McGee's Gear: What She Wears While We Walk

Yup, we're still here. McGee and I have been catching up on snuggle time and cleaning after two whole weeks apart. I missed my baby so much while I was away, but got to spend lots of quality time with my sister's sweet Benny. He comes in handy when the Wisconsin weather drops down to nearly -60 degrees. We spent a lot of time curled up watching Harry Potter.

Probably the most challenging thing about leaving McGee in the care of others is the amount of gear that she comes with. We have so many doodads and thing-a-muh-whats-its that we use to keep our little McBossy in line and it can be a real struggle to get her "dressed" and ready for an outing.

We had a good question posed to us on our Facebook page about one harness that we use in particular, so I decided to take the opportunity and give a run down of the doggie equipment we use on a regular basis.

Martingale Collar

Right now, McGee wears a pretty boring martingale collar that we picked up from PetCo on the day that we brought her home from the shelter. Though there are many cuter options available for collars that buckle, I feel strongly that a martingale collar is the way to go. This type of collar slips over the dogs head and tightens if the dog pull on it's leash (preventing the dog from slipping out of their collar and getting away). After walking many, many shelter dogs, I have learned to covet martingale collars for this feature in particular. While her PetCo collar isn't very trendy, it has lasted us over a year and a half at this point and, while it does show a little dirt, it's holding up very well.

 

PetSafe Easy Walk Harness

This was the first harness we tried for McGee when it became clear that we needed backup on our daily walks. It fits her very well and doesn't rub or chafe. The downside is that there is only one point of attachment (front of the chest) and, while it does lessen her ability to pull a little bit, we found that she was constantly tangling her front legs in her leash, especially when she would get excited. Also, being a strong puller and an excitable dog, McGee would often end up flopped over on her side if she had a particularly energetic outburst. Comical, yes. Productive, not so much. We have since moved on to another choice of harness.



Freedom No Pull Harness

Dog Dad and I like this harness quite a lot. It comes with a double ended leash that clips in to two spots on the harness: one spot on the front of the chest and one on the dog's back. The benefit to this is an automatically shorter leash and more steering capabilities. I feel much more able to keep McGee at my side with the Freedom harness because I can steer her shoulders with the front portion of the leash and keep her at my side with the portion clipped to her back body. This harness is a bit more weighty than the Easy Walk, but still comfortable (it even has a little velvet lining to prevent chafing) and it comes in lots of pretty colors. McGee has spent lots of time in this harness learning to walk like a lady. We picked ours up on Amazon.

 

PetSafe Gentle Leader

 

After we exhausted all of our training potential with harness only, we decided that a head halter might be the next best thing to try to give us even more control. The main idea here is to relieve pressure that a dog would be placing on their throat if they were to be walking with a leash attached to a collar around the throat. A head halter can also deter a dog from barking and jumping and give the handler more ability to gently remind the dog where he or she should be looking (at the handler!). We also found that McGee's exuberance sometimes led to a feeling that we were being "hauled" behind her when she was wearing her harness, no matter which one. The Gentle Leader definitely took her some getting used to (we used lots and lots of treats!) but eventually she came to accept it and only gave us a momentary glare before becoming her jolly old self and trotting along as usual. We found that the Gentle Leader gave us access to tons more eye contact from McGee and she soon realized that barking and freaking out is a very undesirable action when you've got a loop around your snout.

 

 

Snoot Loop

 

The latest piece of accoutrement to find it's place in our bag of tricks is called a Snoot Loop. It's similar to a Gentle Leader, but it's got more bits and parts. Sort of like a straight jacket for your dog's face. The Snoot Loop was recommended to us by our trainers during McGee's eight week reactive dog course. We lost her Gentle Leader halfway through and decided, what the heck, let's give this Snoot Loop thing a whirl. The long and short of this review is that McGee feels certain that the Snoot Loop was designed by Satan himself. She hates it with a passion. I think it's the bit that comes down between her eyes that really wigs her out. She just can't seem to get used to the feel of it on her face and, no matter how many treats I try to encourage her with, she spends most of the walk with her head hanging and the rest of the walk dragging her face on the ground to try and rub the feeling away. We gave this one a good effort, but I'm not sure which one of us was more relieved to find her old buddy the Gentle Leader buried at the bottom of a bag of stuff. I will say that I saw other dogs in class experience great success while working with their Snoot Loops, but I think McGee was just too dedicated to her Gentle Leader by the time we gave it a shot.

