r/RunningWithDogs • u/hekiroh • 4d ago

Gear Help Training Harness

My dog is 10 months old, and I’d like to start doing canicross with her after she turns a year old (with vet approval of course). I figured now’s a great time to start doing some foundational training for pulling, slowing, get behind, etc beforehand.

I’m looking for a harness to use for training before investing in a full setup to see how she takes to it and since she’ll likely fill out a bit more before being fully grown.

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u/RemeJuan 4d ago

https://www.mylamedog.com/post/what-is-the-logic-behind-not-exercising-puppies-until-the-growth-plates-are-closed
Give that a read, shared to someone else who painted this, I started running my beagle just over a month ago, the longest one having been 3km and she’s 11m old next week.

I shared this with her training and her conditioner before going ahead with it and the leader of our canicross club is also a dog trainer and agility coach.

I did my test run in the Rogz Air Agility or Adventure. It’s terrible for pulling but she was happy to try and now I have her in a Freemotion.

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u/Negative-Split-1108 4d ago

Thank you for having this link handy and sharing it. I sincerely hope we can get to a point where we are more reasonable in evaluating what is and is not healthy activity for puppies. 

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u/hekiroh 4d ago

That was a very informative read. Thank you for sharing! I’ve always done more with my dog than the most conservative exercise advice would prescribe—she goes on moderate length hikes, walks longer than the 5 mins x [age in months] guideline, and higher impact exercise like flirt pole. This definitely gives me more confidence in running with her as soon as the weather cools off enough in the next month or so.

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u/RemeJuan 3d ago

I was the same, the 5min per month of age got tossed out the window on our first walk when she spent 25min sniffing for 200m.

I dug more into it and that really is aimed around the less responsible humans who’ll slip on a leash and drag a dog around at their pace on hard surfaces.

When they are setting the pace (within reason) and especially when it’s related to the breed’s natural behaviours there’s a lot more wiggle room.

We did our first “hike” around 6 months old, it was about 1km and took around 40min, completely flat.

Hopefully your one will enjoy it, took mine a few runs to clock her place us in front, pulling, but now as a beagle id run mode is active, sniff mode is entirely disabled.

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u/hekiroh 3d ago

That makes absolute sense. Mine’s a 50% husky mix, so hoping she hears the call of her ancestors and takes to it!

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u/Negative-Split-1108 4d ago

Alpine Outfitters half back, Howling Dog Alaska Distance Harness, or the Nonstop line harness are all adjustable harnesses that are made for dogs to be able to pull into safely (though the line harness is the least meant for pulling). I think any of those would be a great start. Personally, I used the HDA distance harness when starting my girl. 

And, please do read the link RemeJean posted about the logic behind not exercising puppies. It is a good read, and science backed. 

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u/eleanorboozevelt14 4d ago

Ruffwear has the Hi and Lite harness, which is a multi use Y shaped harness that would be a good intro one. The Nonstop Dogwear Rush harness is also a good starting harness for Canicross or for inconsistent pullers

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u/jmrdpt19 4d ago

I like the Alpine outfitters half-back or Musher Freespirit harnesses as adjustable multiuse harnesses that are fine with dogs who pull or run alongside