Muscles and why the harness type matters
Anything that hinders your dog’s natural movement for a longer period of time will cause trouble: pain, imbalance, incorrect development of the body. Not only that, physical issues will very likely affect your dog’s behaviour. That is why it is crucial to think about how our dogs move and always choose equipment that has the least effect on their natural movement.
Let’s take a look at dogs’ muscles, movement and gait.
We expect you already know about H-type harnesses. We talk about this type of harness a lot, as this is what we want to see all dogs wearing. If you want to know more about this topic you can revisit our posts:
Dogs can move in different ways
We humans have two legs and we basically use them to either walk or run. Dogs have four legs and they can manage quite a bit more. They use a number of different gaits.
So, what is the gait? The gait is a combination of the dog’s speed while moving and the pattern that the legs make. Some gaits are walking, pacing, trotting and galloping. Walking is the slowest gait. Walking is an important type of movement because it exercises deep muscles of strength and stability that aid coordination.
No pressure on the neck and shoulders
There are some especially important muscles around the neck and shoulder area:
Stability muscles around the shoulder, like the supraspinatus. The supraspinatus stabilises the shoulder and prevents the shoulder from collapsing.
Muscles that allow the leg to rotate, like the infraspinatus, which also helps to flex and extend the shoulder joint.
Stability muscles on the chest and thorax, like the pectorals, with deep and more superficial muscles that allow for adduction and abduction. Please do not worry about the technical words, these are muscles that keep the front legs pulling towards the body or allow for the leg to move outwards.
Muscles that allow for the front leg to extend (reach forwards), like the brachycephalicus that advances the limb and extends the neck
Muscles to flex, like the biceps. The biceps brachii is responsible for the flexion of the elbow joint nut and also the stabilisation of the shoulder
All these actions will be affected if we have anything in the way!
Can you picture some of those non H-type harnesses on top of these pictures? Do you think they allow for better or worse movement?
Remember those key points on the H type:
The front rests on the sternum bone, so the pressure does not fall on the soft tissues.
The bands around the neck leave free the shoulder and chest area. The scapula bone and other stability bones we mentioned before are in this region of the body
The thorax bands rest on the ribs and the bands along the body (top and bottom) follow the bone line of the spine and the sternum.
The leash should only be clipped at the back
We encourage you to also think about where you are clipping the leash. A leash on the back clip can smile all the way, something that is not possible if we attach it at the front. A leash clipped at the back clip will let the dog walk with a normal gait: full movement of the front legs and normal gait without a leash constantly tapping on their chest and front leg. Comfortable and safe.
Even if the dog does not pull, the leash clipped at the front will likely change her movement and have an impact on her body. The same would happen to us. Let’s think about some practical examples:
You put on some ill fitting shoes and you go for a walk. After only a few steps, you start adjusting your gait because you are uncomfortable or even in pain. You can’t stop thinking about the shoes and how you are not going to be able to walk for very long. It’s not just your feet, your mood is also affected.
You put on that new t-shirt you have been saving and go out. Very soon you realise that you forgot to cut a long label from the inside. It’s not painful but it is definitely uncomfortable and you can’t stop thinking about it. You get at least a little distracted.
You see the anti-pull harness come out. You know what it means. You know it’s not going to be a comfortable walk but you like going out and perhaps they are thinking that because you are so excited about going out you actually like this harness?
Anti-pull harnesses cause damage. Long term use of this type of equipment can in some cases cause body changes because the dog is not comfortable and alters the way she walks, adjusts for the tapping of the leash on her chest, modifies her posture so the walk is more tolerable and doesn’t move freely, allowing all the extremities to move the way they are designed to.
It is crucial that we consider puppies and young dogs that are still growing up and developing! We must allow for their muscles and bones to develop in a normal way, to maintain health and be able to live a long life without the discomforts and long-term consequences the non-pull harnesses can cause.
Some very clever people came up with the H-type harness design for a reason. They had the welfare of the dog at heart. This is a design that is driven by the nature of the dog and is truly intended for the dog.
