Oreo has had a nasty little cough the past week or so. As suggested by Dr. Terinin, I should use a harness rather than a collar in order to ease up on his delicate trachea. I’ve been trying to find the right one for Oreo and as a result I have several harnesses waiting to be returned. Fortunately I think I’ve found the perfect harness: Premier’s Easy Walk Harness.

Easy to Put On

Oreo can get a little fussy when he’s in an unfamiliar position. So one of the requirements for the harness is that it goes on easily. Being that he’s still wearing his Comfy Cone, other harnesses would require me to either take it off each time, or struggle to get it around his head/cone. With the Easy Walk, it has two clip buckles. One is positioned near his underbelly and the other is over his shoulder. With this setup, the first clip is similar to putting a regular dog collar on and the second clip requires getting the strap around his underbelly. In addition, the loops are color coded so that you can easily identify which is which.

No Sled Dog Pulling

Another interesting thing I found with the harness is that the D loop (for the leash) is located in the front. Premier claims that this helps in discouraging the “opposition reflex” — the tendency for dogs to pull harder and drag you when wearing a normal collar/leash. With Premier’s harness, when your dog pulls it steers him to his side and redirecting his attention back to you. I only walked Oreo once with the harness since picking it up today, and from what I saw it did just as Premier promised.

Wish Us Luck

The harness is as advertised, although for the bigger picture, I hope Oreo heals from whatever is causing his cough. We have an appointment this week with the vet for a heart echo. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for good news.