I see more and more people walking their dogs in harnesses that used to be worn only by sleigh dogs... And more and more people are being ´dragged´ all over the place and have little control over their dogs...
When I started training my dogs - quite a while ago - we used appropriate chain collars that slid until the dog got the message that pulling was wrong...
What is your opinion: collar or harness?

Baso is quite "tall" dog, so it´s ok to give him collar and controle him, but my little Satan made me to think of harness. I´ve never understood to the small dogs having harnesses but now I know the little ones are under less controll than the others- Satan is always in hurry and the collar makes him breath badly and to say nothing of having him bounded by the lead all the time as he jumps and runs around, so I´m buying one harness for Satan as soon as he grows up a little bit.

Sadie only wears a collar and very seldom goes on the leash as she absolutely detests it but she is also a very very obedient dog and doesn´t leave your side. I have lots of collars and harnesses for Baybie. Where people have to be careful with a harness is that they purchase the correct harness. Baybie´s are probably what you´d say purely cosmetic but my mother was advised to get a harness for one of her dogs and she done this. On the next visit to the vet´s my mother told the vet that this hadn´t stopped him pulling and infact the problem was worse.

Now to quote benirg
"I see more and more people walking their dogs in harnesses that used to be worn only by sleigh dogs... And more and more people are being ´dragged´ all over the place and have little control over their dogs.."

The vet looked at both the dog and harness, then informed my mother that the harness she had bought had actually built up the dog´s upper body strength/muscles as it was the wrong type of harness. This dog was almost dragging my mother off her feet and this could be why you´re seeing more dog´s in a harness dragging their owner/s all over the place. It is the wrong type of harness.

I don´t think people around here take their time to talk to their Vets about harnesses and collars... They just buy them because they are fashionable! And yes, they tend to build upper bodies!
Of my dogs, only Zeta is not to be trusted off lead, especially when I walk them in the small park near our home in Milan... The others will walk and sniff around, no problem! And only Zeta had to be taught not to pull me off my feet and I had to train her with a chain-link collar... Now she wears a regular collar but the chain link one is always in my pocket and I just have to rattle it and she will stop pulling

When we take our laddy out for his normal walk he has a collar (half collar & half chain), but when we go to the big parks we use harness as the harness is used in the car & can be used while out walking.
The lead we use can be clipped to both collar & harness, so we have control of the dog

I bought Jake a harness months ago. Sadly, none of us can put it on him, the instructions are "goobledegook" So, he walks with the lead, of which he is not impressed with. We love taking him to the fields, or the beach, where we can take the lead off him, and he can run free.

I have made good experiences with the K9 harness (you can even attach a flash light to it), which I bought, because we do a little bit trailing (hobby).
I attach the lead to both harness and collar, when I walk him normally, and attach a long lead on the harness ring, when trailing.
What I find hilarious is that when I walk Trigger on the collar or leather lead, people stay away or I get evil looks (big bad German Shepherd, lol, as if...) but when he´s got the harness on, people actually approach us more.

i bought mine harnesses but they hated them . they ran when they seen me coming with them

either. my dogs both wears them but we prefer the harness cause sometimes the collars makes them choke and i think harness are much safer cause my dogs can easily remove the collars and they can run away

i bought mine harnesses but they hated them . they ran when they seen me coming with them
Barney´s the same. He runs away and when we finally get the harness on him he sits and refuses to move. I would prefer to use it though because although he´s not much of a puller he still seems to get choked with his collar (it´s not a choke one) and he slipped it once by the main road when we met another puppy, which nearly gave me a heart attack!

There are dogs that can´t wear collars, Lotje for example. She has the typical yorkie trachea and because of that it´s even dangerous for her to wear a collar, a chain collar is even more dangerous. So she wears a harness all the time. It´s a special type of harness where there is no pressure on the trachea.

Kai only wears a harness when I go for a walk with him in the forrest on the long leash (8 meters). On the streets and at obedience/agility training he wears an obedience collar.

