OK, here's my take. My ex has been a professional dog trainer for many years. I was involved in the business for about 5 yrs. before I created my own website for pet products. She started out recommending and selling the Halti, then she discovered the Gentle Leader and found it to be a MUCH better product and sold a ton of them. Then she discovered a whole new group of products that fall into the "no-pull" harness category. They don't go over the head, so they don't look like a muzzle. And, instead of having the link to attach the leash behind the dogs neck, between the shoulder blades, the link is in front of the dogs chest. So, when the dog pulls, it pulls them a bit off balance to the side and it annoys them, so they stop pulling - really quickly. Like http://www.softouchconcepts.com/ and others. Then she invented her own product which combines that principal with a service dog vest. She's a good resource for answering this question because she's studied it extensively. I obviously can't put a link to her site here or to mine because of the terms of the site. But, you can email me if you want more info. Good luck with your pulling issues. Jay Here is a link that might be useful: My email is on this site.

Harnesses are ineffectual? What is that even supposed to mean? Harnesses are a means of attaching a leash to your dog. Are you saying that you can't do this with a harness?? That's nice that you think the article is a bunch of bunk. Emily Larlham is world renowned and hugely respected in the field of dog behavior and training. I don't know you, but I'm placing my bet on her as the more educated, more experienced, more talented person. You belong to a dog club. Wow. Very impressive! Your dogs get to go special places? You should win an award. People like Emily train service dogs. I train service dogs. Dogs that go on a regular basis where no other dogs are allowed. Examination rooms at hospitals, grocery stores, restaurants, malls, colleges, airplanes, anywhere and everywhere that isn't a sterile environment. But I'm very impressed with your club's dog's extra special outings. Give yourself a pat on the back for me, would you? "When we change speeds or directions unexpectedly, our dogs react instantly and follow us. I can't see how they could possibly get the message fast enough on a harness" You see, this has me doubting your "expertise". When heeling, a dog is supposed to keep their eyes and focus on the handler, physical force shouldn't be required to get a dog to heel at your side. By your statement, I guess you're not able to get dogs to heel without attaching a line to them. So am I supposed to be impressed by that? It's really not some huge accomplishment to teach a dog to heel with or WITHOUT a leash. I don't even use a leash to teach heeling. I do naked training for just about everything. It's an ultimate test of your training skills when you can't fall back on physical force to coerce the dog to comply. If you've taught the dog correctly, there's no physical force required. The dog simply chooses to comply without you forcing them. They stay at your side because you've taught them well. Your marker was precise, your reinforcement was sufficiently motivating, you were able to maintain their focus, you were consistent, and all the other elements were in place. "even the pits, rotties, shepherds, and akitas." Is that supposed to mean that you breed discriminate? Is training a pit bull, a rottweiler, a shepherd or an akita supposed to be some huge feat? People train these breeds every day. Day in and day out. Big deal. These are some of the most numerous breeds in rescue. Dime a dozen. Yes, there is something inherently bad and cruel about driving spikes into your dog's neck. But it's very easy for you to say otherwise being that you're not the one getting the collar corrections with them. If your dog isn't complying and you need to issue corrections, then you failed at training and you should issue the corrections to yourself rather than punishing the dog for your own ineptitude. Train better, fix your own mistakes and the dogs will improve with better teaching. I know you're going to stick like glue on this and insist that the dogs messing up is anyone's fault but your own and you're going to continue to punish the dogs for your own mistakes so I'm just not going to waste anymore time on you. Subpar training gets subpar results and then people use corrections and correctional tools as a crutch. Anyone can bully a dog into complying. I'm not impressed. Maybe one day you'll wake up and improve yourself and see how much better the dogs improve as a result.

I think that my (non-existent) dog would like to answer you ... ... were s/he not muzzled. Actually ... a couple of dogs, both female, that I was looking after sequentially for a friend disappeared while in my care ... the second was while he was spending a time in jail. He's out, living temporarily in his RV here on the farm ... and found what we're pretty sure is the skull of his little dog, and he washed and buried it, the other day. There was the body of a skunk nearby, so wonder whether that was the reason ... but we have coons near here, who can put up a serious fight when crossed ... ... also coyotes, but I doubt that they'd have been in the barn. ole joyful

I have always been interested in training animals. I have enjoyed clicker training my donkeys, but the first animal I trained with a clicker was in 1972 when I was going to school to be a vet tech. We had to teach a conditioned response to an animal and I taught a cat to sit up. I had read long ago that animals don't reason, but I think they do, at least to some extent. One of my dogs is a terrier of some kind. She looks like a cross between a scottie and a dachshund or maybe a schnauzer and a dachshund. She has a long body and short legs but a square-ish head and a rough coat. I found her dumped on the road...when she was about five months old, so I don't really know anything about her. Except she is stubborn. Every time I would leave, she would follow my truck out the gate. I couldn't send her back. If I forgot to put her inside, she would get out and run down the road when I left. My other dogs go back when I tell them. There are 3 gates to go through and it is time consuming and aggravating to have her run off and I had to go catch her and bring her back to the house. So, I put a big crate by my gate with a pad for her to lay on and a water bowl. It was in the shade. If she followed me out the gate, I caught her and put her in the crate. I didn't think that would break her of it, but it saved me from having to take her back to the house, especially if I was in a hurry and short on time. I only had to do that a couple of times and when I told her to go back....she did it. She never followed the truck again. It's like putting the bulldog in the trailer for chasing the mule to excess. She recognizes that she did wrong. I am more of a cat person.....but my vet asked me if I would be willing to raise 7 orphan puppies (like I had so much free time. LOL) The reason he asked me, he knows I can tube feed, and the puppies were weak. His tech was already raising a litter of pups and a litter of kittens. Some other women were supposed to take a couple of the puppies to raise but that fell through and they brought them all to me. So far I have just found a home for one. I haven't really tried very hard because I am picky who gets them. I bottle fed the little stinkers for 3 weeks and you bond with them. You have to be so careful who gets an animal because there is so much meanness in the world. I always wanted to train my donkeys and take them around to nursing homes, etc. to do tricks for the residents. I would love to train the puppies to do some tricks too. I know how much I would miss my animals if I had to live where I couldn't have them any more. So that is something I have been thinking about doing....if I end up keeping some of the pups. Well, I already know I am keeping two of them.....................