Why a harness, not a collar, for the car and the walk

Why a harness, not a collar, for the car and the walk

Most dogs wear a collar because that is where the tag goes. The trouble starts when the collar also becomes the thing the lead, or a car seat belt, pulls against. Everything a dog does with its neck goes through a few centimetres of throat.

What a collar does when a dog pulls

A harness spreads the pull across the chest and shoulders. A collar concentrates all of it on the neck. That is not a matter of opinion: a 2020 study at Nottingham Trent University tested seven collars and a slip lead on a model dog neck fitted with a pressure sensor. Under a firm pull, a strong pull and a sharp jerk, every collar type pushed pressure on the neck well past the level the authors considered safe. None of them, padded or not, came out well.

An older veterinary study looked at something you might not expect: eye pressure. When force was applied through a collar, pressure inside the dogs' eyes rose significantly. When the same force was applied through a harness, it did not. The authors recommended harnesses for dogs with glaucoma, thin corneas or any condition where raised pressure in the eye is a problem.

One honest caveat. A harness spreads the force; it does not stop the pulling. A 2021 study found dogs actually pulled harder in a back-clip harness than on a collar when there was food in front of them. That is why a no-pull harness clips at the front of the chest, so the pull turns the dog sideways instead of letting it lean into the strap. Training still does most of the work.

The car is where it matters most

Clip a seat belt tether to a collar and a hard brake turns the whole car's stop into a jerk on the throat. Clip it to a harness and the same force lands on the chest. This is the single reason we sell the seat belt restraint alongside the harness, and never suggest using it with a collar.

There is a second reason to restrain a dog at all: the driver. A Volvo study watched fifteen drivers for over thirty hours with their dogs loose and then restrained. With the dog loose they logged more than twice as many unsafe driving moments, and their heart rates were higher. An older AAA survey found that while most owners agreed a loose dog in the car was dangerous, only one in six used a restraint, and half admitted to petting the dog while driving. A study of drivers over seventy found those who always drove with a pet had nearly twice the crash rate of those who never did.

What a seat belt tether is, and is not

Be clear-eyed about this. A tether keeps a dog on the seat and out of your lap. It is not a crash-protection device. When the Center for Pet Safety crash-tested eleven harnesses that were marketed as "crash tested", only one held the dummy dog on the seat at 30 mph. There is still no government standard for pet restraints. The Center also warns that a long extension tether can let a dog travel forward and be snapped back in a crash. So: short tether, clipped to a harness, dog on the back seat. That is the honest version of "car safety" for a normal budget.

What we stock for this

References

  1. Carter AJ, McNally D, Roshier AL (2020). Canine collars: an investigation of collar type and the forces applied to a simulated neck model. Veterinary Record 187(7):e52. bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
  2. Pauli AM, Bentley E, Diehl KA, Miller PE (2006). Effects of the application of neck pressure by a collar or harness on intraocular pressure in dogs. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association 42(3):207–211.
  3. Shih H-Y et al. (2021). Dog pulling on the leash: effects of restraint by a neck collar vs. a chest harness. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8:735680. frontiersin.org
  4. Center for Pet Safety (2013). Harness Crashworthiness Study. centerforpetsafety.org; and the extension tether advisory, centerforpetsafety.org
  5. Volvo Car USA and Harris Poll (2019). Unrestrained pets in vehicles study. media.volvocars.com
  6. AAA and Kurgo (2011). Pet passenger survey. prnewswire.com
  7. Blunck H, Owsley C, MacLennan PA, McGwin G (2013). Driving with pets as a risk factor for motor vehicle collisions among older drivers. Accident Analysis and Prevention. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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