I just saw a Facebook post tonight from someone who got pulled down to the ground by her Shepherd and thought, OK I need to do a post about this because there are still too many people who just don't know about these 2 products, like I didn't! I also want to share a few tips I've learned about these products, that could potentially save people money in having to buy replacements.
So I guess I overestimated my own strength a bit, when I decided to rescue FOUR shepherds (all with unknown backgrounds) from the chopping block at a high-kill shelter.
This was a whole new ball game for me. They are all very sweet dogs, and they all love people, but they were not as well-behaved in public as Nikki and Parker, and 3 of the 4 are reactive towards other dogs. I'd never had dogs that were reactive before, so this has been an adjustment.
I had an occasion where I was literally dragged down to the ground when I was walking two shepherds at a time, and some teenager with a little white dog seemed to come out of nowhere. I learned the hard way, you really have to watch out for large vehicles parked in driveways that block the sidewalk and prevent you from seeing someone coming up the street.
Next thing you this dumb kid with his little white dog is walking RIGHT NEXT to my dogs as they are LUNGING at his poor, innocent dog, and the clueless idiot is doing nothing to move across the street to protect his dog. Yes, I get it, I am the problem because I'm the one with the dogs who have behavior issues. But to watch this kid simply NOT getting it that his poor dog is in serious danger while I'm being dragged to the ground and my dogs are lunging at his poor pup and he's not moving out of the way, was a shocker. I swear, there is nothing that will teach you about Human Cluelessness, as owning a German Shepherd.
Keep in mind, when you have a Shepherd, that you are probably going to encounter certain amount of of clueless people who just DO NOT GET IT that there could be dogs out there who are NOT actually friendly, like their own dogs are. And also keep in mind that if you're not careful, these people can suddenly appear "out of nowhere," if you were distracted somehow, by something like picking up your dog's poop, or maybe the person came up around a blind corner, or you were on a street with a car that was parked in a driveway and it was blocking your view of them. And by the time you see this person, it can be too late to pull your aggressive dogs away.
I underestimated the sudden SURGE of adrenaline a dog can experience when they get overly excited about something (if they haven't had enough training). And when my dogs encountered this first person who was totally oblivious to my aggressive dogs, it was like he did nothing to protect his dog. I wound up on the ground, in the dirt, getting dragged by my dogs, to try to keep them away from that guy's poor little dog. Thank God they didn't touch that other dog.
I realize I got lucky because not only could I have been badly injured, but my dogs could have been injured too, if they dragged me into the street and, say, a car was coming. They could have literally killed another dog if they wanted to.
Now, I never walk two at a time without using two things (and I've learned the hard way that ONE thing isn't always enough). These things are:
These two things combined are so effective, you'd think the companies that make them would find a way to put their ads in the adoption folders that get handed to new adoptive parents at shelters.
But the only thing I knew of, at the time I rescued the 4 shepherds, were prong collars - but those things don't hold a candle to a harness with a clip on the front!
How I learned about the no-pull harness
I first rescued the 4 shepherds in October of 2022, when it was just 2 months before the Honolulu Marathon (first one I'd ever signed up for). I'd always wanted to run a marathon, but knew I hadn't trained enough to run it. So I just decided to walk the whole thing... but after I got the shepherds, my body was getting yanked and pulled SO badly, I didn't even know if I'd be able to walk a full mile.
I was literally LIMPING in the days before the event - my body was so sore and beat up! Not only was it sore from getting yanked and pulled, but I'd also fallen a few times, breaking up a couple of fights between my used-to-be-agressive shepherd, Kali, and my feisty, younger, always-wants-to-be-the-top-dog Shepsky, Poppy.
When I went to the Marathon EXPO, the day before the event, I stopped by a booth where there was a woman selling a hand-held pain relief device that's kind of like a "Tens" unit. I wish I knew the name of it but I can't recall and it's in a box somewhere right now, but I swear that thing helped me get through the whole 26 miles the next day.
But that wasn't the most valuable thing she told me about. The advice she gave me that saved my butt the most, was to get a no-pull harness for my dogs.
I'd told her the reason I was limping (and needed to buy her machine) was because I'd rescued 4 German Shepherds, and they pulled me so much it was beating my body up, especially after I'd had a few falls. She said her boyfriend had adopted a dog that was some kind of HUGE breed (I don't remember the exact breed but in my brain's memory bank I pictured the dog looking like a Tibetan Mastiff).
She said the dog used to pull her SO hard, but then they got a harness with a front clip and it made all the difference. I was so relieved to hear about this, because I thought prong collars WERE the best option!
I ordered some no-pull harnesses from Amazon right away, and when I put them on the dogs, I could NOT believe how effective it was, to use them. It is like night and day.
My boyfriend (who only walks one dog at a time) sometimes clips the leash to the TOP clip instead of the one by the chest. Because I tend to walk 2 dogs at a time, there have been times where I didn't notice the leash was clipped to ring on the top of the harness instead of the front. I'd get be halfway into the walk feeling exhausted because the 2 dogs were pulling me so hard. And all of a sudden I'd realize, ohhh, wait... I'm getting tired because the clip isn't in the front! And then as soon as I'd exchange the clip's position, everything was fine, I stopped getting yanked, and I could go back to enjoying the walk!
Why it can be important to have BOTH
I also want to point out that if you have a dog that can pull you hard, it's good to have BOTH a no-pull vest AND a training collar.
I want to share my own cautionary tale.
