hiking harness?

[sandra s.]

Spring is here and the hiking bug is biting again...only I'm getting rather frustrated with this harness:

It's great as long as it's dry, but nothing around Kessie ever stays dry and as soon as it's wet, it expands until it looks like it does in this picture. Today, she got a foot stuck in it twice :mad: . Fortunately not while galloping down the mountain, but it still sucks.

I also have a similar one that doesn't expand as much, but that slides over to the side until the buckle is exactly in her "armpit".

 

Has anyone ever come across one that does none of these things?

I don't like using a collar for hiking because sometimes I do have to have her on leash, to keep her from making her very own avalanche or scaring tourists off the trail (into the abyss ), and with a collar she gets the leash between her legs every few minutes.

[KrisK]

Hi Sandra,

 

You might want to check the ride and walk harness. I use this with Cricket. It acts not only as a seatbelt in the car, but as a walking harness as well. Both my little guys wear them as well. The straps are very wide and I've never had any trouble with stretching. There are also dog backpacks which might be of use to you as well!

 

http://www.furlongspetsupply.com/ride'n_wa...g_harnesses.htm

[emmetteabrakai]

I have had several leather items made at the local leather shop. Leashes that have circular scissor ends ( like on the of horse reins) and I have multiple short leads that attach to rings on a leash. All made at the leather shop out of harness matrriel. I am having a leather harness made for my dogs too. It will be more work, and I won't be able to throw it in the wash but it will last forever if I take care of it. Maybe that would be an option for you and Kessie.

Adnrea D.

[sandra s.]

Thanks!

 

I found one today in a little petshop, it's imitated leather and pretty cheap. They have to order it first (didn't have her size), so I don't know if it really is what I'm looking for. They had some nice leather harnesses, but these are really expensive here so I'm trying the cheaper option first. If this turns out to be rubbish as well, I'd be willing to import one (or get a leather one) even if it's more expensive, for I hope we'll be walking A LOT!

 

As for doggie backpacks, I never tried that so far because I seem to collect rocks without noticing; there's a rock (or more) in nearly every pocket/bag/etc in the house and if poor Kessie had a bag, it would mysteriously grow heavier as we walk on, either fast or slowly, depending on the rock formations along the way

[Kitch]

As for doggie backpacks, I never tried that so far because I seem to collect rocks without noticing; there's a rock (or more) in nearly every pocket/bag/etc in the house and if poor Kessie had a bag, it would mysteriously grow heavier as we walk on, either fast or slowly, depending on the rock formations along the way

That is too funny - I'm the same way, even when I was little. My mom likes to tell the story of when I was 2-3 and insisted that I was getting birthday gifts for everyone all on my own (almost my whole family is born in April) and refused to let anyone buy something for me to give my brother, mother or father that year. I wouldn't tell anyone what I had gotten for them and proudly presented my gift at the birthday party - it was a beautiful igneous rock. My mom said she knew she was in trouble then!

 

And I still collect cool rocks whenever I can. The last time I moved my brother was helping me and he was complaining about how heavy a box was - he said, "What do you have in here? Rocks?" to which I sheepishly replied, "Uh, yeah." He was not amused...

[Rikki's Mom]

I just purchased Champion harnesses for my group. These are the best harnesses I've used and I've tried Easy Rider (my second choice), Four Paws, Ruff Rider Roadie, and a couple of others. Go to www.agilepooch.com for a good overview of seatbelt/backpacks.

 

My dogs are belted into our vehicle and then wear the harness while playing at the park. It doesn't slow them down or chafe anywhere. The website is www.champk-9.com. I don't like the seat belt, it's too heavy and the snap is very difficult to work. I use the Ultimate Seat Leash from Hamilton with my harnesses, available through PetSmart or www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com. A large carabiner clipped onto the D-rings and fastened to the seat leash works well.

[sandra s.]

I have a Champion seatbelt for the car (I've also put in a carabiner! ), but I can't use it as a normal harness because the rings are so big. They make the whole thing slide to one side, and the noise they make gets on her nerves. Otherwise it would be great!

