[nagdu] Review: On The Go Sport Harness

Buddy Brannan buddy at brannan.name
Sun Jun 7 19:33:14 UTC 2009


Hi all,

Just in case anyone was thinking about buying one of these, I'm  
throwing this review together.

Back in February, I ordered an On The Go harness from Julie Johnson.  
As these are individually made and she had some backlog, it took some  
time to arrive, but arrive it did, and I've had my new harness for  
about three weeks now. That should be plenty of time to give it a fair  
evaluation, I thought.

First, if you didn't already know, Julie has sold livingblind.com and,  
separately, her harness making business. These harnesses, now from  
Pawpower Creations, can be purchased from (interestingly enough)  
Pawpower Creations. Email pawpower at cox.net for latest info and pricing.

Find information on these at:
http://www.livingblind.com/guide-dog-harness.html

So what's the deal with these harnesses, anyway?

First, to avoid confusion, I will henceforth refer to the harness  
company by its new name. Meaning no slight to Julie and her excellent  
work, naturally.

Pawpower Creations harnesses are a great alternative for the owner  
trainer or anyone who, for whatever reason, wants another harness than  
the one the school provides. Some people just want a generic harness  
with no school names on it. Others want features that their school  
harnesses do not provide. Others may want a harness that's easy to  
clean and care for. In all these cases, the Pawpower Creations  
harnesses fill the bill nicely. Being made of nylon instead of  
leather, they are easy to clean (machine washable, I'm told), and   
lightweight. Take them to the beach and get them all wet and icky and  
it isn't really a problem. Moreover, the harness is made to fit your  
dog with measurements you provide as instructed on the harness Web  
page. Also, and my main reason for buying, the handle is easily  
removable. No more wrenches! You see, I've been wanting an easy to  
remove handle for ages. It's especially been a problem with Chet. I  
have two harnesses from my school, and both of them, from getting in  
and out of cars and getting stuck or bumped or whatever under the dash  
of too many cars, have the leather coming unstitched and raggedy  
lookin'. This is a problem, since the handle sticks out roughly  
another inch off Chet's rear end. So I really wanted something I could  
pop off easily without removing the whole harness.

Also, they are inexpensive, costing around $100 for one with all the  
extras (extra padding and reflective tape).

Description:

I chose the sport harness. I understand this is a more european  
design. Unlike the traditional American harness, the handle does not  
pass through loops on the back, instead moving freely. This can be a  
disadvantage if you're not careful. The handle can literally swing  
over your dog's nose! Not in the course of regular work you  
understand, but it really does have complete freedom of movement. You  
could, potentially, more easily overstep your dog, but by then you  
would notice your handle at a very odd angle. Anyway, the handle  
attaches pretty well right at the dog's shoulders. Where the harness  
you're used to has a strap that goes around your dog's middle with  
another one going from there all the way around his chest and perhaps  
a martingale coming off that down between his front legs, this sport  
harness has the girth strap around the dog as you would expect, but  
then has two straps coming off the back strap, over the dog's  
shoulders, meeting then in the middle of the dog's chest with the  
martingale between his front legs, in the shape of a print letter Y.  
The handle attaches to these two straps by means of plastic backpck  
fasteners, the sort of thing that snaps together and that you squeeze  
to release. A similar fastener buckles the harness closed.

Going For A Walk

Putting the harness on goes about as you might expect, with one small  
bit of challenge. Since there are no loops to hold the handle down,  
you'd better keep ahold of it along with the back strap as you put the  
harness on, or you could turn it inside out! This isn't a huge deal,  
since it just flips right way round again very easily, but it is  
something to be aware of. You put it on as one would expect, by  
putting your dog's head through the open part of the Y, then threading  
the girth strap through the martingale and snapping shut on the right  
side of the dog. You'll note that the shoulder straps fit nicely over  
your dog's shoulders. Some adjustment of the martingale and girth  
straps may be necessary. Both are threaded through a buckle, and feel  
a bit stiff. That's OK, though; once they're adjusted, they'll pretty  
much stay put. Remember that these buckles make the straps infinitely  
adjustable; there are no holes, so you really can make the adjustments  
very fine if you need to and they should stay put. The handle lays  
flat along your dog's back. At least, right at first. You may find at  
times, depending on how your dog moves sometime or how it's put down,  
that it lolls off to the side, a consequence of the total freedom of  
movement in the handle. I may sound like I don't like this, but really  
I do. having that much freedom of movement also means your dog can  
really make a very tight turn without any real discomfort either to  
you or to him.

Now here's what I really like about this harness. Chet is mostly very  
bored with my neighborhood. This means that, as he walks, he has  
almost no pull. With my school harness, the handle would feel just  
slack and as though we were crawling instead of walking. With this  
harness, you can really feel your dog's shoulders moving as he walks,  
and even with a light pull, you feel a very steady pressure in the  
handle, and it's very easy to detect even the smallest change in  
speed, whether it's more pull or a slackening of speed. I felt that I  
was getting a quicker response and could more easily tell when a  
distraction was coming; feedback felt more immediate. The handle  
always felt "engaged", even with the lightest of pull, instead of  
feeling slack. This was an unexpected and welcome surprise.

Is having a removable handle really that handy? I'd have to say that  
it is. There's nothing like having a handle stick into your shins!  
Nuff said. Just pop the handle off and put it somewhere handy, then  
pop it back on when you get out of the car. No more re-threading  
martingales, and you only need to stick something over your dog's head  
once.

Construction:

These harnesses are very well made. I don't feel like they'll come  
unstitched any time soon. Seams are double stitched and sturdy. I got  
extra padding, which was very nicely stitchd in foam, and I don't  
think it's going anywhere soon. the handle is similarly stitched. It's  
obvious that real care and time were taken to make sure these  
harnesses were put together right the first time. Also, high quality  
buckles and fasteners were used throughout. I don't think we'll be in  
danger of losing a handle clip or something like that, and I don't  
think the adjustments of girth strap or martingale length will slip  
when you don't want them to.

I give this harness a definite 11 out of 10. You really can't go wrong  
with this one if you have a need for a new harness for your guide dog,  
or even just want one. I don't think you'll find one better.




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