# Collar or Harness



## Choleoco

Hey there,

I already found quite a lot of useful information. Great forum!

We are getting our little Vizsla pup (10 weeks) next month and I have a few questions. One is around the right gear for the Vizsla. I found different information online so thought I'd check here with you.

Would you recommend walking him with a collar or a harness? Or start with a collar and change to a harness later on? Or the other way round? Or is it down to personal preference?

Thanks,
Claudia


----------



## nymeria

I started out my pup with a collar and changed over to a harness around 4 or 5 months because she pulled a lot on walks. She is a lot better at walking now, whether I'm using the collar or the harness, but the harness prevented her from nearly choking herself pulling when she was younger and made our walks a lot more enjoyable for both of us, I think. I felt so horrible watching her strain at the leash, and the harness made it impossible for her to pull. Now those lessons have translated and she walks fairly well without the harness, too.


----------



## einspänner

I prefer a British slip or martingale collar/lead combo, like the ones made by Mendota, and found it easy (though not quick) to train my dog to heel with one. Initially I was concerned they would choke my dog, but found that it was really easy to control the amount of pressure and that she responded much better (pulled less) than with a regular leash clipped to her collar. 

I've never tried the no-pulling style harnesses. My thought was that if I ever wanted her to pull with a harness designed for that, such as when biking, I wouldn't want her to think all harnesses were for not pulling. 

I would say it's absolutely personal preference.


----------



## trevor1000

We were first collar then "added" a harness.
I kept walking him with his collar and my wife and kids used the harness.
I think it was good teaching him with both, I didn't want him thinking he only had to walk nice if he had a harness on.
He has been e-collar conditioned for a while but I never used it on walks.
I have recently added his e-collar on walks.
I can walk him now off leash and use only tone or voice to correct him.
I don't think it matters how you do it or what you use, in the end you are teaching him how to walk with you.
Make sure you take some pictures and some video's too.


----------



## Pecan_and_BB

I've never used a harness for walking since I have trained my previous dogs, and now Pecan to pull in a harness.

I primarily use a standard O or D ring collar and as einspanner noted, the Mendota lead.

One thing to keep in mind with attempting to train a puppy to walk with a specific pace (that specific pace being your walking speed) is that when they are smaller, they have to generate a lot more pace with their short legs to keep up with your regular stride and then adjust their pace to a lower one as they grow into their adult form. So through their growing process, it takes a lot of adjustments to continually get them to slow their pace, let alone focus on you instead of their surroundings.

This was told to me 2 dogs ago and made a huge difference while walk training and that's to maintain your stride and pace at the most consistent rate possible as we have much longer legs. So small changes in our pace and stride length are much bigger changes for them to attempt to match with their pace and stride length. So if your stride/pace is consistent, it is much easier for them to understand what you are asking: to match your pace, and to keep their focus.


----------



## harrigab

I use a collar and clip on lead (leash) whilst they're young pups then move onto a slip lead at about 4 month old. There is a right and wrong way to use a slip lead depending on which side of you your dog walks, ie it should form a "p" shape if dogs on your right hand side and a "q" if on your left hand side. If your pup persists on pulling still another good aid is the Higgins Method with a slip lead, you make a figure of 8 noose and slip one of the loops over the muzzle, here's a short vid I made some years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKrZVg_B6hQ


----------



## hecallsmebama

Well, in prep for Amos, I bought a front clip no-pull harness because I thought all vizsla puppies pulled. I read horror stories of them being like wild bucking Broncos on the leash. It did not work well at first because Amos had a fear of leaving the property. I literally drug and coaxed that dog down the road for six weeks or so till he grew out of it. Once he got confident about walking, that's when the pulling began and I was really glad I had it. Whenever they charge forward, the front clip catches when they hit the end of the leash and forces them to turn back towards you which is no fun. They want to see out so eventually they start leaving slack in the leash. It has worked for us as far as the pulling but he still doesn't heel quite as well as I'd like. Still working on that. We use the halti brand one.


