In this article, we are going to talk about what I believe an Easy Walk Dog Harness means. We will analyze different types of dog harnesses and their main features until we reach my recommendation and justification for what we believe is the best harness or tool for walking your dog.
So, let’s start with high-energy dogs. These are the ones who just don’t know how or don’t want to simply walk! They need to run full speed or jump around to feel happy and burn off their energy. Nowadays, some people avoid walking their dogs because it turns into a struggle, with pulling and tugging instead of the relaxing walks they want.
For these cases, I have some recommendations that I’m sure will be very useful to you. How do I know they’ll be useful? Well, I have a Belgian Malinois! (his name is Olaf) Yes, the dog breed with limitless energy! Believe me, I tried many things with him, but with that dog’s unlimited energy, it was impossible to have a simple, peaceful walk with him.
What did I do?
Well, the first thing was to identify what things or toys caught his attention, and I realized that he loves tennis balls, frisbees, running, and jumping! So the first thing I did was satisfy his need to burn off his accumulated energy. I noticed that if I could meet his natural dog needs, he quickly began to cooperate with me, avoiding pulling and giving me relaxing walks.
How did I do it?
It was quite a journey. The first challenge to using a ball or frisbee was getting to the park! So, the first thing I did was use a dog backpack with weights, filled with water bottles, so my Malinois would feel the challenge of carrying weight and reduce his pulling. And it worked! His pulling became much less intense. The second thing I did was use a double choke collar for extra control over the dog, and it also worked! His pulling reduced by about 50%, which helped me gain better control over the dog while teaching him to walk with me using specific commands.
It’s important to note that both the backpack and the double collar were only for getting to the park. Once at the park, we started playing with the dog, the tennis ball, and the frisbee—the typical fetch game—to drain his accumulated energy. After some time, and observing his energy level, I used the third tool: the Dog Harness!
By this step, my dog began to walk beside me almost automatically and practically without a leash. You might say, of course, he was tired! And yes! He was tired, but with practice, he came to associate that the third step of his daily walk means walking beside me since this is the most common way dogs learn—through association and routines.
Let me summarize it for you:
- Toy or object: Identify which toy or object your dog likes to help drain his energy.
- Backpack and Collar: A bit of weight and a quality collar can greatly help familiarize your dog with walking beside you.
- Tire him out by running: Try playing fetch with him.
- Dog Harness: In our case, we used a harness, but you could use the collar and backpack again.
Now, you might have a dog that doesn’t like the ball or frisbee as much as my Malinois. Don’t worry, there are options for you too. For example, my Boxer (Figo) doesn’t like any toy, balls, bones, frisbees, nothing, absolutely NOTHING. But I noticed he loves to run at full speed, so to match his speed, I used a bicycle—Biking.
Biking with your Dog
Biking is nothing more than riding your bike with your dog. Hopefully, you have a bike available! And if you don’t have one or don’t know how to ride a bike, don’t worry; I have another recommendation for you later.
The use of the bicycle is to drain his energy and achieve the same result—that the dog can walk calmly beside you. Besides draining the dog’s energy, it also helps us stay in shape.
What did I do?
Well, as I mentioned, I noticed that my Boxer likes to run at full speed. I realized this because if I let the dog loose in the park, he would run wildly without direction, without even stopping to sniff the bushes. Yes, you read that right, without even stopping to sniff the bushes! So, I put on his harness, and we got a hands-free dog leash for the bike.
How did I do it?
I won’t lie; the first time it was a bit complicated to keep him running alongside me, so it was necessary to add a collar and leash to control the direction, like a rein for horses. But once the dog understood and associated the dynamic, we were able to have high-intensity bike training sessions. Now, we reach up to 35km/h. Our dog loves this type of exercise. It’s enough for him to see me pick up the bike for him to start getting excited and jumping without stopping, and the best part is that we both stay in shape with this type of activity.
It’s very important that if you decide on this type of activity, you choose high-quality dog equipment that keeps your pet safe, comfortable and protected at all times, as this is a much more physically and energetically demanding activity. You can check out our products, the same ones we use with our dogs; we’ll leave the links at the end of this article.
After a few laps in the park or the place of your choice, you’ll see that when you get off the bike, your dog will be much more relaxed and ready to walk calmly beside you.
As we mentioned earlier, I’ll give you an extra recommendation if you don’t have or don’t know how to use a bike.
