No-Jump Harness

[brenda taulbee]

There's a certain 65 lb. pit bull cross in my life who loves to jump fences. We currently have a 5.5 foot tall fence which she can bound over in one leap. Adding more height to the fence seems to be out of the question. I know not leaving her unattended in the yard would be the simplest solution, but with work, school and a host of meetings and conferences it's impossible to think she won't be alone for the 5 seconds it takes her to jump.

I was doing some research on the subject and stumbled upon the no-jump harness, which restricts movement of the hind legs. Essentially, the dog can walk, sit and lie down comfortably, but as soon as they attempt to jump the harness restricts the motion. Just curious if anyone has tried the harness with any success, or knows of another way to keep her in the yard short of electric fences and radio collars.

 

[snooks]

considering the breed and you unfortunate inability to spend some serious $$ on a fence I would leave her in the house while gone. i love bully breeds, but where i live actually has a ban and kills dogs found at large if they are deemed "pitty" enough. while your dog may be a big sweet lap dog not everyone is as understanding about a loose pit in the neighborhood. I would be worried sick about losing my dog esp a habitual escaper. there are cases where neighborhoods have ganged up on dogs "wrongly" assumed vicious and had them removed from homes and destroyed when they didn't do anything but bark very protectively. it could certainly justifiably happen to a dog that was violating local law and running at large.

so considering all of that, would i leave the dog in my yard and trust any harness? no. it's too risky with or without the harness to leave a dog in the yard for which there really is no fence. i don't leave my dogs in the yard when i'm not here period. aside from the wildlife here being dangerous i just don't feel they are ever safe enough or that any fence is escape proof enough.

my biggest problem too in training/walking my dog is all the dogs running at large in my neighborhood. she's been scared to death by a number of dogs and one bit her as i was throwing chicken to distract it. i had to work for months to get her past that fear and back to her brave outgoing personality. now i carry mace. so i certainly don't like dealing with other loose dogs regardless if they are friendly. they may not be in certain circumstances, say if they came up and got tangled in my leash or my dog growled. all kinds of things happen.

the other thing i would worry about anything that restricts dog body motion is some kind of malfunction or tangle. could she jump the fence and hang herself? yes even with just a buckle collar. that's why i hate to see dogs wearing chokes or prong collars as their every day collar. if that is tangled on branches, fence, etc then possible death, restriction of circulation to limbs and loss of limbs, pain or sprains if the dog panics and struggles. I think anything with more straps or a harness of the kind you describe could injure your dog. I take my dogs' collars off before crating them.

so while i am obv very conservative i think there is still a danger with this harness of some kind of hang up or tangle. i also think it would be awful if anything happened to your pup so i would take the conservative approach.

 

[alee]

I seen on dog whisperer what he did was use skat mats(sorry if the spelling is incorrect) wherever the dog would jump out at it.

 

[snooks]

there was an episode of it's me or the dog with victoria stillwell last night with a fence jumping boxer. they used an e-fence and the dog was petrified to go outside. she suggested getting rid of the e-fence and going out with the dog on a long line then leaving him inside when the left. she also recommended raising the fence height. it was sad to see the dog so afraid of his yard that he wouldn't go out and enjoy it. two vizsla's also busted through their efence and were both hit by cars.

maybe you could still get some nice productive outside time with a long line and take your dog on a couple of good hour walks each day and he'll be pretty darn happy about it.