----------



## Anida

HeCallsMeBama said:


> Well, in prep for Amos, I bought a front clip no-pull harness because I thought all vizsla puppies pulled. I read horror stories of them being like wild bucking Broncos on the leash. It did not work well at first because Amos had a fear of leaving the property. I literally drug and coaxed that dog down the road for six weeks or so till he grew out of it. Once he got confident about walking, that's when the pulling began and I was really glad I had it. Whenever they charge forward, the front clip catches when they hit the end of the leash and forces them to turn back towards you which is no fun. They want to see out so eventually they start leaving slack in the leash. It has worked for us as far as the pulling but he still doesn't heel quite as well as I'd like. Still working on that. We use the halti brand one.


Here I was thinking my V was the only one scared of walks  At 7mths she loves them now but if there are sprinklers going or something new I have to really coax her and show her that it is ok and not scary. I'll have to look into the harness you have -- I'm not a huge fan of the one I have. It doesn't fit quite right and she is able to slip out of it if she backs up far enough. Fortunately, her recall is about 80-90% right now and she only does it when she is scared of something i.e. sprinklers.


----------



## susanmazz

We started off with a collar and switched to a TRUE LOVE harness at 4 months. It allows for a back clip or a front clip. We did a lot of research and found this to be the best fit for our 8 month old male Vizsla... "Louie"


----------



## Anida

HeCallsMeBama said:


> Well, in prep for Amos, I bought a front clip no-pull harness because I thought all vizsla puppies pulled. I read horror stories of them being like wild bucking Broncos on the leash. It did not work well at first because Amos had a fear of leaving the property. I literally drug and coaxed that dog down the road for six weeks or so till he grew out of it. Once he got confident about walking, that's when the pulling began and I was really glad I had it. Whenever they charge forward, the front clip catches when they hit the end of the leash and forces them to turn back towards you which is no fun. They want to see out so eventually they start leaving slack in the leash. It has worked for us as far as the pulling but he still doesn't heel quite as well as I'd like. Still working on that. We use the halti brand one.


Thanks again for recommending the Halti harness  Ours came in the mail yesterday and we used it today for our first walk and no pulling. She even walked at my 2yo's pace when he wanted to get out of the bike trailer and walk and "help push". I'm honestly amazed  Granted that was only day one but I'm impressed so far.


----------



## lord brush

Our Wirehair is nearly two y/o and still pulls when on a lead. The Halti anti-pull nose harnesses work great, but he HATES it, and as soon as he sees an opportunity, he'll be skull-surfing along a patch of grass to try get it off (sometimes with success). We generally use the Halti now for indoors when he's been far too hyper or naughty. Slipping the Halti on him for ten minutes has him sulking in the corner 'til he's calmed down LOL. Usually just have to brandish the thing at him, and it's enough.

One other method that works quite well is regular (tape Flexi), lead clipped onto a snap shackle on his collar and then passed under his chest and behind the back of his front elbows before passing the tape thru the snap shackle on his regular lead D-ring. I guess similar principle to the Lightining Leads, but without the refinement and erm, cost. If he pulls, the tape runs thru the shackle and squeezes his chest slightly and he stops pulling immediately. Again, as soon as he feels the tape in this position, he knows not to pull.

The Mendota type lead with the figure-of-eight loop back over his muzzle also works very well. 

Luckily he's only on the lead for five minutes before we get to the off-leash trails.


----------



## vizlil

*easywalk for us*

Hello,
I have received such great feedback and support on this forum, so wanted to share what is working for our puppy.
Our vizsla is 8 months old (male). When the lead is attached to his collar he pulls all the time, he's gotten better with a lot of practice..I stop (turn into a tree that cannot move ;o) remind him to come back and walk by my food and etc..but nothing was really working and walks were still painful, until.....
My neighbor told me about easywalk harness. Life changing! We are in France right now and I got it on amazon.fr but I just checked on Amazon.com and amazon.ca and it is available, mind you it is more expensive there.
He wants to pull but the ingenious design of easywalk does not let him, without any pain or harmful consequences on his body. 
Hope this helps others too.


----------