There was a day when I took my dogs out for a walk, with JUST their shock collars. I assumed that if something made them want to pull really hard, I could stop them almost immediately with the training collars, because I'd always been able to do so in the past!
I'd been using those shock collars for over a year, and they worked GREAT! I even used them with the dogs while I took them mushing, and I'd never had a time when I couldn't control the dogs with a good zap when necessary.
One day I was on a walk with two of my shepherds - my largest - a male - and my Shepsky, who might be the strongest of all my dogs.
We were walking down the street and nearing the end of a block when a woman came around the corner with her dog, and we were maybe 20 feet from the corner. My dogs suddenly lunged forward, wanting to check out this dog. I freaked out because I'd never let them get that close to another dog. If I see another dog coming on the sidewalk, I'll cross the street and get out of the way, not wanting any trouble. But in this case, the woman and her dog appeared very suddenly on the corner that was like a blind turn, and it caught me by surprise. I realize now, I should have been more prepared for that kind of thing, but I had been wrongly assuming that the shock collars (on the highest setting) would be enough.
When both my dogs began to pull me, I pulled them backwards as hard as I could, knowing they are not as friendly as Nikki and Parker were. When they wouldn't ease up, I started using the remote to ZAP them to keep them away from the other dog. But I suddenly learned, the hard way, that two dogs with adrenaline can very quickly double their energy and strength.. and they were still able to overpower me.
It must have been obvious that I was frantically hitting my remote and it wasn't working. I said to the woman, please back your dog up, my dogs are not friendly! But she didn't listen to me! She just kept letting her dog keep getting closer and closer to my dogs. I said, seriously, please, they're not friendly, please back up! But she wouldn't do it.
So, my male shepherd lunged after that poor dog and I felt horrible. I was zapping him like crazy and although those shock collars had worked great in the past, this time they were not enough, even on the HIGHEST setting. After that woman's poor, sweet dog got bit, the woman started yelling at me and I kept yelling back, WHY didn't you back your dog up when I asked you to??? You wouldn't do it!!!
Suddenly, a woman (named Debbie) who lived in a nearby home came running from around the corner when she heard the commotion. She snarled something to the woman with the dog (whom she clearly had encountered before) and said something like, "Oh, shut up, you do this all the time." It was clear the two women didn't like each other.
Suddenly, the woman with the dog stormed off, and the lady who came to check on what was up, told me the woman with the other dog does that all the time, like she thinks she owns the sidewalk and NEVER moves if there's another dog (even one that could potentially put her dog in danger).
I was so relieved to have another person there to back me up on this, but I felt terrible for the dog. I heard through someone in my neighborhood that the dog was OK, but this could have turned out to be REALLY BAD. And I realize now, that the whole scenario could have been prevented if I'd just had a NO PULL HARNESS and a SHOCK COLLAR on BOTH dogs.
I also want to remind people that a no-pull harness is not dependent on modern technology, to work. Although my shock collars were both fully charged, who knows what can happen with Murphy's Law and Modern Technology? What if one of the collars suddenly goes on the fritz for no reason? I don't think that's what happened with the collars, but what if it did? I learned the hard way, that day, that just because something isn't likely, that does NOT mean it COULDN'T happen!
With a no-pull harness you can yank on it and test the stitches and see very clearly that as long as you are able to pull it hard and it's stitched really well, you'll be ok. But when modern tech is so complex, who kows if somehthing could go haywire. My sister swears she can break a printer just by STANDING next to it, and I'm kind of the same way with electronics. So, I'm just saying. It's always good to have a backup, when you're dealing with a German Shepherd, because they are a STRONG breed that can hurt another dog (or a person) if they wanted to. And if you're dealing with a rescue, you may not know what their background is, or what they're capable of. My male shepherd, Titus, has lots of scars on his face, and I'm assuming he's been in dog fights. He could have been used in dog fights. Or maybe he was attacked as a puppy.
So I just want to give this story as a cautionary tale. Please, people, learn from my mistakes. If you are walking a strong shepherd that is not fully trained and still pulls you when they get excited, consider using a no-pull harness AND a shock collar.
Even on the STRONGEST setting for the ZAP (not the ring, not the buzz), the 2 shepherds I was walking got so fired up and full of adrenaline when they encountered another dog on a walk, they were able to pull me so hard that I soon realized the zapper wasn't enough.
I'm sure the dogs would PREFER to be walked with the clip on the top, so they can pull you as hard as they want. But if given the choice between NO WALK or a SHORT WALK, vs. a longer walk with the clip in the front....I'm guessing most dogs would prefer the latter : ).
TIPS to save MONEY
I just want to share this tip because I wish someone could have given it to me, as soon as I got the shock collars.
If you're like me, and tend to drop things, you should know that the buttons on the side of the remote can fall out if you drop it (at least, that was the case with the 2022 versions). There's a little tiny black piece that allows you to change the settings, but if you're on a sidewalk full of leaves, or if you're near black asphalt, GOOD LUCK in finding that tiny little black piece while walking a shepherd or two, without losing your mind.
But I learned that if you put a piece of scotch tape on the side, over the buttons, you won't have to worry about that piece going flying somewhere, never to be found again. That little piece of tape can keep it in place, without affecting the use of the buttons.
Also be sure to test the collars before you go on a walk, to make sure everything is charged up. I try to charge the collars in a little charging station I made by the front door, and I do it after every walk.
There was one more tip I wanted to share about the collars but it's late, I'm super tired and can't remember what it was. But I will update this post when I can remember.
Hope this helps!