How to Put On a Dog Harness (Step-by-Step Instructions)
hey everybody my name is Samantha and I
am here today to talk to you about how
to fit your dog with a harness and
fitting your dog with a harness is very
important for many reasons if you don’t
fit the harness correctly your dog could
slip out of it which defeats the purpose
of the harness it could restrict his
range of motion and his legs which is
going to be very detrimental to your dog
and make him extremely uncomfortable it
could also cause injury if it’s too
tight there could be some some chafing
or it could actually cut in and give
your dog the laceration so you really
need to make sure it’s very important to
make the harness fit properly harnesses
are a great help when walking your dog
this is our chocolate lab Sadie it’s
very hot here in Maine today so sadie is
not super cooperative because she
doesn’t like the heat but she’s wearing
a collar and just to show you obviously
if you pulled on the leash or if your
dog pulled on leash all of the pressure
from a collar is going to be right on
your dog’s neck and throat so a harness
spreads out that impact all along their
chest which is much safer for your dog
it’s more comfortable for them and it
makes it easier for you as well when
you’re walking your dogs so there are
many different types of harnesses if
you’re looking for a no pull harness you
you need to do a little bit of research
and find the no-pull harness that you
are comfortable with and the no-pull
harness that’s going to be best for your
dog there are many different styles some
go wrap around the back legs and put
pressure on the back legs and your dog
pulls some of them wrap around the
muzzle and put pressure on the muzzle so
depending on what you’re comfortable
with and and obviously what your dog is
comfortable with you’re gonna have to
choose a no pull harness based on that
and those fit in different ways and they
do different things so that’s a video
for another day so if you’re looking for
it full this isn’t the video for you
today I’m just talking about a standard
regular harness and there are two types
there’s a step into harness and there’s
an over the head harness first I’m going
to show you the step into harness and
this is
most traditional kind of harnesses what
you have here is two places for your
dogs pod and then the chest straps ad
hey come here
hi go on Chlo I know it’s not your turn
though
come here C D so I’m gonna have Sadie
just step into this for us and you want
one pod to step into one hole and you’re
gonna get the other pot Sadie she wants
to lay in the shade so hopefully you
guys can see this I did try and and get
the camera to be in the shade for her
she wants to go lay down and she’s not
really feeling being part of a video
today but too bad
Sadie Sadie so typically she will just
step into it and you can lay this flat
on the ground have your dog step into it
and then you’re just going to reach up
around and buckle it for them now this
is CDs traditional harness so this is
already fit for her but you don’t need
to fit it first obviously sit see sit
baby sit sit no you’re not going over
there DeeDee sit down sit Sadie low you
sit Sadie
nope sit sit sit
oh she is so stubborn today I apologize
to you guys you she’s not quite this
stubborn that you can tell from her face
that she’s hot and she’s not really
thrilled to be out here but she’s doing
good um I guess maybe a little I don’t
um so this you don’t need to fit it you
can just take it out of the package and
then put it right on the ground
sometimes certain harnesses are there’s
a left and a right paw specifically go
ahead um
there’s a left and a right side
specifically so you would want to make
sure that those were corresponding you
lay that right on the ground your dog
will step into it like I said pull it up
and around and then let me see biking
get CT will you sit up for me big girl I
know did up yep it’s a lazy hot day but
you have to sit up for a minute so you
can tell um again Sadie’s harness is
already adjusted for her but there’s
adjustment straps just like on a collar
you can just slide those back and forth
most of them are pretty standard the
same way and you want to make sure that
this chest piece is down lower than your
dog’s neck you don’t want it to be up
here where the collar is you can tell
Sadie’s still wearing her collar and
it’s it’s in place and the harness is
much lower than that so you want that
and across the chest here you don’t want
it down here cutting across their
shoulder blades and you can feel their
shoulder blades so you don’t want it
down here you want it to be up here
where it’s going to be comfortable and
they have that full range of motion and
then the chest strap goes down here some
harnesses have a chest pad and it’s much
wider like this it would be in this
whole area and then go underneath that’s
a comfort thing Sadie doesn’t wear a
harness except for when we go to the vet
I walk her in there on a leash but she
doesn’t wear a harness often so this is
the one that we have
if you walk your dog frequently you
might want to try one with the chest the
wider chest pad and that distributes the
weight a little bit more and it is more
comfortable for your dog they’re usually
padded as well so then these on the side
here let me see if I can get Sadie to
turn for you I think as long as she’s
leaning on me she’s gonna do about
anything today she is in lazy mode and
so over here on the side on the arms
same thing you want
titanal but you don’t want to restrict
that range of motion and you certainly
don’t want it so tight that it’s chafing
or cutting into your dog’s armpit so the
rule is the same standard rule for
collars for tightness you want to be
able to slip two fingers in here between
the collar and between your dog’s um fur
and it’s fine you don’t want it to be
way looser than that and you certainly
don’t want it to be so tight that you
can’t get two fingers in there so two
fingers in there comfortably that’s real
and you want to make sure with a collar
of course you only have that one strap
but on a harness you have many so you
want to do that everywhere make sure the
trips chest drop can fit two fingers
