When I was growing up, we had a puppy who wore a collar. Harnesses weren’t a thing. If they were, we didn’t know anything about them. This was before the days of the internet so any info we had came from the library. There weren’t many dog owners near us, either. Back then, it was assumed that your dog wore a collar of some kind. I don’t think we’d ever heard of a harness.

Considering Getting a Collar or a Harness

Looking around our neighborhood before we brought Sweet Baby L home, almost every puppy we saw was wearing a harness. When I started doing some research, I learned harnesses were often marketed as “no pull” which admittedly sounded appealing. No one wants to pull on a dog’s neck, right?  This seemed like a much better option.  I patted myself on the back when we we signed Sweet Baby L up for her first puppy training classes because getting her fitted in a harness was a prerequisite. I picked out a hot pink and turquoise one that I felt matched her personality. She looked very cute.

Our Experience with a Dog Harness 

A few months into our harness experience, it occurred to me that all Sweet Baby L did when we were walking was pull. This seemed curious given that I had thought the whole point of harness was so that she’d pull less. She’d often sit down and scratch her armpit when we were out on walks. Her skin was getting rubbed raw. We adjusted the size and tried again. 

 Some days all Sweet Baby L wanted to do was lay on the sidewalk instead of actual go on a walk. The harness did nothing to get her (or keep her) moving.  One afternoon as we were dragging our way through the park, I noticed with a degree of jealousy all the other big dogs that were walking nicely next to their owners. No lunging, no pulling, no laying on the ground. What were they doing differently? 

I looked more carefully. Not one of those dogs was wearing a harness. They all had collars. Hmm.  

Choosing a Collar

When I decided it might be time to try a collar, I didn’t realize how many different options there were on the market. Many of the bigger dogs that I saw walking nicely in the park had on wearing the prong collars. But there are lots of other collars out there including chain collars, prong collars, muzzle collars (something we considered when Sweet Baby L was interested in eating everything off the street), smart collars (something i didn’t know existed but apparently come with GPS trackers and other fancy things) and Martingale collars (designed to prevent the dog from slipping out).

Our Experience with a Dog Collar 

It was around this time that Sweet Baby L started seeing a new trainer. When I told him that we were having trouble walking her, he asked what she was wearing. 

“Her harness,” I said.

“The only thing you should do with that harness is throw it in the trash,” he told me.

It seemed like a harsh assessment, but walks with Sweet Baby L had been getting progressively worse. He recommend a Martingale collar, because it gives the owner more control, making it easier to indicate to the pup who is in charge. Once we started walking Sweet Baby L in it, the benefits became clear . It was a lot easier for us to direct her. In her harness, she felt empowered to do whatever she wanted because it was less restrictive.  As a bonus, no more skin irritation.  

Bottom Line

The Martingale collar has been a game-changer for us, and I’ve recommended it to people who are struggling with managing lunging pups.