# Putting Harness on Puppy?



## BeeKay (Jul 11, 2015)

So Ludo will be 12 weeks old tomorrow. I plan to start taking him out for short walks soon just around my neighborhood. We also will be going to puppy playtime this week. I've been trying to get him used to wearing a harness and having the leash on him as well. The thing is, trying to get the harness on him is painful!! Lots of biting and broken skin! I need some advice on how to get the harness on him without pain. When I do finally get it on him he bites at it. He actually got his bottom jaw stuck in the harness at one point from biting it. I've tried treats to lure him away but he's way more interested in the harness. So I need some advice on how to teach this guy how to be still and let me put the harness on and not bite at it the entire time he's wearing it.

Thanks!


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

What type of harness?


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## BeeKay (Jul 11, 2015)

Its a step-in harness I believe with the back clip.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

When I trained Ralphie to wear a backpack I put it on him, buckled it really quick, gave him some treats, and then took it off really quick. I repeated this a few times. He rolled over and stared at it, but no biting, and he learned pretty quickly that the backpack means long walks and lots of treats! I also just let him walk around the house with it for a while. Granted, he was 6 months old at the time and he may have worn a harness at his previous owner's.


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## BeeKay (Jul 11, 2015)

Lillith said:


> When I trained Ralphie to wear a backpack I put it on him, buckled it really quick, gave him some treats, and then took it off really quick. I repeated this a few times. He rolled over and stared at it, but no biting, and he learned pretty quickly that the backpack means long walks and lots of treats! I also just let him walk around the house with it for a while. Granted, he was 6 months old at the time and he may have worn a harness at his previous owner's.


Trying to put it on him results in him biting the crap out of me the entire time. When I finally do get it on him he just bites at it he is more interested in the harness than any treats I have.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

BeeKay said:


> Trying to put it on him results in him biting the crap out of me the entire time. When I finally do get it on him he just bites at it he is more interested in the harness than any treats I have.


Could you wear gloves so his bites don't hurt? I feel like he will probably grow out of biting at the harness and you while you put it on. He might just lose interest once the novelty of the thing is over and begin to associate it with walks. Could you put the harness on, then take him outside and play for a bit so he begins to associate the harness with that life reward?

Would he play with toys or anything while the harness is on, or maybe focus on a toy while you are putting the harness on? Could you put bitter apple spray or something on the harness to discourage him from biting it? Just some other ideas...


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## Life With Atlas (Jan 6, 2008)

I can't help with the actual harness question, because surprisingly Atlas wasn't one to chew on me when I put it on. He also mostly ignored it when it was on, aside from scratching at it or rubbing his belly on the ground (which was pretty cute). 

BUT! Atlas also chewed on me for what seemed like every minute he could possibly manage, so brushing or clipping toenails was a challenge. What I started doing was treating him for responding correctly (not biting me and laying calmly) and it worked extremely quickly. For toenails, I would take his paw and tell him to 'wait' (as it was a command he knew and meant 'pause') and then clip one nail and tell him 'yes!' and treat. He seemed to put together that not biting me and laying calmly meant more treats! He also seemed to quickly understand that once I started he would get more treats, so after the initial 'wait' I very quickly did not have to repeat myself, as he would wait expectantly for me to clip and treat the rest of his paws. (Now I can lay him down, clip an entire paw and then treat and he just hangs out as he knows that is the routine.) I'm just wondering if something like this might work for Ludo - if he's at all treat motivated, anyway.


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## FirstTimeDoggie (Aug 18, 2016)

My puppy did this exact thing! It drove us insane. As soon as we put it on him he would flop over and start gnawing on it. At one point he did some serious damage. Thankfully didn't chew all the way through but he easily could have. I would recommend using a very high value treat when putting it on - something he never gets. We used chunks of chicken hot dogs. One of us would have him sit and then hold the treat over his head while we put it on, treating him heavily if he sat through it without fussing. Then, we would immediately go on our walk, bring the treats, and treat him every time he acted calmly or every time he stopped chewing on the harness. We tried this with his regular treats and no dice. You have to bring out the big guns with persistent problems - if you're asking for something big, the reward has to be even bigger. He eventually got it and honestly I think he would have stopped on his own even without the treating once the novelty wore off. Now he has no reaction to the halter at all, thankfully! It was a huge pain!


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Please stop forcibly wrestling your puppy into the harness. The puppy doesn't like it, and you're just making both the harness and yourself seem scary (when people's hands come near, I have to wear the weird thing that I don't like).

If it is a step-in harness, you can teach him to step into it by himself. If it its an under-buckle harness, you can teach the dog to voluntarily put his head through the head-hole. Kikopup has a good tutorial on how to help your dog like their harness.

I would also work on handling exercises to help your dog get used to and comfortable with being touched/handled. That will make him easier to brush, bathe, groom, medicate, examine, etc.


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## BeeKay (Jul 11, 2015)

Lillith said:


> Could you wear gloves so his bites don't hurt? I feel like he will probably grow out of biting at the harness and you while you put it on. He might just lose interest once the novelty of the thing is over and begin to associate it with walks. Could you put the harness on, then take him outside and play for a bit so he begins to associate the harness with that life reward?
> 
> Would he play with toys or anything while the harness is on, or maybe focus on a toy while you are putting the harness on? Could you put bitter apple spray or something on the harness to discourage him from biting it? Just some other ideas...


He's not biting nearly as much. So I think the novelty is starting to wear off. I may try the bitter apple spray. Thank you! 



