If you're here looking for the best dog harness reviews, then chances are you aren't exactly having the most fun of experiences when walking your dog outside the house.
For a dozen potential reasons that may be causing this to happen, you may be finding it very difficult to control your dog when walking outside the house with something like a leash and collar, especially if all they do is pull, pull and pull all the time.
Or, you may just not like the whole concept of using a dog collar on your precious one for movement control purposes, and may be looking for something more safe for them and their body instead.
Our List Of The Top 5 Dog Harnesses - (Updated List For 2023)
Top Pick: Ruffwear Front Range Everyday Harness
Pick #2: PetSafe Easy Walk Harness
Pick #3: Chai’s Choice Front Range Dog Harness
Pick #4: Kurgo Tru-Fit Smart Dog Harness
Pick #5: ARIKON No-Pull Harness
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*Note: The links in the table above, as well as several links in the remainder of the article below, will take you to over to Amazon.com or Chewy.com where you can find out more information about the products, such as current prices and customer reviews.
Best Dog Harness Reviews - (Our Top 3 Options Reviewed)
Whether you're looking for the best dog harness for large dogs, the best dog harness for small dogs, the most comfortable dog harness or any other criteria/labels by which dog harnesses are divided into, we've sorted what we believe to be the top options for you in the following list.
Pick #1 - Ruffwear Front Range Everyday Harness
Comfort Galore: If comfort for your dog is your #1 concern when buying a dog harness for them, then this option from Ruffwear is one of the most comfortable dog harnesses available on the market today.
The pads on the chest area and belly area alone are well worth the price of this dog harness, given how comfortable they make your dog feel.
Multiple Adjustment Points: While some dog harnesses out there give you very limited options in adjusting the harness to fit your dog properly and ensure they're comfortable wearing it, this isn't the case with this Ruffwear dog harness.
Ruffwear give you the option to work with 4 adjustment points with this dog harness, meaning you're able to tighten the grip or loosen it up from 4 different points in order to make sure it perfectly fits your dog and that they're comfortable wearing it even for prolonged periods of time.
Reflective Material: As you'll be seeing if you continue reading this article, reflective material being part of a dog harness is a huge plus for safety reasons, as such material makes it tremendously easier for your dog to stand out and be noticed in the environment around them, hence minimizing the possibility of unfortunate accidents taking place.
This dog harness from Ruffwear has a reflective trim on the front side that gives you exactly this safety aspect.
Very Durable: Ruffwear are renowned for creating some of the most durable pet products on the market (after all, it's in the name - hint: Ruff), and this dog harness is no different.
This dog harness has been specifically designed to sustain even the "roughest" of activities you might want to take your dog on, such as hiking.
Incredibly Easy To Wear: This has got to be one of the best dog harnesses ever made as far as ease of having your dog wear it and taking it off of them is concerned.
With many other dog harnesses being sold today, it feels like you have to connect a million pieces together before you're able to go off with your dog wherever you're planning to go, something which almost never goes smoothly because dogs quickly get agitated and start to resist having you put this harness on them.
This Ruffwear dog harness can have you put it on your dog and take it off in a matter of seconds.
Pick #2 - PetSafe Easy Walk Harness
Excellent Positioning: First off, the Easy Walk Harness from PetSafe has the #1 condition we like to see in all dog harnesses alike, which is very safe positioning on your dog's body.
This dog harness won't be coming anywhere near your dog's neck area, hence removing any risk of possible choking or severe injuries because of unexpected movements in such a critical area of the body.
Instead, this dog harness is meant to be placed on your dog's chest area, a very safe area for any piece of equipment you want to control your dog's movement with to be placed.
Great For Excessive Pullers: Sometimes, and no matter what tricks you have up your sleeve, your dog will just continue to be a very energetic/hyper dog that wants to do nothing but pull against her leash during walks.
If your dog falls under this category, you'll be pleased to know that this dog harness has stood the test of time and proven to be effective even with the most excessive of pulling dogs there are out there, making the walking experience a much more enjoyable one for you, or one the dog walker you hired will be willing to repeat in the near future.
All in all, this is one of the best dog harness for excessive pulling dogs, hands down.
Great For First Time Dog Harness Users: If this is your first time making use of a dog harness, PetSafe have looked into the tiny details that make a big difference in greatly helping out first-time/inexperienced users.
For example, the belly strap on this dog harness has a different color than the part that has to be wrapped around your dog's chest area.
This may seem like an insignificant feature, but it makes the world of difference in making things easier for new dog harness users that may otherwise find it difficult to tell which part goes where.
Different Sizes For Different Needs: No matter what category of size your dog falls under, PetSafe have a size option for you.
This dog harness is available in sizes that range all the way from extra small (labeled as Petite by PetSafe) all the way to Extra Large, in a successful attempt from the manufacturers not to leave any dog missing out on the benefit this dog harness has to offer.
PetSafe have made the measuring process a very easy one for you to go through with your dog, providing you with a very accurate and easy to follow size chart so you can know which size option suits your dog best.
There have been reports that PetSafe's size chart was inaccurate in the past, but that issue seems to have been addressed as of recent.
Pick #3 - Chai’s Choice Front Range Dog Harness
Very Lightweight: Even though this dog harness from Chai’s Choice is made from high quality and durable material, one thing we love about it is how lightweight it is and feels (weight less than 200 grams), a feeling your dog will certainly appreciate as well.
