Dog Harness Collar Leash Bags No Pull

The dog pulls. Your gear has to keep up.

A flat collar and a bit of rope works right up until the moment it does not. The dog spots a roo, throws its whole weight forward, and either the lead comes out of your hand or the collar comes over its ears. Now there is a loose dog beside a road, in among stock, or a long way from the ute in country it does not know.

That is a control problem before it is a strength problem. This is a vest-style harness that spreads the pull across the chest and shoulders instead of the throat, with a lead point on the front as well as one on the back, so a dog that lunges gets turned side-on rather than towed along. It buckles on around the body instead of going over the head, so there is nothing for the dog to reverse out of.

It is sold four ways. The supplier's artwork shows the harness on its own, the harness with a bungee lead, both of those plus a padded collar, and all of it plus three MOLLE pouches. Four sizes, S to XL — and the sizing is the part worth taking seriously, so both supplier charts are printed in full under Specs.

What It Does

• Spreads the load: the pull goes across a padded chest plate and two shoulder straps instead of into the windpipe, which is where a flat collar puts it.
• Turns a lunge: there is a D-ring low on the chest as well as the usual one on the back, so a dog clipped at the front gets rotated back towards you rather than given a straight line to pull along.
• Closes around, not over: lever-action metal buckles at the chest and plastic side-release buckles on the belly straps, so nothing has to go over the head of a dog that hates having things go over its head.
• Puts a handle on the dog: a moulded grab handle and a webbing loop sit over the shoulders for the moments you need the dog in your hand right now — a gate left open, a snake on the track, another dog coming the other way.
• Carries its own gear: MOLLE webbing rows and hook-and-loop panels run down both flanks and across the back, so pouches and identification patches go on the dog instead of in your pockets.
• Takes the jolt out: the lead has a bungee section that stretches under a sudden lunge instead of snapping tight against your wrist.

Key Features

• Two lead points: a triangle D-ring on the back panel under the handle, and a round D-ring low on the chest for front-clip work.
• Metal chest buckles: lever-action quick-release buckles on the chest and shoulder straps; the belly straps use plastic side-release buckles.
• Adjustable in four places: sliding webbing on the neck opening, the chest strap and both belly straps.
• Open mesh lining: air mesh across the chest panel and the belly straps, with the size letter sewn into the lining.
• Bungee lead: 970 mm relaxed, stretching to 1.42 m, with a padded hand loop, a short traffic handle up near the clip and a swivel metal snap hook.
• Padded collar: included in the 3-piece and 4-piece options — soft-lined, with a metal quick-release buckle, a D-ring and a short control handle.
• Three MOLLE pouches: the 4-piece option adds a zipped utility pouch, a bottle and waste-bag holder, and a larger handled bag.
• Four sizes, four colourways: S, M, L and XL in black, camo, brown and green.

Getting The Size Right

Take a tape to the dog before you order. You need two numbers: neck girth, right around the base of the neck where the harness sits, and chest girth, right around the deepest part of the chest just behind the front legs.

Chest girth is the one that decides it. The supplier's own chart says so in its footnote, and the neck ranges overlap so heavily between sizes that they settle almost nothing on their own. If your dog lands in two size bands, go on chest girth and on the breed column. Both charts are printed in full under Specs. A harness fitted too big is the one that gets backed out of.

Limits

• It is NOT a car restraint: this harness has not been crash tested, no crash rating is claimed for it, and it will not hold your dog in a collision. Photographs of dogs wearing it in the back of a vehicle do not change that. If you want crash protection, buy a restraint that is sold and certified as one, or use a crate or a cargo barrier.
• No load rating is published: the supplier states no breaking strain and no maximum dog weight for the webbing, the stitching, the buckles or either D-ring. The metal chest buckle carries a moulded FC38 and 3kN marking. That is a mark on one component, not a tested figure for the harness as an assembly, no certificate was sighted, and we are not going to convert it into a kilogram figure and let it read as one.
• It is not a lifting point: the handle over the shoulders is there to hold a dog beside you or steady it for a second. It is not a hoist, it is not a fall-arrest point, and it is not a way to lift a dog over a fence, into a tray or out of a boat.
• It will not train the dog: a front lead point takes leverage away from a dog that pulls. It does not teach it to stop, and a big dog that is determined enough will still pull with the harness on.
• It is not escape proof: fitted loose, or fitted a size too big, any body harness can be backed out of. Check the fit each time on a dog that has worked out how to do it.
• Tactical is a look, not a credential: the MOLLE webbing, the camouflage and the word tactical are styling and load-carrying, nothing more. No part of this is military, police or working-dog issue, and we do not claim otherwise.
• No patches are included: the patches you can see in the supplier's photographs belong to the owners who took them. A patch reading SERVICE DOG does not make a dog an assistance dog — in Australia and New Zealand that status is a legal question, not a question of what is stuck to a vest.
• The collar chart is incomplete: the supplier publishes collar lengths for M, L and XL only. There is no S row, so we cannot tell you what an S collar measures, and we are not going to invent it.
• Two charts, two measurements: the harness chart's neck girth is taken around the base of the neck where a vest sits. The collar chart is a collar length taken where a collar sits. They are different numbers for the same letter size and one cannot be read off the other.

Q & A

Which size do I need?

Measure chest girth first, right around the deepest part of the chest behind the front legs, and match it to the harness chart under Specs. Then check neck girth as a sanity test. If the dog sits in two bands, take the size its chest girth lands in comfortably rather than at the very end of the range.

Will it stop my dog pulling?

It reduces what the dog can do with the pull. Clipped to the chest D-ring, a lunge turns the dog side-on instead of giving it a straight line to lean into. That is leverage, not training. A determined dog will still pull, and the harness on its own will not change the behaviour.

Can I use it to strap the dog into the car?

No. It has not been crash tested, there is no crash rating on it and no breaking strain is published for any part of it. For the car, use a restraint sold and certified for that job, or a crate or a cargo barrier.

What actually comes with each option?

Going by the supplier's own artwork for each option: the plain harness option is the harness alone; the 2-piece adds the bungee lead; the 3-piece adds the padded collar as well; the 4-piece adds three MOLLE pouches on top of that. The piece counts in the option names do not match the number of physical items in the pictures, so read the option artwork rather than the number.

How long is the lead?

970 mm at rest, stretching to 1.42 m as the bungee section extends. There is a padded loop for your hand at the far end and a short traffic handle just above the clip for close work near traffic, gates and other dogs.

What fabric is it and how heavy is it?

Nylon, with an open mesh lining. The supplier publishes no denier, no fabric weight and no product weight, so we are not printing a figure for any of them.

How long will it take to get here?

10 to 14 days from the day you order, and it is worth allowing up to three weeks. Regional and remote addresses run longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs

Harness Size Chart

As printed on the supplier's chart. The odd decimals come from the supplier converting its own figures out of inches; the millimetre column is rounded to the nearest millimetre.

Collar Size Chart

The collar is included in the 3-piece and 4-piece options only. The supplier publishes three rows and no S row. Its instruction is to leave a two-finger gap between the collar and the neck.

Specifications