. Hopefully no though.

He likes the harness a lot better now, that's for sure!
 

panther pride

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Good, once they learn about the wonders of outside they really are more accpeting.
Bindi loves to chase birds and hunt for things. I have no issues if he catches some stuff, its the law of nature, if he does kill a bird or mouse I will feed it to him, hes on a raw diet/with Innoca EVO.
 
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maxy24

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What I wonder about him seeing birds and squirrels is Will he try to get out of the harness if I don't let him go all the way to it. What if the bird takes off across the street and he wants to go after it? Or the squirrel goes up a tree and he wants to too? I actually want him to go in a tree but I want to be able to get him down with relative ease.
 
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