Collar/Halter for dog with small head?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Yes, the Celtling has a new dog. He is a rescue, found by an old friend in Beltimore and came home with us last weekend. Yes, I know pictures are required, but I can’t find the friggin’ camera and haven’t had time for it this week. I’ll ge them up soon, I promise! :wink:

He’s a cutie and a half, part poodle part some terrier, with a black curly poodle coat. When found, he had dreadlocks dragging the ground, but now he’s looking lovely with a simple puppy cut.

He’s about 1.5 years,a nd 15-20 pounds. Very smart - he’s training faster than I could have hoped, and very eager to please. I suspect he’s been trained before and this is just a refresher for him.

Here’s the trouble: He has a thick neck and a small head. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to restrain such a dog, but he can get out of just about everything man has devised for the purpose. If they sell it at PetSmart, we’ve already tried it and he got out in a flash. The sporn, the illusion, the regular collar, the seatbelt halter and the “squeeze” halter - none of it worked.

He’s going in soon for the Big Snip and micro-chipping is also in the plan, as he’s quite the little Houdini. He’s even figured out that if he stops pulling he gets more slack and then he can slip out backwards. Oh Lordy. I did say I wanted an intelligent dog, didn’t I. :smack:

Need advice/ideas for how to hold him on a lead? He is fairly obedient, and comes when called, but slips the lead if my attention strays for even a second. Had a real scare in the parking lot of a large park yesterday, thank goodness he came when I called him. If a bunny or a squirrel had gone by though, I shudder to think.

Thank for any help or ideas you may have!

2

I’ve got a pug that I prefer not to put into a collar. He can slip out of some harnesses but hasn’t gotten out of the Yap Brand ones. I got the Techno Yap Harness and also the Yap Wrap harness.

I’d recommend the Techno as the Wrap is just closed with velcro and the security of velcro when stuff gets into it can get lowered. Here’s a picture of him in the Techno. The only problem I’ve found is that it can look kinda grungy when it gets dirty. Otherwise, if the straps are secured he’s in there for good. They’re also on the pricier side and only available from the store in San Francisco, but I bought one in the store and then ordered one online later. I had to return for exchange the online one as the size wasn’t right and they got me a new one really quickly.

3

We had a pug, a breed notorious for having thick necks and little pin-heads. She could slip out of a collar quite easily. So, if we wanted to take her somewhere on a leash, we put her in a harness that fit around her neck, chest, and shoulders, like this one. The D-ring to attach the leash is in the middle of her back. As long as we had it properly fitted, she never slipped out of it.

Wearing a harness enables a dog that pulls to pull harder, since they don’t get choked the way they do if they pull against a collar, but with a small dog that’s not a big deal. After an outing or two, the dog will get just as excited about seeing the harness as he does about seeing the leash: “Yay, walkies!”

4

We have greyhounds and a whippet, both known for wide neck and small heads - the collar of choice is the Martingale.

5

OMG can this little guy pull! I think he could pull a sled if we had one! But he’s learning not to, and has really been much better fter only a few lessons.

We have tried the halter liek that, and also one with a Martingale-type double ring that would squeeze tight if he pulled. As I said, he just figured out that if he stopped pulling it woudl relax and he could slip out backwards.

Did I mention that he also has narrow shoulders? They appear to be double jointed too. :rolleyes:

The jacket harness that St. Pauler linked looks intriguing. After 6 tries and $147, it’ll be cheap if it works. :wink:

6

As others are saying, you need a harness, not a collar. Since he’s got long hair, you probably want a simple leather harness.

7

Ah. In that case, I’d go with something cheaper than a harness: a prong collar. Very important: only put it on your dog when you’re going out with him on the leash. You don’t want to leave a prong collar on an unsupervised animal; that’s how tragedies start.

Buy one slightly bigger than you need and remove a link or two to make it fit snugly. There’s no slipping out of it due to the Martingale loop. A corrective tug by you tightens the loop, which to your dog feels like his mom’s teeth on his neck, the same way he was corrected as a puppy. Before you know it, you’ll be walking him on a loose leash.

8

No offense, but I’d hesitate to take advice on how much force to apply to my dog’s neck from someone calling himself Max Torque.

:dubious:

9

LOL! I was just coming to point that out!

For clarity, types of collars:

As far as the pulling, he’s learning to heel, I’m not looking to the collar to correct that, it’s just a training point. I reluctantly* tried the chain link and Martingale collars, as I said above he quickly figured out that if just stepped toward the leash, then it would loosen and he could loop his paw up and slip it. The fargin’ little bastid! :wink:

Seriously, it’s lucky he’s so cute!

  • Having raised Huskies, I’m accustomed to dogs who would just happily choke themselves.
10

I have a ori-pei so he has the small pug head with the thick neck and lots of skin and wrinkles around the neck.
The wrinkles were great when my nieces pit bull attacked him, not so great for walking him.
A regular harness works for him, no matter which way he pulls. I keep the part around his ribcage behind his legs pretty snug. It’s not going anywhere no matter how hard or which was he pulls.

Congrats on the new pup!