Friday, January 28, 2011

Balance Disc or Harness?

I'm thinking of ordering a couple of things from Clean Run. Coincidentally, they're all things for Wall-e. The little man needs a lot of stuff :)

Indoor Agility Trial Sounds CD
This will be to help Wall-e overcome his fears of indoor trials. I'm definitely buying this.

There are two other things I want too, but I'm making myself only get one of them ($$!).

FitPAWS Balance Disc
This would be to strengthen Wall-e's knees. I already have an exercise ball, but it's too small for Wall-e, so if I had a disc I could put it on the couch, and have Wall-e stand with two feet on the disc and two feet on the ball.

ComfortFlex Sport Harness
And this would be for Mr. Leash-Puller (a.k.a. Wall-e). I've been trying to train him to keep a loose leash this month, but he really just enjoys his walks more when he pulls. (Even though he pulls, he does still have focus on me during walks; he looks back at me all the time.) He's not a crazy puller, but he often keeps a constant tension on the leash during walks, so I'm a bit concerned about his trachea...that's why a sport harness would be good for him.

So which will it be, the balance disc or the harness? I'm having a tough time deciding.

9 comments:

  1. I bought the comfortflex harness for Tibby last month. It hasn't cut down on pulling at all, so I'm trying to decide on one of those front clasp harnesses. She has great loose leash skills inside, but outside is another thing!

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  2. Ricky is a terrible puller too and he pulls just as hard with a harness but at least he's not choking. I wanted to get him a comfort flex harness but think he falls in-between sizes.

    Can you get one thing now and one thing a little later - like for a birthday or something? Ricky really enjoys working on his egg ball!

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  3. Yep Ricky, my birthday's in April, so I can get the other thing then :) Just wondering what I should get now! Thanks for the input.

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  4. Eva used to pull a lot in the beginning. We got a fleece harness from Lian (Knightshelties) and it worked very well. Eva couldn't really pull and even when she pulled, she wouldn't get choked.
    She walks very nicely nowadays and seldom pulls unless she sees some cats around. However, I still let her use the harness just in case she pulls.
    I think Ricky's idea is very good. Get one first and the other one later!

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  5. Hmm...not really sure. But have fun shopping. I love when they arrive in the mail, feels like Christmas. :)

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  6. Enjoy you shopping, but we think Wall-e and Nat are like us. All they want to do is be by their best chum. In their case you and in our case Dog Dad.

    Essex & Decaon

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  7. I would get the disc, first off it will help so you have a dog to run, LOL, and he stays really in tip top form, and the harness has never cut down on pulling, although I like having one so that if I dont have time to work on the LLW, then I have them on the harness so they learn if they are on the collar we are working on it. You could always try to take the leash and when it is clipped to the collar, put it around your dogs chest behind the front legs, then as it comes to the top you put it under where it origionally was going down, so you have a make shift harness, it works on spots to help relax a dog and works really cool for pulling, you dont have to have anything special and works really great for pulling, I use that when I am in a pinch.

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  8. ps we have the comfort flex harness and do love it, and we have the sports one that is a little cheaper and I like that one just as much, they are both great on the shelties and the BC's

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  9. I would probably choose the Balance Disc so that you are able to keep him conditioned. Then I would get the Indoor Trial Sounds DVD for your B-day.
    The Comfortflex harness is awesome but DOES NOT stop pulling, its only going to help make it more comfortable for them to pull, I know people who mush their dogs in them. Rosco pulls like crazy on one, but thats also good conditioning! They are my favorite harness so far.

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