Bruno’s Close Encounter – How His Harness Saved Him
Last Sunday, Bruno had a close encounter with a large dog and his harness saved him from harm.
It was Sunday morning and for a change the air was cool, the sky was blue and clear. I got motived to take my dogs for a walk. I admit that I don’t do that often. I have a walled in lot that allows my dogs to run from one side of the house to the other. Run around the front yard, then run around to the back yard. They get plenty of exercise for tiny dogs. And I used to find it difficult to walk 4 dogs.
Now, sadly, with the sudden loss of Toni, I only have three dogs so why not try to do that on this beautiful morning. So, I put harnesses on all three. Put Sophia and Bella on a coupler and Bruno who walks faster on a single leash.
They looked so adorable when we started out that I decided to call my neighbor to come out and see them. Since he has a large, strong, energetic dog, I called and asked him to come out through his garage so that his dog would not be out.
As he came out of his garage, delighted with the sight of my dogs, the door to his house did not close fully behind him and his dog came running out. She’s a loving, sweet dog but for some reason, she pounced on Bruno and attacked him. She has toys bigger than my dogs and a new one that wiggles …. Who knows….maybe she thought they were toys. Maybe she wanted to play and didn’t know how delicate they are compared to her big dog friends. We’ll never know.
No matter what the reason, within seconds, she was out of the garage, had her mouth around Bruno and he was screaming.
I reacted immediately and pulled on the leash and pulled him away from her. Then I pulled up and got him into my arms to safety. My neighbor was able to get a hold of his dog and pull her into the house.
After we checked Bruno over and made sure he was not injured, I said to my apologetic neighbor, “This is why I so strongly believe in walking small dogs on harnesses”
- If I had been walking Bruno on a collar, I could not have pulled up on the leash to get him way from the large dog and get him into my arms. I would have choked him.
- The vest harness covered his back and lower neck so when the big dog bit into his back she got fabric not fur or skin.
- Our harnesses go around the lower neck at the shoulders. They do not go around the neck. So, I can pull up on the leash, or grab the harness and lift the dog without hurting their neck.
- We use industrial strength Velcro – hook and loop – and the amount of Velcro increases with harness size. So, our Dog Vest Harnesses are strong enough for you to pull on the leash and get your dog to safety. Whether it’s to protect them from another dog, a coyote, or an oncoming car.
Bruno was safe and not injured. We were all shaken by the experience but our walk in the park calmed us all. And my belief in using a harness instead of walking a small dog on a collar was proven to provide the safety I needed.
To learn more about choosing the right harness for your dog, read our earlier blog post, Harness That Energy, where we talk about what to consider when choosing from all the different styles of harnesses.
And check out our large selection of harnesses on our website.
