Leash, collars, harness

[MADEA]

I hope I am posting in the right place. What do you all use for a leash, collar or harness for puppy. Trying to get everything together and in place before I bring puppy home. I want him to have the best coming home party ever. I am so excited, I get to go see him every week until I pick him up for good.

[Annette47]

I start with a flat nylon collar - either actual buckle or more usually the kind with the quick release plastic clips where you squeeze the sides - not sure what the technical name is. For a leash, I use a 5-6 foot lightweight nylon or cotton leash when they are babies. I don’t usually care for nylon leashes but for babies I want something light weight that they are less inclined to chew than leather. You’ll need to start with a smaller collar than he will wear when he is older, too.

I don’t believe in harnesses - they just encourage pulling, which Labs tend to do anyway as they get older and heavier.

[arentspowell]

Flat nylon buckle collars for us as well. When they get older we switch to the no-stink biothane collars as their everyday collar but we have an assortment of fun ones for holidays and different seasons.

[Snowshoe]

I'm like Annette and arentspowell. Small, lightweight nylon puppy collar and leash. Flat, buckle betathane (same as biothane only not translucent) now. In between I did use a Prong for certain situations starting at 8 months to about 2 years old but haven't used it in years. Leather leash now, easier on my hands than nylon.

Be sure to take your collar and leash with you when you pick puppy up, in case you need to make stop somewhere on the way home.

[Jeff]

Like Annette said, just get a decent nylon adjustable collar. You pup will grow so very fast, they come in 3 sizes. First one, size small, will only last a month, maybe 2. Medium will go another 2-3 months after that. Then your ready for adult collars.

Adult collars, well you will learn there are a ton of collars out there and different collars have different purposes and uses. Like a regular flat buckle collar we use in AKC agility, he Runs Naked in CPE. I have another collar I really love it is made out of seat belt material and seat belt buckles. However thats not made for getting wet. So we also have nylon collars with plastic buckles. Then your also going to want a Sexy Beast Collar for special occasions Leather Dog Collar Latigo Leather Leash Made in the USA SexyBeastDogCollars

Same thing for harnesses. They are going to grow so fast, I wouldn't bother with harness right now. Also Annette is correct they can promote pulling. So ignore that for now.

Leashes, just a 6 ft nylon one is good. The pup will mouth it, chew on it, play with it. By 6-8 months your going to look at it and say, What the heck happened to this. Then again you will by then learn different leashes have different uses.

You may want to pick up a 20 ft or 25 ft leash. Your really going to want to start teaching recall sooner than later. Your not going to use it all the time but you might find you use it for the life of your dog.

[MightyThor]

Don't spend a lot of money on fancy leashes or collars! The pup will grow out of the collar quickly, and they'll chew on their leash. Once we trained away the leash chewing we got some nicer leashes.

[zd262]

Agree with everything above! For the first month your puppy may stay close by, but soon they'll start to be more independent outside. Grab some 10 foot, 15 foot, etc leashes off amazon. They're pretty cheap and they're great for when you want your dog to enjoy off leash freedom, but not be able to run away, or for when you're training recall. Amazon.com : Guardian Gear 50-Feet Cotton Web Dog Training Lead, Blue : Pet Leashes : Pet Supplies

[Labradorks]

I managed to find a nylon buckle collar that works for a pup through about four months and then the pup is ready for the adult collar at the tightest setting. The regular collar is the Dublin No-stink ones (you can find them on Amazon). I get the inexpensive, light, small nylon leash for the pup, too. He can use it as a drag-leash if needed. The long-line is a great idea. You'll want something easy on your hands. I actually bought soft cotton rope and make a leash out of it (OK, it was a lunge-line for a horse when I had a horse and it now serves a new purpose).

[Shelley]

Nylon adjustable collars here too,(13 to 22 inch, usually a "medium" size) and no harnesses ever, they teach the dog to pull and/or lunge. I have nice broken in beautiful leather leads, but start out with a polyurethane coated nylon leash for training (and always for boating), until my pups learn not to bite or mouth my leads.

[doubledip1]

I would think about a martingale collar... pups learn how to back out of collars, and fast.