[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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