Shauni'sMom said:


> I can't help with the actual harness question, because surprisingly Atlas wasn't one to chew on me when I put it on. He also mostly ignored it when it was on, aside from scratching at it or rubbing his belly on the ground (which was pretty cute).
> 
> BUT! Atlas also chewed on me for what seemed like every minute he could possibly manage, so brushing or clipping toenails was a challenge. What I started doing was treating him for responding correctly (not biting me and laying calmly) and it worked extremely quickly. For toenails, I would take his paw and tell him to 'wait' (as it was a command he knew and meant 'pause') and then clip one nail and tell him 'yes!' and treat. He seemed to put together that not biting me and laying calmly meant more treats! He also seemed to quickly understand that once I started he would get more treats, so after the initial 'wait' I very quickly did not have to repeat myself, as he would wait expectantly for me to clip and treat the rest of his paws. (Now I can lay him down, clip an entire paw and then treat and he just hangs out as he knows that is the routine.) I'm just wondering if something like this might work for Ludo - if he's at all treat motivated, anyway.



He also like to bite when I try to clip his toenails! Ludo is very treat motivated! Its so hard to get him to be still. He's got a pretty good leave it but only when it comes to treats lol so I'll be switching his treats with toys for a couple days so he can associate "leave it" with other things besides the treat thats laying on the floor. The novelty of the harness is wearing off a bit, same with the leash. He's beginning to associate the leash and harness with going outside for "walkies" haha. I am still the best chew toy around though.




FirstTimeDoggie said:


> My puppy did this exact thing! It drove us insane. As soon as we put it on him he would flop over and start gnawing on it. At one point he did some serious damage. Thankfully didn't chew all the way through but he easily could have. I would recommend using a very high value treat when putting it on - something he never gets. We used chunks of chicken hot dogs. One of us would have him sit and then hold the treat over his head while we put it on, treating him heavily if he sat through it without fussing. Then, we would immediately go on our walk, bring the treats, and treat him every time he acted calmly or every time he stopped chewing on the harness. We tried this with his regular treats and no dice. You have to bring out the big guns with persistent problems - if you're asking for something big, the reward has to be even bigger. He eventually got it and honestly I think he would have stopped on his own even without the treating once the novelty wore off. Now he has no reaction to the halter at all, thankfully! It was a huge pain!


Its just me! So I'm not sure I'll be able to hold the treat over his head and put on the harness haha. But thankfully, the novelty of it is starting to wear off.


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## Life With Atlas (Jan 6, 2008)

> He also like to bite when I try to clip his toenails! Ludo is very treat motivated! Its so hard to get him to be still. He's got a pretty good leave it but only when it comes to treats lol so I'll be switching his treats with toys for a couple days so he can associate "leave it" with other things besides the treat thats laying on the floor. The novelty of the harness is wearing off a bit, same with the leash. He's beginning to associate the leash and harness with going outside for "walkies" haha. I am still the best chew toy around though.


I'm glad to hear you're getting improvement with the harness!  I think if you can get him to associate 'leave it' with any object you will probably have an easier time with his toenails too. And all it seems to take is them realizing they get treats for sitting still and it progresses very quickly! 

I'd love to touch on the 'wait' command very quickly - you can totally tune me out if you are already doing this or aren't interested, lol. I think a command like that is almost invaluable. Because Atlas has been taught to wait every time I open the car door (sometimes I release him as soon as the door is open, sometimes we sit for a minute) I really don't have to worry when I open the door in a parking lot about him bailing out into traffic. (Not saying I haven't had to catch him and toss him back into the car with an extra firm 'wait' command a few times - but he seemed to learn quickly!) I can also use this command for doorways or any other place I need him to just pause and hang out for a minute while I deal with something. The probably best use is when we are doing off leash walks and he has gotten far enough ahead - he will literally stop and wait for me to catch up. (My parents dog will often circle back to us with her 'wait up' command.) This is awesome for when you're coming up to an intersection/road. This is also why it was a good command to use when working on his toenails - he figured out to stop and it allowed me to do what I needed to do in order to be able to treat him accordingly. (Though I agree the 'leave it' command could achieve the same thing. Atlas had to learn that one almost before I could teach him 'sit' he was so food motivated!)


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## BeeKay (Jul 11, 2015)

Shauni'sMom said:


> I'm glad to hear you're getting improvement with the harness!  I think if you can get him to associate 'leave it' with any object you will probably have an easier time with his toenails too. And all it seems to take is them realizing they get treats for sitting still and it progresses very quickly!
> 
> I'd love to touch on the 'wait' command very quickly - you can totally tune me out if you are already doing this or aren't interested, lol. I think a command like that is almost invaluable. Because Atlas has been taught to wait every time I open the car door (sometimes I release him as soon as the door is open, sometimes we sit for a minute) I really don't have to worry when I open the door in a parking lot about him bailing out into traffic. (Not saying I haven't had to catch him and toss him back into the car with an extra firm 'wait' command a few times - but he seemed to learn quickly!) I can also use this command for doorways or any other place I need him to just pause and hang out for a minute while I deal with something. The probably best use is when we are doing off leash walks and he has gotten far enough ahead - he will literally stop and wait for me to catch up. (My parents dog will often circle back to us with her 'wait up' command.) This is awesome for when you're coming up to an intersection/road. This is also why it was a good command to use when working on his toenails - he figured out to stop and it allowed me to do what I needed to do in order to be able to treat him accordingly. (Though I agree the 'leave it' command could achieve the same thing. Atlas had to learn that one almost before I could teach him 'sit' he was so food motivated!)


No, that's great advice! I make him sit before he comes inside, goes outside, gets his food and stuff but I haven't been using a "wait" command. I'll be adding that in today!


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