The 7 Best No-Pull Dog Harnesses

The Auroth Tactical Dog Harness is definitively the best no-pull harness we tested. Designed as a vest for your dog, it’s made of super-tough nylon with reinforced stitching that is durable and long-lasting. The vest is cushioned on the inner top and bottom and keeps your dog comfortable and protected against abrasions from the straps under their front legs.

The Auroth glides over your dog’s head and the straps are easy to adjust. The buckles are made of a heavy-duty plastic and stay secure when snapped together. They also have well-designed releases that you don’t have to struggle with when removing the harness off of your dog. The straps are lined with fluorescent edging, as is the Auroth logo on the chest piece, so you can easily spot your dog at night. The medium-size we purchased needed almost no buckle adjustment on our border collie and some minor adjustment with our terrier mix, but overall, the Auroth harness fit both dogs with no problem.Read more…

When the harness was secure on the dogs, it fit like a vest, and neither dog seemed bothered by it. The harness is well-padded under the back of the dogs’ front legs and doesn’t abrade the sensitive skin underneath when they’re walking.

The harness has two thick metal rings for connecting the leash: one on top and one on the chest piece. The top ring was very effective in controlling our dogs’ pulling. A gentle tug on the leash was enough to keep the dogs held back. The chest ring didn’t do much, however, and it is probably intended for casual walking with well-trained dogs.

The top part of the harness has a heavy-duty handle should you need to quickly grab your dog, such as when they spot a squirrel or other potential prey. If you’re inclined to take your dog hiking or hunting, the Auroth also has strips of MOLLE (short for “Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment”) for attaching pouches that can hold a water bottle or bowl. Overall, the Auroth harness is extremely well-made, much more than the other copycat harnesses we tested, and is constructed to last for years.

The PetSafe Easy Walk harness is one of the most effective no-pull harnesses for training puppies and young dogs. Out of the box, it’s a bit tricky to get the proper adjustment, but once done, it’s just a matter of slipping the harness over your dog’s head and snapping a chest buckle just behind the dog’s front legs.

You do need to take the time to get the proper adjustment; otherwise, the harness will slip to the side when the dog attempts to pull left or right. The Easy Walk has no padding, and at first, it might seem that the straps will cause friction under the dog’s front legs, but its unique design virtually eliminates all pulling.Read more…

The Easy Walk has a martingale loop positioned at the chest, which is unusual for dog harnesses. The martingale is generally a type of collar used for show dogs or nervous, long-necked breeds (like greyhounds) that tightens around the dog’s neck to prevent it from slipping out. In Easy Walk’s case, the chest martingale loop simply tightens when the owner gives the leash a quick, sharp tug and forces the dog to pay attention. Although the straps are not padded, the dog is not hurt in any way and instead feels pressure at their chest.

To be clear, this is an excellent harness for training, and it will take you and the dog some getting used to, but it will work with patience. The Easy Walk comes in eight sizes, from petite to extra large, and will help you control any pull-crazy dog, from a Chihuahua to a Great Dane.

BARKBAY is a padded vest-type harness that’s easy to adjust. Other no-pull harnesses we tested had adjustment buckles underneath padding, which made it frustrating and unnecessarily difficult to adjust the straps when fitting the harness on our dogs. BARKBAY took about a minute to fit properly, and the sturdy metal buckles kept the strap in place with no slippage. The harness is well-made with a sturdy handle for grabbing a wayward dog and reflective strips for night-time walks.

We had two minor issues with BARKBAY’s design. First, the bone-shaped chest padding is quite narrow and doesn’t really protect your dog’s chest from abrasion. Second, the straps aren’t padded and can cause friction under your dog’s front legs when they try to pull.Read more…

The harness has two metal rings for attaching a leash. The chest ring did nothing to prevent our dogs from pulling, and although the top ring was better, we needed to pull upward to restrain our dogs. This, in effect, lifts the dog, meaning you need some strength to get your dog under control. BARKBAY is a good harness for dogs already trained not to pull. But for untrained dogs, we recommend either of our top picks over BARKBAY.

The Freedom No-Pull Harness by 2 Hounds Design is similar to the PetSafe Easy Walk harness. It features a martingale loop, but it’s on the top of the harness (rather than at the chest) and did little to prevent our dogs from pulling. The Freedom harness has an added velvet covering on the chest strap to reduce abrasion under the dog’s front legs. It’s sturdily made, but despite its effectiveness, we found this harness difficult to adjust on our dogs.

Out of the box, it looks like the Freedom harness would be easy to fit, but that wasn’t the case. The top part of the harness relies on straps that are linked together by two loops, which never lie flat. Once the harness is on the dog, the release buckles snap together too tightly, making them impossible to release quickly.Read more…

After we got the top part fitted properly, we struggled to adjust the velvet-wrapped chest strap because the buckle is too thin to accommodate the thick strap. The velvet piece is held in place by a looped strap, which adds bulk so the velvet doesn’t lay against the dog’s chest.

The Kurgo Tru-Fit Smart Harness was the most arduous to fit on our dogs. With five straps to adjust, it took some time to get this “smart” harness to fit properly because the straps are prone to twisting. We had to proceed one strap at a time and then backtrack to readjust the straps so that the harness sat evenly. The Kurgo has a martingale loop on the top of the harness, and as with the 2 Dogs Design Freedom harness, it did nothing to prevent pulling.

The chest loop was better at controlling our dogs’ pace, but with so many straps, the harness slipped to the right or left, meaning we had to stop walking and readjust the straps again. Also, the straps have no protective covering, and because they easily get twisted, theycan abrade under the dog’s front legs. On the plus side, a sturdy seatbelt tether is included for keeping your pup safe in the car.

One of the most popular dog harnesses, the tobeDRI is a cheap rip-off of the much-better BARKBAY harness. Perhaps its popularity is due to the 4-foot bungee-cord-like leash that’s included, but it proved to be scary for both our test dogs. The medium-size harness was much too small for our medium-size dogs, so if you’re thinking of buying the tobeDRI, then go for one size larger than normal.

The strap’s buckles are concealed under the chest plate, so we had trouble adjusting the harness to fit properly. This harness does have two metal leash rings—one on top, and the other on the chest—but the chest leash ring is half-concealed in a pocket and is not conducive to hooking a normal-size leash. The harness only has release buckles on its sides, so we had to tug it over our dogs’ heads to remove it, which was uncomfortable and frightening for them.

At more than double the price of our two top picks, RUFFWEAR is at the bottom of our list. It’s a vest-type harness made from very stiff polyester with minimal padding. All of the harnesses we tested were medium-size for our two dogs, but the RUFFWEAR—the smallest of the medium harnesses—didn’t fit either of our dogs. We then ordered the next size up (L/XL), and although the chest piece fit our larger dog, it was too long, extending to his lower back and bunching up. RUFFWEAR needs to redesign the sizes to have a stand-alone large and a stand-alone extra-large.

The harness’ buckles are underneath the harness’ material, which makes them very difficult to snap together or release on the dogs. The adjustment straps are also concealed, so this harness was the most frustrating and time-consuming to adjust. It has a thick metal leash ring at the top of the harness, but the chest plate just has a material-covered plastic loop, and neither worked at preventing pulling. Clearly cheaply made but ridiculously priced, we cannot recommend this harness.