How Should A Dog Harness Fit? What size is required, how should a dog harness fit, and what kinds of dog harnesses are available? Since there's a lot to sort through, we've highlighted all the important information below.
Getting Your Dog Measured for a Harness
To assist you choose the ideal harness for your dog, the majority of dog harnesses employ three distinct dimensions. Therefore, you must understand the three measures required and how to obtain them in order to purchase the appropriate size harness for your dog.
Their weight is the simplest measurement to get. Although many businesses use this dimension as their size guide, it is not ideal. The issue is that your dog is capable of carrying their weight in many different ways. You must know your dog's weight, though, if the firm utilizes it as a reference.
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What Is the Ideal Dog Harness Tightness?
Wearing a dog harness that is either too tight or too loose is simple. You want your dog harness to fit snugly but not too tightly. A finger test should help you get it correct the first time, even if it's a fine line.
You should only be able to slide one or two fingers—not more—under the harness. This will make sure your dog's harness isn't too tight, but it also won't be too slack so they may slide out of the collar or snag on items as they pass.
Indications the Harness Is Not on Properly
It's easy to miss the mark, because you want the fit to be snug but not too tight. Making errors is rather common, but you must be able to spot them when they occur and how should a dog harness fit.
If your dog can wriggle out of any section of the harness, that's the first clue. It's just too loose, assuming they can. That being said, it's too tight if they're chafing. Chafing may manifest as a loss of fur where the harness rests, or it may manifest as red signs of irritation.
All Three Kinds of Dog Harnesses
There are three primary categories of dog harnesses to consider. This decision will have a significant impact on how you fasten the harness to them, but there is no right or wrong answer.
1. The front clip
You might think about purchasing a front-clip harness if your dog pulls a lot. There is a leash clip on the front of this harness. These kinds of harnesses assist with excessive tugging since they will pull the wearer to the side and away from their intended destination if they attempt to pull.
2. The Top Clip
The most popular kind of dog harness available is most likely the top-clip style. When attaching the leash to the harness's back, you frequently need to attach two different clips.
This kind of harness guarantees that they won't become tangled with the leash, but it doesn't hinder pulling.
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3. Two Clips
You may choose between a front and a top clip on dual-clip harnesses depending on the circumstance. Compared to front and top-clip harnesses, these harnesses are a little more expensive, but they provide greater adaptability.
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What Fits Best in a Dog Harness?
Although I indicated the ideal harness fit in the pictures below, we haven't really tested many harnesses that fit Mia perfectly in every way up to this point. We typically had to make a trade-off, as you will see in the images that follow: if I correctly adjusted the neck straps, the harness was far too near to her armpits; if it allowed space in the armpits, it was much too loose and low around her neck. Unless you have a bespoke harness or one with five or six adjustment points, you will likely have identical and how should a dog harness fit.
Below, we will get more into each of these parts, but first, let's take a broad look at what to think about:
- Shoulders: I used the red Xs to indicate the general location of the shoulder joints in the pictures below. The neck straps should not cover this area if your dog pulls or lunges on the leash.
- The spikey bone that is easily felt on a dog's chest is called the chest bone. The center of the Y or H connector should be on this bone.
- Armpits: You don't require the straps to be too far back, since this puts pressure on soft tissue, but you also want to leave space behind the front legs so the dog may flex their legs freely.
- The chest piece should not be excessively broad above the front legs, nor should it chafe the inside of the front legs.