Does anyone over the age of 40 or so remember people walking dogs on harnesses when they were kids? I don’t. Dogs wore collars. When someone clicks the BOOK NOW button on our homepage it takes them to a form to fill out. One of the questions is what do you use when walking your dog with a list of choices. About 90-95% of them say they use a harness. That percentage lines up with the number one thing they have issues with….leash pulling.
If I wanted a dog to be able to pull the most amount of weight possible, I would use a harness, just as they do on sled dog and in pulling tournaments. In order for the dog to effectively pull, they have to be out in front of you and the connection to the dog has to be down the middle of their back using one point of connection or on both sides using two points of connection. The latter is the best for pulling the most weight….sleds.
With both dogs and people, the natural response to being pulled is to pull in the opposite direction. As soon as your dog gets in front of you and you feel tension on the leash, you will pull back and up with a bent arm. This puts all the dog’s weight on their rear legs allowing them to pull harder and the cycle continues until you get used to being pulled down the street or you give up walking them all together.
Every year the pet industry grows by 19%. Most of that money is spent on toys and a bunch of the rest is spent on things to stop problem behaviors. Very little on any training. The return on investment on toys is negligible. There came a time when the industry began to make leashes and harnesses in all different colors, then patterns, and then even with sports team logos. People paid more for these. They found out if they could sell a fancy collar for $10-$15+ they could sell a fancy harness for 3 to 4 times that much. Add to the fact that harnesses are promoted as being the solution to pulling and people just say “shut up and take my money”. So for about $60+ they have a fancy collar and harness that match but not only do they not solve the problem, they make it worse. How much is the stress worth when you loathe walking your dog?
If you live in York County, an in home appointment with us is $150. That includes an Immediate Correction Lead valued at $30 that we use to get any dog to walk on a loose lead in under 5 minutes.That brings us down to $120. Subtract the cost of the collar / harness combo and the appointment saves you another $60. So the real cost of the session is only $60. Of course most dog owners have a pile of stuff that they have used to try to get their dog to walk on a loose leash usually totaling over $100+. Add that to the fact that so many other unwanted behaviors are solved by just by constantly handling your dog on a loose leash, you can see why it is the first thing we do with every appointment and don’t move on until we get it. It is the foundation of Focus Based Canine Training. Dogs communicate using eye contact (them looking at you), movement (being controlled by you while walking), and touch (the feeling of gentle pressure, not prongs, around their neck to correct them). Schedule today to see how we get 150 lbs dogs walking on a loose lead using just one finger. Tools without training are worthless. Let us show you a better way.