 

 

And that's that. Now that we have evolved as a walking team, McGee and I usually settle on a combination of Freedom Harness and Gentle Leader. I clip in to the Gentle Leader with one end of her leash and the backside of her harness with the other end. It strikes a good balance for us between controlling her body (harness) and keeping tabs on her busy dog brain (head halter). She always wears her collar with I.D. because I am a worried mom and want her quickly identifiable as MINE in case of any catastrophe.

 

Rocking her Freedom No Pull Harness and her Gentle Leader at the same time. Look at that smile!



 What is your go-to dog walking gear?

McGee's Holiday Gift Giving Guide: Part II

In this installation, we will focus on gifts that McGee would like to have for herself. Don't worry, she's not going to get everything on her list. She'll have to narrow it down and be good...

For Dogs Who Like to Pull

McGee might disagree with me on this one, but we just got a Snoot Loop for her and so far, we (the humans), love it. Although she was already used to her Gentle Leader, it's still taking McGee a bit of time to grow accustomed to the extra structure that's built into her Snoot Loop, namely the piece that comes down between her eyes. It seems to me that, as she gets more and more comfortable, we are noticing less pulling and more paying attention from her. We've even stopped double leashing her to her harness and head halter in favor of using only the Snoot Loop on walks.

Ma, stop staring at my Snoot!

 

For Dogs Who Like to Chew

McGee's favorite chew toy in the house is an antler. It also happens to be my favorite chew to in the house because A. nothing had to die for her to have it and B. it was free because Dog Dad found it in the woods. Now that it's starting to wear down, I've been wondering: where can I find her a new antler if I can't find another in the woods? The answer: Grateful Shed Antler Chews. I will definitely be checking these guys out. Especially since they offer Moose and Elk chews (what are the odds that I'll find one of those just sitting around in Maryland?) and their prices are way more reasonable than anything I've on the shelf.

Bonus: Grateful Shed draws a client's name each month and plants a tree in their dog's name. How cool is that? That is something we can totally get behind.

For Dogs Who Like to Walk (In the Dark)

We need to get a replacement for our the light that McGee wears on her collar when we go for night walks. Especially since she is a black dog, we find a light on her collar makes us feel much safer when we walk her in the dark. We also practice extra safety (and dorkiness) by wearing headlamps and reflective vests of our own. These PetLit LED collar lights by Nite Ize are a fun addition to your dog's collar and keep them safe and easy to see in the dark.

For Dogs Who Like to Shiver

Stop it. Just stop. A dog pig?!?! Now your dog can be warm and embarrassed adorable at the same time! You'll have to check out Courtanai's other cute creations for yourself over at her Etsy shop.

Perfect for dogs who oink. This just solidifies the fact that I cannot eat a pig.

For Dogs Who Like to Minimize Their Intake of Animal Products

Dog Dad and I do our best to stick to a vegan diet. We know it's not for everyone, but it makes us feel good to remember the welfare of all creatures when we make choices about our daily food intake. We have thought about transitioning McGee to a fully vegetarian diet, but haven't yet found a vegetarian dog food that we feel would meet all her nutritional needs. For now, we stick to vegan treats and chews. We are intrigued by this new little vegan bakery called The Kind Puppy. The treats sound almost good enough for us to eat!


Sweet Potato Christmas Mix anyone? Yes please!

For Dogs Who Like to Help the Earth

Earthdog is the first company I ever bought a dog collar from. 10% of their profits go to Kody's Fund, a non-profit which funds spay and neuter programs. The products they make are earth friendly and they also take in foster dogs and get them ready for adoption. They even name their different collars after dogs they love. We give them five out of five stars for sure!

For McGee

Shhhhh! Don't tell her!!! I think McGee is getting a new tag from Purely Personalized this Christmas. They are just too cute to bear.

 

For Dogs Without a Home

A foster home, a bag of treats, a Kong, a jar of peanut butter... it doesn't take much to make the season brighter. Many dog treats and toys are on sale at this time of year. Please remember your local shelter dogs this holiday season when you consider deserving charities to give to.

For those of you who missed it, Dog Dad had a fun gig this weekend dressing up as Santa and getting his picture taken with local dogs to raise money for the Humane Society of Calvert County. The weather was yucky and the roads icy, but quite a few families still braved the snow and rain to have their dogs (and one cat) meet Santa. Molly Humphrey of Artistic Imagez donated her time and talents to the event and snapped some super photos of Santa and this sweet dog, who is currently available at HSCC. Special thanks to HSCC board member Jill Lee of Custom Dog Jackets for organizing a great event!

Such a sweet boy- his tail never stopped wagging even though he was feeling a little shy!

Does your dog get holiday gifts? Do you wrap them? Do you give gifts to dogs that aren't your own?