 

Kerry - how the h*ll do you get rid of those rocks when you have too many?! I primitively ditch them in the river in a quiet place where no one can see me . Would you believe one of them actually came back to me? I don't know exactly how many kilometers it traveled, but it turned up (nicely rounded) near my home again after several months, unless someone else has been throwing fresh basaltic lava from Fuerteventura into the river. I kept it this time

[MaggieDog]

I'm always looking for cool harnesses, but I can never find one that I like enough to buy lol - Maggie is oddly proportioned or something so I'm hesitant to buy harnesses online since some might chafe and then you have to go through the hassle of returning the harness. Here's several I think look pretty awesome though.

 

This one can be purchased alone or with a back pack attachment and looks nicely padded and washable:

http://www.gearfordogs.com/Merchant2/merch...oduct_Code=403N

 

This backpack has a built in harness that can be used alone if you take off the packs - it looks esp good for times when dogs need to be lifted over things or when you want a bit more visibility (the harness alone comes in red or yellow as well as black):

http://www.ruffwear.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.13/it.A/id.810/.f

 

This is one I'm seriously considering for rollerblading w/ Maggie:

http://alpineoutfitters.net/Secure/Scripts...p?idproduct=155

 

Maggie currently has a regular walking harness, but it is too big so it slips around a lot - I got a size up so she would have the wider straps but in the process the fron pieces don't adjust down far enough.

[nancy]

Try this site:

http://www.lupinepet.com/

 

My brother, who lives near their physical site, swears by them for all his dog. From the current huskies to one whose breed was "brown".

 

Fergie wears one of their collars when she needs a collar. it doesn't run or sag in any kind of water.

[Kitch]

Kerry - how the h*ll do you get rid of those rocks when you have too many?

Uh...you can have too many...?

 

I have most of the really cool ones as decorations around my house. I have a large pair of igneous and garnet that make excellent bookends - I swear they look like a matched set. (That was one very heavy backpack that trip) and a lot of the smaller ones I have scattered throughout the house. I also have some saved that I am going to use in the stone wall I want to build in my backyard and a lot of the less spectacular ones seem to randomly disappear somehow...

[sandra s.]

Thanks for all the tips! I'm keeping all these links in case I can't find the right thing here (which is pretty likely).

 

Originally posted by MaggieDog:

Maggie is oddly proportioned or something so I'm hesitant to buy harnesses online since some might chafe and then you have to go through the hassle of returning the harness.

Don't I know it! Kessie is somewhere in between sizes so the buckles somehow ALWAYS end up in her armpits. And that is the one place where we really don't need them!

Besides, her narrow shoulders invite the da*n things to slide sideways.

I really like the one you're thinking of getting for Maggie, because it is padded in all the right places.

 

No, you can't have too many rocks (only too little space!), but you can have far too many rocks of the same kind . Mine do not disappear, I still have some gloriously boring carbonate chunks from the time when I thought that the tiny calcite veins in them were almost as good as the huge quartz crystals in the museums.

A rock wall! Now there's a grand idea! Pity we don't have a garden.

[silhouettestable]

Anyone looking for various types of harness could try going to www.sleddogcentral.com From there you can link to equipment and supplies and you will find a list of places to order different types of harness. I've personally had great luck with harness I've ordered from AKKO Sports in Quebec (www.akkosports.com) I sent her measurements of my dogs and she made sure I got the properly sized harness. She was great to deal with and it was easy to exchange one that didn't fit right (my fault, not hers - I thought that Noah would fit into the 75-90 pound harness, because that "used" to be his weight range. Instead, because of his size and the amount of fur, we ended up going with a 105 pounds+ size. I first came across AKKO when I was searching for a certain style of harness for our great dane. I wanted to teach him to sled, but didn't want the usual x-back racing harness because I thought that due to his height it might create downward pressure over his hips. Akko had a style with 2 lines that attach one on each side rather than a tug loop at the base of the tail.

[sandra s.]

Thanks, that's a lot of links! I've already seen quite a few that look like they'd do the job, and I'm not even halfway through the list yet!