# X-Back Harnesses By Keechak, for herding dogs?



## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Well I made my first two harnesses tonight, one for Jet the Australian Shepherd and one for Strauss the German Shepherd. No I am not limited to herding dogs lol. They turned out very well. I modled them off of Hawkeye's Alpine Outfitters harness, and used the dogs themselves to measure everything. both Jet and Strauss were getting a little confused about why they had to keep putting on and taking off the harness lol

here they are, Jet's is the orange one and Strauss' is the blue one.

Top view









Side view, notice the difference in length for the different body structures.









The chest area









The padding is made of Polar Fleece. Here Jet is modling the "X" pattern on the back.









More


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Jet









Strauss









Strauss testing out his harness by pulling Jet's owner on my sled


















Done.


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## Hiaja (Aug 15, 2008)

I hope it's okay that I posted some of these pics on my blog. If it's not let me know and I'll delet them.


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## nekomi (May 21, 2008)

Oh wow, they look terrific!!!! You're making me want to make my own harnesses now too! Would you mind sharing where you found the nylon and Polartec? And what kind of thread you used to make sure its durable? They look amazing!


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## Blizzard (Jan 18, 2009)

They look awesome!


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## Darkmoon (Mar 12, 2007)

Hey Keechak, I think you need to add a Pit Bull to your list of Harness owners *hint hint*


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Hiaja said:


> I hope it's okay that I posted some of these pics on my blog. If it's not let me know and I'll delet them.


Yep thats just fine!



nekomi said:


> Oh wow, they look terrific!!!! You're making me want to make my own harnesses now too! Would you mind sharing where you found the nylon and Polartec? And what kind of thread you used to make sure its durable? They look amazing!


I got the Nylon webbing at Walmart $1 a yard, for Strauss I needed about 6 yards to work with with about a foot an a half left over as scaps. The Polar Fleece was baught in the clerance dept of a fabric store for 6.99 a yard, needed about one yard for both harnesses. The thread is normal fabric thread, double stitched and cross stitched to hold tight, I will let you know if it ever breaks but Kechara's harness is also made with the same stitching and hers has never had a problem (made by a different person). I woud obviously not recommend these for anyone planning on doing the Iditarod, but I will still put my money on them holding up just fine especially when we tested it on Strauss pulling over 100 pounds.



Darkmoon said:


> Hey Keechak, I think you need to add a Pit Bull to your list of Harness owners *hint hint*


If I would make one for him it would be experimental, I've never made harness for a dog I couldn't physically measure.


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## acl1209 (Dec 29, 2009)

Very nice work! Your dogs are beautiful!


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## BooLette (Jul 11, 2009)

You are *AWESOME!* I always wished that I had some sort of creative bone in my body, but I don't. 

They look like harnesses made by a manufacturer. Have you ever thought of selling them?


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

BooLette said:


> You are *AWESOME!* I always wished that I had some sort of creative bone in my body, but I don't.
> 
> They look like harnesses made by a manufacturer. Have you ever thought of selling them?


Yes I have thought of selling them, but I want to test these two out a lot more before selling them to anyone. The nice thing about X-back harnesses is that one harness can usually fit a 10 pound range pretty good. Like Jet's harness, Jet weighs 62 pounds, his harness could probably fit a similar body structure between 55-65 pounds. So they don't have to be custom fitted for all dogs.

My problem right now is I am very limited in what materials I can use because I have a standard sewing machine. I don't think it could sew thru the heavyer grade webbing or use the heavyer grade thread.


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## Nargle (Oct 1, 2007)

I agree with Nekomi, this is inspiring Keechak, lol! Those harnesses look REALLY sharp! I don't really have any use for an X-back harness, but I've been wanting to try carting with Basil, and I've been thinking about building my own cart and harness for Basil  

So did you just base the pattern on Kechara's harness, or do you have a pattern book/did you google the pattern? I'm curious about where I can find a pattern for a carting harness


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## Inga (Jun 16, 2007)

So very cool! Have you had any Rottie models? ha ha


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

I actually based the pattern off of Hawkeye's harness, Kechara's harness is a single chested with limited padding, Hawkeye's has the double chested like I did here with padding that goes all the way up the sides for added comfort



Inga said:


> So very cool! Have you had any Rottie models? ha ha


...not yet


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## Hammerdog (Dec 28, 2009)

Nice work Keechak.
Your doggies will be all too happy to go out and use them now.

Mike


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Hammerdog said:


> Nice work Keechak.
> Your doggies will be all too happy to go out and use them now.
> 
> Mike


Well they arn't for my dogs but one of the dogs (the black aussie) does run with my Aussies in team for sledding. So we will be trying out his harness soon for that.


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