I walk my two dogs twice a day. When I wake up in the morning, the very first thing I do is put on something resembling clothes, shoes, and take them for their walk. We stumble out the door and wake up as we go. I walk them again pretty late at night, around 8:30 (although one of them starts bugging me around 6 p.m., “Is it time? Is it time? I think it’s time!”), as it’s too hot to go out much earlier.
What I had been doing was putting on their harnesses in the morning, walking them, leaving the harnesses on all day, then walking them at night, and taking the harnesses off at the end of the day.
I just got this dog harness for each of the dogs. The fabric is sort of aerated and softer than their old nylon harnesses. The harness not tight or anything, and neither dog seems to mind it or be bothered by it at all.
My question: do y’all think it’s okay just to leave these harnesses on them all the time?
Of course the have their collars with rabies tags and a tag with my name and phone number and these I do leave on all the time.
Getting the dogs “dressed” in the morning before their walk when I’m barely awake and they’re both jumping up and down from excitement is a minor ordeal. They stick their legs through the wrong holes, the harness gets twisted, I wind up putting it on backwards, etc. The past couple of days, I’ve been leaving them in the harnesses all night, and it’s so much easier just to get up, get myself dressed, snap on the leashes, trip over the kitten, and stumble out the door.
Maybe reverse what you’ve been doing? Put the harnesses on before the evening walk then take them off after the morning walk? Then they still get some time with it off, but you’re fully awake when you’re putting it on.
I keep a walking harness on Dammit Sally almost all the time. It’s a pain to fasten and she doesn’t seem to mind at all. The other dogs are easier to control on-leash so they just wear collars, unless they seem to be rubbing or something.
Thanks for that. Since I moved to the city, I worry about one of the dogs pulling out of his/her collar while on a walk. That’s why I got the harnesses. The nylon ones were very stiff. These new ones are soft like a t-shirt.
I guess I want to do the equivalent of leaving your toddler in clothes all the time to avoid the hassle of dressing him. Hehe.
Your dog’s name reminds me of a friend’s cat (of blessed memory) who started out with the name Mickey, but eventually and forever after was “Mickey, No!”
Yep, I think if it starts bothering the dogs they’ll let you know. They’ll bite and scratch at them if they’re irritating. I’d also not put them on too tight as to restrict breathing or stretching out.
Dammit Sally’s full name is “Dammit Sally Get Off the Kitchen Table You Crazy Woman!”. But we try to be informal.
Reminds me of when my kindergarten son came home and said he’d learned a song about our dog in music: “Hey get out the way for ol’ Damn Tucker, he’s too late to get his supper, supper’s over and dinner’s cookin’, ol’ Damn Tucker just stand there lookin’!”