Amy is a Hoodini and can get out of her collar no matter how tight we make it on her for walking so one of my friends who is also a Rottie owner suggested a "No Pull" harness and how it works great on her Rottie. Needless to say thats what gets put on Amy now when we go walking

I have made good experiences with the K9 harness (you can even attach a flash light to it), which I bought, because we do a little bit trailing (hobby). I attach the lead to both harness and collar, when I walk him normally, and attach a long lead on the harness ring, when trailing. What I find hilarious is that when I walk Trigger on the collar or leather lead, people stay away or I get evil looks (big bad German Shepherd, lol, as if...) but when he´s got the harness on, people actually approach us more.

I was scared of these type of dogs but now I´m now I´m not(thanks to a friend who owned one) I would go near them collar or harness

I prefer collars but have seen the no-pull harnesses do well on dogs. I just hate putting them on and taking them off..confusing...I´m a dogwalker and it takes a long time to get the dogs ready to go. I do believe though that whatever works for you and your dog is great. I just think a lot of people use harnesses thinking that means they don´t have to teach their dog to walk properly.
Triggs, I have a client with a rottweiler, and the owner works as an EMS so he got her a "police" harness to wear...everyone thinks she is a police dog or service dog and so don´t find her as intimidating...interesting psychology eh?

I have pugs and I don´t like putting collars on them; I prefer harnesses for them...I use the puppia harness and I love it--and yes they do come in fashionable collars with matching leads (which I love for my girls)...I just think the harnesses are more comfortable for them....just my opinion.

Okay, my two cents worth... Harnesses are great if you want to be pulled, that is their design. If you have a pulling dog... all you are doing is giving your dog more strength to pull you about... Also..for training, you can not give a correction to your dog when they are in a harness. They are great for dogs that can not wear a collar... and they are better than a choker.
Now, a chain collar..choker...trainer...whatever you want to call it... I hate them. I don´t like them in training classes. They are an okay item,,, thing is people tend to "correct" too harshly with them. I mean,, I watch people come in and "correct" their dog like they are hanging them.."whack" and a heavy mean NO!! tut tut tut... poor dogs.
I use a flat collar on my dogs... I recommend proper training and a flat collar on dogs...period.

My dog has a harness - actually he has 2 - one is a more comfortable one for the car and short walks, the other is sturdier and allows more control for hikes. He is just such a strong, stocky dog the harness actually seems more secure than just a collar and I feel like I have much better control because I have his whole body and not just his neck. If I really need to stop him I can just grab a hold of the harness itself and I feel like I have a better grip on him than with a collar. Regular collars just seem too easy for him to slip out of and I just don´t like the chain-choke collars.

Now, Brody hardly ever pulls, he is more inclined to hang back and check things out. He is a fairly laid-back puppy and tends to lope along. He used to have a harness called a ´gentle lead´ which was destined to deter pulling. It worked ok for short walks but seemed to rub under his front legs too much for longer hikes. Once he grew out of it I didn´t bother to buy another.

He is also clicker trained and that has helped a lot to keep his attention.

I quite agree with trish.. i don´t like harness... i still like to use the traditional collar because i don´t feel peachy being chained up... if you are a dog, do you like it? see...

Well, my dog is never chained up. He´s either in the house running around with me, or on one of his harnesses in the car or walking.

when i got roxie she choked herself constantly on a collar. i bought her a harness and it´s great! she doesn´t pull as much and i have better control over her. i walk her with a collar if i´m going on a short walk (basically i´m too lazy to put in on sometimes haha she gets so excited and it´s difficult to get it on ) but for the park or something, definitely the harness. i just like it better and i never feel like i´m choking her or anything.

i have a whippet and collars just won´t do since they have small heads. a harness is better for her. i heard martingale collars would be good too but we don´t have it here. we also use a harness for our golden retriever since it doubles up as safety harness for car rides.