MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
This is Max, he's brilliant. He has an appointment with the vet to remove a small and hopefully non-malignant lump from the back of his neck. Wearing a collar will probably be uncomfortable so we're going to get a harness for him. Loads to choose from so I'm after some advice re: which one to go for. Any ideas please? TIA 🙂
How to post pics? Aargh! I used to be able to do it 🙁
Oh, now they have appeared. Weird.
Julius K9 with traffic-control lead.
Yep, another vote for the Julius K9. Ours goes on a lab but does the job well
Worth reading the reviews of julius. Having witnessed a dog walking backwards out of one I wouldn't buy one.
Ruffwear 6 strap thing here. Can pick lola up like a suitcase and dump her over walls and stuff.
Its too expensive, and its quite scruffy after a couple of years. But still functions fine.
She also has a couple of two strap things, bunnygoo which goes over her head and another one where clips are on one side so you don't have to thread the head through. Good for a collar alternative but less handleability.
We have a few harnesses as we foster dogs. The Julius is quite bulky and some dogs don't like wearing it. It does sit quite far back on the neck so my be ok for you though. 3 peaks one is nice. Probably best to try some on.
Another ruffwear fan here, I use the one with the extra waist strap for hoiking when scrambles get big. Wouldn't need the extra strap for just a general purpose harness but all their gear is great.
Yeah, the ruffwear stuff is great quality. I'm not a fan of the small rings for attaching the lead though. It's a bit fiddly if you need to clip on in a hurry, especially one handed.
Ruffwear for us - can’t remember the model name, but it’s the 2 strap version, bought to replace a Julius K9 after our (then) 6 month old Collie worked out how to reverse out of it after about 3 days 🙂
We use it primarily for mounting a tracker when we’re hillwalking, although the added bonus is that it reduces the amount of pulling she does as well. 
Not a collie, but Ollie the cockapoo is a bit of a Houdini and also escaped on day 2 of a Julius.
we have been using same Ruffwear one as pictured above for the past 3 years and it’s very secure and holding up well. Not cheap, but works perfectly and well made.
I was advised to get a Y front harness to avoid pressure on shoulder joints - this was specifically for running, but got a JK9 speed harness and there is no chance of the dog getting out of it. It does feel a bit bulky but works well and she doesn’t have any problem wearing it.
Bought Floh a Ruffwear harness early on as it was great on a retracticting lead tied to the handlebars for trail dog training. She must of run thousands of miles in it now with no ill effects. Often 30+kms in one hit, so it must be comfy. No chaffing or sores and she comes and sits to have it put on without being called.
We have used Perfect Fit harnesses for our last two retrievers. Quite lightweight with low bulk but no way would they get out of them.
Ruffwear + however many we're up to now
Here's Woodie wearing one
get a Y harness, those Julius ones are very bad for their shoulders. I have 1 ruffwear harness but prefer Non stop dogwear ones. Have also had Perfect fit and they are good as they are made from 3 different pieces where you can mix and match different sizes to get, you guessed it, Perfect fit.
If a dog can get out of a Y harness its because the size is very very wrong.
Here is my two wearing Non stop dogwear Line harness. bright orange for visibility as they have just been round the archery course with me, helping to find arrows.
Many thanks for the advice folks, it's appreciated. I see Halti make harnesses too that seem well received apart from odd sizing advice. Does anyone here have any experience of their stuff? The Halti leads were recommended to us some time back for a particularly headstrong beagle of ours.
if a Y style harness and it fits, go for it.
if i had not managed to get my first non stop dogwear harness from a shop i thin it would be a struggle getting the right size online as the size charts are not very reliable for getting the best fit, only trying different sizes really tells you what is the best fitting one.
one of the canicross harness's i have if i had gone by the sizing charts i would have had gotten one 3 sizes bigger than what actually fit!
Another vote for Perfect Fit. Not cheap but perfect if one has a slim dog with a very deep chest as all the parts are bought to size the final harness correctly.
Ruffwear is by far the best harness we’ve bought.
Julius K9 never felt secure - if dog wriggled in the right way I’m sure they could get out of one.
Perfect fit, as you can even chop and change the two pieces to make it fit perfectly. We a long bodied lurcher (actually a podenco) Spanish cross and a scared Rommy, who almost backed out of a previous harness on her first trip away (terrifying).
@ambrose, I use Halti leads and a Halti muzzle harness as my dog is a puller and reactive at times. Both are well made, the halti lead is far more comfortable (in hand) and superior to anything else I tried.
The over the muzzle harness is incredible for redirecting her when she's reacting and for preventing pulling too.
Harness, for the car is a ruffwear, the second one as she grew more than expected after we first got her, a combination of her being a mixed breed rescue, our first dog and LOTS of steriods, but that's another well documented story that broke my heart and wallet. Did try a K9, it was rubbish and easy to escape from.
Ruffwear + however many we're up to now
Here's Woodie wearing one
That right there is my kinda dog.