A very plain, simple - and good dog harness

[oldtimer]

Here are a couple of pics of a dog harness you can make from one strap of leather, one buckle and 3 rivets. For smaller dogs 1 inch width (7/8 oz) is good , for larger dogs 1 1/2" width (10/12 oz) will be fine. This is a harness often used on tracking dogs for wounded game in Sweden. I have made maybe a hundred of them and the customers are always happy. (I think the dogs are ever more happy with this harness)

Some pics of the harness on my brothers jack Russel "Palle" . This harness will never choke the dog if he pulls hard in the leash.

Good luck / Knut

[frontpost]

Good idea punching the holes at the ends of slits. Looks good.

[NoahL]

Very nice! Do you have any problem with it sliding around or coming loose when you have to pull a dog forward, rather than hold them back?

~Noah

[oldtimer]

Very nice! Do you have any problem with it sliding around or coming loose when you have to pull a dog forward, rather than hold them back?

~Noah

I have never been into that situation, so I can´t give you an honest answer, as I have used this harness on dogs tracking wounded game, and with only a forward gear in mind. But If the harness is correctly adjusted, not too tight or too loose, it should not slip off even when the dog hits the brakes, and you don´t as long as the forelegs are still present on the dog.. It is not sliding around with proper dimensions to the anathomy of the dog The D-ring part can slide from side to side a bit but the rest of the harness stays put. You might give it a try and give a full report here.

I have made this style of harness in 4 different sizes and that will cover most breeds, except the largest and the smallest breeds

/ Knut

Edited September 4, 2009 by oldtimer

[NoahL]

I did make something as close to this as I could without a pattern after seeing it, actually, and I had exactly the problem I described. It worked wonderfully when my dog was pulling (he's just a 40lb basset/lab mix, but he has some STRONG legs), but when he stopped to sniff something and I kept walking, the pull lifted up the portion with the dee-ring and that let the whole harness go slack. I am thinking that the main problem is simply that the dee-ring is behind the area where the harness straps cross? I think I will try turning the dee ring sideways and replace the leather loop with it so that the straps run through the dee instead, and see how that goes.

~Noah

[gary]

I used to make (and still do, when asked) leather harnesses (example in the first photo). The Police Force I worked for had been using leather tracking harnesses for years but decided to go for an 'easy care' harness and chose, for many reasons, a nylon one (second photo).

One problem they had with the leather styles was a problem with forward 'slippage'. I think this was because the harnesses were issued regardless of the size of the dog and, though they were adjustable, it was impossible to make one that would fit all sizes of dog from dainty spaniel to huge GSD.

I made (ashamed as I am to admit it) the nylon harnesses for our dog section and they did seem to work well. However, some of the dog handlers approached me and purchased, privately, custom made harnesses as there was still a 'slippage' problem if they weren't correctly fitted/sized.

And I vastly under-priced the first consignment of harnesses, by the way, but learned my lesson on that one.

Just my thoughts and experiences.

Gary

[oldtimer]

I did make something as close to this as I could without a pattern after seeing it, actually, and I had exactly the problem I described. It worked wonderfully when my dog was pulling (he's just a 40lb basset/lab mix, but he has some STRONG legs), but when he stopped to sniff something and I kept walking, the pull lifted up the portion with the dee-ring and that let the whole harness go slack. I am thinking that the main problem is simply that the dee-ring is behind the area where the harness straps cross? I think I will try turning the dee ring sideways and replace the leather loop with it so that the straps run through the dee instead, and see how that goes.

~Noah

I think that the problem can be solved by trying different measurements of the slits and the non- slitted portions of the harness. Looking forward for a report of your new design.

/ Knut

[NoahL]

I think that the problem can be solved by trying different measurements of the slits and the non- slitted portions of the harness. Looking forward for a report of your new design.

/ Knut

Well, you were correct to a point about changing measurements. Sorry it has taken so long for me to report back--I have been quite busy lately! In any case, I did decrease the size of the slit for the dog's head by several inches, as well as decreasing the non-slitted portion in front of the chest by one inch. That does prevent him from stepping out of the harness if it is pulled forward. Unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem of the back of the harness (section with the dee-ring) pulling up and over his back if you pulled it forward to get him to move with you. To solve that, I actually REMOVED part of the design . I removed the loop on top that the chest straps go through, and simply made the loop around the dee-ring a little more open so that the straps can run through it instead. That seems to have resolved that issue quite well. Here are some crappy pictures

The overall harness, freshly oiled and in bad lighting:

The dee-ring/chest-strap loop (that's a 1.5" dee-ring, my hands aren't really that small):

Thanks for looking!

~Noah

[oldtimer]

I´m glad that you harness construction works now. Thank´s for your report!

/ knut