are you thinking about getting a harness for your dog but you aren't quite sure which style fit and function you want for your pooch I'm Mikkel Becker and I'm going to help you choose the right harness for your dog body harnesses are a great tool because they give you more control and locks while being comfortable for your dog with the right harness most dogs will just send no time here's a breakdown of the three basic types of harnesses on the market right now first the back lip harness this has a ring or rings the leash clips you on top of the dog's back for many dogs this is the easiest type of harness for them to get used to and best of all back lip harnesses keep the leash from tingly this type of harness is especially useful for dogs that maybe like to pull on leash but have easily damaged throats or the brachiocephalic breeds my two pugs although I use a collar on them for ID tags I like to take them out for walks on harnesses I've used both the back clip harnesses and the front clip harnesses and this is the front clip harness front clip harnesses give you more control than the traditional flat collars or back clip harnesses this is a great type of harness that clips in the front of the dog's chest this is really good for those dogs that like to pull on leash or if you have a reactive or fearful dog you can easily move them around to facing towards you or turn away from something that's potentially scary I use these all the time in my fearful or reactive dog classes because it's a great non-harmful very gentle way to easily redirect your dog's attention and hinder them from pulling if they're a big puller if you need even more control on locks there's a third option I recommend for those really really determined pullers this is a tightening harness and it adds a little bit of pressure when the dog pulls the slight tightening can be mildly uncomfortable for your dog and help to gently hinder pulling watch out though because there are some harnesses that hinder pulling and stop jumping but they can be very uncomfortable for your pet and actually restrict their leg movement look for one that only tightens to a very small fixed degree such as this one there are some though that will cause the legs to not be able to move as freely or they cause a really sharp pain under two the dogs such as right under their legs or on their stomach really avoid those it's very uncomfortable it causes pain for the dog and also can give your dog a negative association with the environment or whatever's going on around them when they're wearing it when I'm fitting a harness to a dog I like to make sure that the dog can freely move and it's not rubbing anywhere on their chest or underneath their legs and actually I've seen that happen quite often where the dog has a rough spot under the other leg because the harness was too tight or was ill adjusted so really pay careful attention to that with your pet a general rule of thumb and what I like to go by is being able to easily slip two fingers through their harness and that way it's comfortable for them to move in most suggs adjusts easily to a harness but there are some dogs who are fearful of it being clipped having it put on over their head or having it taken off for that reason it's really important for any dog with fear or hesitation with the harness to make it a positive for them a lot of times what I like to do is do the buckling so the clipping of the harness and pairing it with a reward for the dog so the sound actually means something really good happens another thing that I like to do with dogs they're a little bit hesitant with our harness is teach him to willingly put their head through the harness themselves you can do that with the food lure move through the harness so the dog naturally moves through also another thing you may want to think about is giving your dog a predictability cue so for those dogs are a little bit hesitant I like to say the word harness and then I move the harness on over them and they get that nice reward so that way the dog predictably knows what's going to happen after you say the word and its associated with something really great happening you can also think about doing the same thing when you're clipping the harness so you can see the word clip and then clip the harness and reward your dog believe it or not just the dog knowing what's going to happen after you say that word because it's happened so many times and it's associated with something great helps take away their anxiety and helps them to be more calm about the situation if you need some extra guidance on how to find the right type of harness or how to fit your harness on your dog talk to your veterinarian or a positive reinforcement trainer now remember every dog learns that his or her own pace if you want more information on how you can train your dog go to vet Street comm