Buying a Harness for Your Puppy

Buying a Harness for your Puppy?

We believe a well-fitting harness is the safest and most comfortable choice for a puppy who is starting to explore the world and learning to walk nicely on a lead. A good harness distributes any pulling force across a greater area and takes pressure off the neck, spine and eyes.

Puppies can wear a harness from the time you bring them home. But remember that new things can be scary for a puppy so introduce any new gear slowly and at their pace, and reward frequently for any interest shown in a new item.

If you choose to get a harness for your puppy, they may grow out of it fairly quickly depending on their growth rate and breed. You may need to upsize the harness once or twice until they are fully grown and are in their ‘furever harness’ 😊

Aim for something lightweight, that gives them complete freedom of movement as well as a little bit of support, and without any cinching or tightening action – remember that their growth plates are still closing and hardening, so you don’t want to injure your pup or affect their gait with anything restrictive. (Our harnesses tick all these boxes!)

Which harness to choose depends on your pup’s breed, size and age. Our “go-to” harnesses for puppies are Perfect Fit and Blue-9 Balance …

The Perfect Fit modular harness can fit the smallest puppy! It is almost entirely fleece-lined making it super comfortable and its components can be upsized individually as needed, so rather than getting a complete new harness you may only need to replace one component.

The Blue-9 Balance harness has a very large girth size range so it will last your pup for quite a while if they are at the start of the size range. This takes a little bit of pre-planning – pls refer to the size guides or ask us for help. The Blue-9 Balance harness also adjusts in 6 places, making it a great fit on virtually all dogs.

You can consider any of our other brands/styles too. There is no limitation on which one of our harness styles to consider as long as it fits well, has enough adjustment to last a while, and it suits your dog.

If your puppy seems uncomfortable or is not walking freely in their harness please ask us for help. If your puppy suddenly develops unusual behaviours when walking in their harness, please consult a vet first to rule out any illness or pain.

If you are not sure about which harness to get for your puppy, please get in touch with us so we can help you. You are welcome to pop into our fitting studio with your pup, or book a Zoom session or a private fitting.