For something as heavy duty as this dog harness, its light weight is impressive to say the least.
Useful Handle: A very useful feature that Chai’s Choice have included in the overall design of this dog harness is a handle near the back area which you can use to keep your dog close to you at all times, grab your dog an pick them up in an instant from the handle and have them secured in place safely while driving with them in the car and make very well use of it when trying to correct certain behavior your dog is doing.
Why Should I Invest In The Best Dog Harness?
Let's have a quick look at some of the most important reasons why any dog owner should consider buying a dog harness to use on their dog.
Difficulty Exerting Control Over Dogs: Many dog owners often find that it's becoming increasingly difficult to exert proper control over their dogs when outdoors and putting something like a dog collar into use.
For some people, their dogs have significantly grown in size and physical power, and they just aren't able to keep up with this growth nowadays.
Even the slightest of pulls from such large sized and/or powerful dogs will have you following them without being able to do much to stop them, something which puts you, your dog and other people/pets around you in great danger.
A dog harness offers you much better ability to keep control over your dog at all times, even if we're talking about relatively larger sized and physically powerful dogs.
The Safety Aspect: Using a dog harness instead of trying to keep control over your dog when outside by attaching to a collar is a much safer practice.
Think about it for a second, when you're attaching to your dog's collar and pull in order to make them stop, you run the risk of seriously injuring your dog's neck area because of the sudden pulling movement that's being subjected to such a delicate part of your dog's body.
This becomes especially true if you suddenly pull against your dog's movement when they try to go somewhere with a full throttle movement, the risk of injury is great in these cases.
In many cases, dogs have even lost their lives because of this.
What's great about a dog harness, and what makes it much more safer for your dog, is the fact that a dog harness isn't attached to your dog's neck but is rather attached to a wide area of your dog's body, hence significantly reducing the risk of your dog being injured because of sudden pulls.
Any pull that's absorbed by a larger part of your dog's body translates to significantly less chances of injury than a pull being absorbed by a small portion of your dog's body, let alone a delicate part like the neck area.
The Comfort Aspect: Besides the fact that using a dog harness is much safer than trying to exert control over your dog with a dog leash and collar, it's also a much more comfortable experience for your dog, which again goes back to the fact that a dog harness ties to a large portion of their body instead of a limited area.
It just feels much more natural to your dog to be controlled via a dog harness than attaching a leash to a dog collar.
Reflective Material: Even though this in no way, shape or form affects the actual effectiveness of a harness for dogs, the fact that the best dog harnesses are often made of reflective colors is a huge positive for any dog owner.
When outside the house with your dog and no matter what you're doing, having any material on them (such as a dog harness in this case) with clearly visible reflective color will go a very long way in making their presence known and very clear for everyone around, thus ensuring their safety and minimizing the chances of potential accidents from happening.
What's also great about reflectors being part of the material your dog harness was made of is the fact that they greatly help make your dog stand out at night when there's barely any light around, and not just during daytime, a major safety factor you should take into consideration if you like to take your dog outside the house for walks/jogs/etc.. when it's dark outside.
What Makes The Best Harness For Dogs?
Without knowing what exactly to look for in the dog harness you want to buy for your dog, you can easily miss the forest for the trees and end up investing in a dog harness that isn't at all suitable for YOUR dog.
If you take the following list of factors into consideration and keep them in mind when shopping for a dog harness, you're guaranteed to end up making the right choice and only buying the best dog harness you could have ever invested in for your dog.
Proper Size: The first thing you should ever make sure of when buying a dog harness for Fido is that its size properly fits your dog.
If you fail to ensure that the dog harness you're buying for your dog fits them perfectly, then you risk getting one that's either too large for their size and will just prove to be terribly inefficient at doing its job and give your dog way too much space to easily make their way out of the harness and run wherever they'd like to run to, or you risk getting one that's too small for your dog's size that will make them feel greatly pressured and uncomfortable (imagine wearing a very tight t-shirt yourself while you're suffering from a nasty case of bloating - yes, it's that bad).
Manufacturers of the best dog harnesses will almost always have a wide variety of sizes which you can choose from for your dog.
Material The Dog Harness Is Made Of: One of the most important factors you have to take into consideration before buying a dog harness is what material it's made of, since this can make the world of difference between a good dog harness and a bad one.
The best dog harnesses will almost always be made from high quality material that has proven to be both durable and very comfortable for dogs to wear, even for prolonged periods of time.
If either of these two conditions aren't present in a dog harness, then it's not worth your time or money.
You obviously want a dog harness that will last you a fairly long time before it starts to wear out and it's time for you to replace it with a new one, since there's going to be a whole lot of pulling from your dog in attempts to get away and from you in attempts to keep control of their movement, and you obviously want a dog harness that's comfortable for your pooch to wear on them because you'll have a very difficult time having them wear if it it doesn't feel comfy.
Lightweight: While any dog harness you buy for your dog must be made out of only the highest quality and highly durable material, you should also make sure that it's light in weight, or else your dog will feel very uncomfortable wearing it after a short period of time if it feels fairly heavy.
Great list! I’m planning to buy Ruffwear Harness but it’s a little bit expensive so maybe I should save money first haha lol
Looking for a cute harness for my dog, thank you for this.
Taking your dog to the park?