these straps fit the two finger rule the
one up over their back fits the two
finger rule and of course on the other
side on that pod there’s the same one so
you want to do that now my harness has
two adjustment points it has one for the
chest and one for the the back strap
here so some of them have one on each
side and they might have four they may
have five they may have a special
adjuster up here then typically the more
expensive the harnesses the more
features you’re going to have and the
more you’re going to be able to
customize it and there might be four or
five different adjustment points so
adjust every adjustment point again
they’re very simple to adjust you can
slide them and adjust them until every
strap on the harness hat follows that
two finger rule so that’s pretty easy I
can go ahead and take this off CD okay
you did good yeah you did good so again
this is that step into harness this is
what they look like you can lay that
down flat your dog steps into it and you
pull it up and around now I will go
ahead and grab our little dog Molly and
I will show you the over the head
harness which is my personal preference
and I will explain why in just a second
everybody’s having a lazy hot day today
so this is our little beagle Molly and
if I can actually get her to stand up
for you
come on Molly mine come here I like her
nope
she’s made me lazy bones too so I’ll uh
see her I can pick up so it’s a little
bit easier so this is our over the head
and you unbuckle –it it’s got a plastic
buckle just like the other harness you
slide it over your dog’s head whoops I’m
in their mouth all right Molly and then
you just wrap the strap around their
belly and buckle it and it’s that simple
and then you have the harness piece here
hi hi pretty girl and I know it’s hard
it’s awful hot so aside from getting it
in her mouth that’s obviously you can
tell that’s a little bit easier to put
on you don’t have to make your dog step
into it you slide it over buckle around
and snap now again this is Molly’s
traditional harness that she wears when
we go for a walk so this is fitted to
her but same thing you’ve got some
different adjustment points one is here
around the chest drop and again you want
that to be nice and low
down by down underneath your shoulder
blades not up on their neck where a
caller would traditionally sit so you
can see a collar on Molly would sit
right about here and you can see how
much lower that strap is so that’s what
you want there’s an adjuster there
there’s an adjuster here on this side
for the girth for underneath her belly
and same thing you want that to finger
rule so you can easily slide those
tighten them up make sure again every
strap so underneath for the girth your
chest strap here and the back here is
all that two-finger will tip over her G
Oh silly girl this is what happens with
us in the key again we’re from Maine so
we’re not you six hot weather and we all
turn into sillies when it gets to it
like this so this is Molly’s harness
this is the over-the-head harness again
this is the harness that I personally
prefer only because it’s easier I feel
like it’s easier I got your hair in my
mouth yucky only because I feel like
it’s easier for me as a pet owner to
just slide it over and do that it’s not
really easier to adjust I think it’s
it’s about the same to adjust um as far
as like timewise and difficulty it’s not
difficult to adjust but I think it’s
easier for for Molly to as you could
tell Sadie she really I silly she wasn’t
really feeling stepping into that
harness today now Sadie’s very easygoing
and I can certainly make her step into
that harness
but with the over-the-head harness your
dog can stand wherever they want they
don’t have to walk into a certain area
they can just stand where they want you
slide it over your head and buckle it
around so I prefer the over the head
harness but again whichever one’s your
preference some people think that the
the step into harness is a lot of the
more top quality harnesses like I said
have those chest pads and that kind of
stuff that people look for you can find
those in over the head harnesses but
over the head harnesses are typically a
little bit more traditional in the
strapping so it’s it’s up to you it’s a
personal preference and of course for
your dogs whichever one your dog is more
comfortable in our dogs don’t spend a
lot of time in harnesses very few um
probably they spend about three hours a
year maybe in a harness if that
sometimes well I guess sometimes if we
go hiking we do take them um that we do
have harnesses but all our dogs are very
well trained at walking on a leash so we
typically just use collars but if your
dogs spend a lot of time in harness you
might want to a more comfortable one
with some more padding and a little bit
more material to disperse some of that
that pulled from the leash so something
to think about I prefer the over the
head harness if you guys have any
questions about either the step-in or
the over the head earnest and how to fit
your dog with a harness I would be happy
to help you with that so just reach out
and ask chances are somebody else is
having the same question as well if you
guys have any questions about any other
how-to videos or any recipes any product
reviews that you guys would want to see
for product comparisons I would be happy
to show you if you followed some of my
other videos you know that I do a good
mix of different types of videos so
whatever you guys want to see let me
know again if you have any questions
about these harnesses or how to use and
how to fit either the step-in
or the over the head of harness I would
be happy to answer those questions you
can find us on social media we are on
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you can find us on our website top dog
tips calm my contact information is
there if you want to send me an email
you can do that at Samantha a top dog
tips comm I’d be happy to help anybody
with any questions or again I’m always
looking for new ideas for new videos
that you guys would like to see so make
sure you send those my way and I will be
back next time with another how-to video
for you guys so stay tuned for that
you
