I listened to what Taryn and Rebecca suggested and when the husband and I took the girls hiking Friday, we had Dally wear her harness. We had to keep the pups on a leash for the first part of the trail, but Dally trotted along just fine with the harness on--she was so excited just to be out some place new (well, it wasn't brand new to us, it'd just been a while since we had been there). Once we took the leashes off, both girls ran around just fine--Dally didn't once hesitate with the harness on.
(As you can see from our Instagram video:)
Since then we've been going on walks daily with the harness. I have learned that Dally is a creature of habit and feels "naked" if she's not wearing her collar and, thus, will not walk far from the house without it on. So, when we go for walks, her collar is on and so is her harness, but the leash is attached to the harness. There's only bee a few times that she's really acted like she would not walk with the harness on and I've narrowed it down to a few things: it might be "too tight" for her (must not mess up her "plush" coat, as Merinda calls it), it might have moved forward so the girth strap is under her arm pits, and/or I pulled her forward with it.
Don't they look cute in their matching harnesses? |
I stated that I would win this battle, and I think I actually have--and much faster than I thought I would. However, I don't believe we're 100% cured. After all, it's a Corgi's prerogative to keep their humans on their toes.
Jimmy doesn't like to go out for his bedtime walk when it is dark out. He's afraid someone will light off a firecracker. So I have to put his harness/leash on in the house and walk him out. Even then, he still won't go, and I'll pull him and his dog bed to the door :-) Fortunately he's never held it against the harness. Oh, and John calls the harness Jimmy's bra :-)
ReplyDeleteSo happy to hear that for now you've won the battle. No dog that I've ever walked on a harness has liked being pulled from ahead.
ReplyDelete