# Dog-Walking Tips?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walking-tips/626676>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 29, 2012, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walking-tips/626676 "2012-06-29T09:35:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walking-tips/626676/21 "2012-07-02T15:12:13Z")

</div>

> [@Munch](#):
>
> Bullshit. A collar on a straining dog can choke it - a harness does not. In that sense, a harness doesn’t provide any negative feedback that a collar does. “Teach” may not have been the best term to use, but “enable” sure does. And enabling a dog to strain on a leash makes it a hell of a lot harder to train.

:rolleyes:

As soon as any tension is received on the leash from either the collar or the harness, the dog is immediately corrected by the owner, not by letting the dog choke itself. I think it’s best you stay away from dogs and training if you like to go to those extremes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walking-tips/626676/22 "2012-07-02T15:26:37Z")

</div>

Goodness, you love responding to words that aren’t written, don’t you? I guess it doesn’t matter if you put a collar or a harness on a strawman, they both knock it right down.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walking-tips/626676/23 "2012-07-02T15:51:49Z")

</div>

> [@Munch](#):
>
> Goodness, you love responding to words that aren’t written, don’t you? I guess it doesn’t matter if you put a collar or a harness on a strawman, they both knock it right down.

I’m sorry, I meant to say that it’s best that you don’t enable dogs to go to those extremes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walking-tips/626676/24 "2012-07-02T16:36:20Z")

</div>

> [@stpauler](#):
>
> I’m sorry, I meant to say that it’s best that you don’t enable dogs to go to those extremes.

Gotcha - that makes perfect sense. And while letting it get to either of those extremes is possible (and bad for the dog), owners (in my experience) are far more likely to fall into bad habits with a harness than a collar. A dog hacking and coughing when straining against a collar is more likely to spur an owner to correct the behavior (“oh dear, I need to stop Fluffy from choking herself!”) than a dog straining against a harness (“boy, Fluffy sure does like to pull!”).

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walking-tips/626676.md?page=1)