Dog Weight Pulling Harness
The other technique I use to have calm walks with our Boxer is using a weight-pulling harness. This harness basically allows you to walk beside your dog while he pulls a bit of weight, which greatly helps prevent the dog from pulling you.
Many people often think these types of techniques are animal cruelty, and maybe it could be in some cases where the dog is forced to pull hundreds of pounds! But in this case, it’s about adding just a little weight; I usually use a tire, just so the dog can drain his accumulated energy and stay in shape.
Think about how sled dogs carry heavy loads for hundreds of kilometers, while you and your dog will only walk a couple of kilometers. You’re training your dog and keeping him in good physical and muscular condition at the same time. I’ll talk about the benefits of this practice for your dog in another article.
Dog Walking Harness
I’ve already told you what I did to have easy walks with my dogs. Now, let’s dive into what many brands call a Dog Walking Harness. I’ve reviewed many of the brands and types of harnesses available on the market, and I’ve concluded that most brands associate easy walk harnesses with restrictive walk harnesses.
How so? Well, I realized a long time ago that most walking harnesses restrict the natural movement of dogs, either by crossing a horizontal band across the dog’s chest or by adding a ring at the front of the dog’s chest. Let’s break down both cases:
Horizontal Band Harness:
It basically consists of a horizontal band placed from side to side across your dog’s front legs. This feature allows for an “Easy Walk” because it restricts your dog’s natural movement.
If you put it in perspective, try walking with a band tied around your legs that prevents you from fully spreading your legs as you normally would while walking. This, besides being uncomfortable for your dog, could be painful in the long run since these harnesses typically put pressure directly on your dog’s shoulders and joints.
As you can see in the image, the harness isn’t even properly placed on the dog’s shoulders. This is because the natural movement of the front legs tends to push the band upwards, confirming what I described above—this type of harness restricts your dog’s natural movement.
For these reasons, I do not recommend this type of harness. It might be your perfect Easy Walk Harness for calm walks, but it wouldn’t be the most comfortable for your dog.
Front Ring Harness:
A front ring harness, also commonly called a NO Pull dog harness, basically consists of a tool that tries to help the dog stop pulling the leash while walking. This is achieved because the leash is attached to the front, on the dog’s chest, allowing you to change direction drastically by pulling the dog in the opposite direction of where he’s pulling.
This is probably one of the most popular harnesses by people with dogs, but no one talks about the risks of using this type of harness.
While we believe that every dog is different and that sometimes it’s necessary to use different tools or techniques to train and understand them, just as I described above for my Boxer and Malinois, we also believe it’s necessary for you to know the risks of a no-pull harness, especially if used on very young or very old dogs. This is because young dogs often don’t have fully developed joints, or in very old dogs, where their joints may already be worn out.
To be more explicit, please watch the video we’ve included below. I think this will make it easier to explain what I described above.
As you can see in the video, it’s very difficult for a person to go against their natural movements, and it’s exactly the same for a dog. Trying to restrict their natural movement may give you an easy walk harness, but for your dog, it could become an unpleasant routine.
Attention, I’m not saying these types of harnesses are all bad. I’m just making it clear what risks you could face when using this type of harness with your dog, with the aim of helping you make an informed decision and really know what’s best for your peace of mind and your dog’s well-being.
In my case, I prefer using the techniques I mentioned above, along with a harness that doesn’t restrict my dogs’ natural movement and is also very comfortable and durable.
I know finding a comfortable and durable harness is very difficult. There are many options on the market, but most are of very poor quality or poorly designed.
Let’s be honest, there are many phantom companies that make dog products without even having a single dog at home. This results in poorly designed and manufactured dog equipment of terrible quality.
For this reason, years ago I set out to design and manufacture my own equipment for my dogs, which is now available to you.
So, if you’d like to get a good harness or collar of proven quality, you can check out the options we have at KnK Dog Supplies. This equipment was designed by my father and me to guide our dogs, and we’re sure it can help you too.
Click here to see our Dog Collar
Click here to see our Dog Harness
We hope all the information presented here is useful for you and your pet, and that in one way or another, you manage to have happy walks with your dog! Remember, no tool is entirely bad; it’s just important to be informed to know how and when to use these tools and equipment. If you have any questions or doubts, don’t hesitate to contact us via email, and we’ll gladly do everything possible to help or guide you.