# Julius K9 Harnesses



## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

What's so good about them?

I don't mean that in a sarcastic or horrible way :lol: I just hear a lot about them but don't know the first thing about them!

Bit of a lazy thread really cos I can't be bothered to research them :lol: but I was just wondering about them as i've seen a few photos of dogs wearing them recently


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

They may be popular but that does not necessarily make them "good".

IMHO they are very badly designed for several reasons:

1 They are made of material which causes heat to build up in the muscles and thus inflammation eg the supra spinatus and infra spiinatus 
2 They cover a large area of the body
3 They do not keep the entre shoulder or humerus area clear of obstruction thereby potentially causing bursitis in the shoulder joints 

If you look at tracking harnesses and sled dog harnesses these keep the entire front assembly free of any interference to enhance movement. They also do not cover such large muscle masses.


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

smokeybear said:


> They may be popular but that does not necessarily make them "good".
> 
> IMHO they are very badly designed for several reasons:
> 
> ...


Yeah thats pretty much what I thought about them, they seem to cover too much body for my liking and they're very bulky! I don't like harnesses anyway (my dog never pulled as badly as he did with an 'ordinary' harness, and the Halti Harness I paid a squillion pounds for adjusts and looses itself while you're walking, so I had to stop every 5 minutes to re adjust the buckles and gave up on it after a few days, what a load of rubbish!) but the Julius K9's really don't appeal to me!


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## Milliepoochie (Feb 13, 2011)

My attraction to the Julius K9 is that it has no strap between the front legs - And on Millie is clear of her armpits and after trying a number of harnesses this one fits her stocky body shape best. No harness magically stops pulling and I dont use a harness to prevent pulling. Millie wears a harness in the car and each morning for a flexi lead walk. It doesnt come loose, twist around and I have been pleased with it so far. I have invested in a new Ezy Dog chest plate harness as a summer alternative as I am ware it is quite bulky.


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

Milliepoochie said:


> My attraction to the Julius K9 is that it has no strap between the front legs - And on Millie is clear of her armpits and after trying a number of harnesses this one fits her stocky body shape best. No harness magically stops pulling and I dont use a harness to prevent pulling. Millie wears a harness in the car and each morning for a flexi lead walk. It doesnt come loose, twist around and I have been pleased with it so far. I have invested in a new Ezy Dog chest plate harness as a summer alternative as I am ware it is quite bulky.


Fair enough if it's the best fit in terms of shape and comfort for your dog  I know where you're coming from with the armpits thing, Tiger has a very short coat and he's actually bald under his armpits, so I was always wary of 'armpit' harnesses rubbing him and always bought very cushiony ones and checked him over very carefully after he'd worn it. They definitely don't stop pulling (although the Halti one did when it wasn't too busy having a mind of its' own) and most of them made him pull even worse, so i've totally given up on them for him lol


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## TabithaJ (Apr 18, 2010)

Am actually glad you asked this as have also been wondering! I've seen a lot of pics of dogs looking very smart in the Julius K9 harnesses but as SMOKEY BEAR points out, they may not be the best harness health-wise.

I found the Halti harness useless - really disappointing as had read great reviews. The only harnesses I'm looking to get now are a car harness (might get an Ezydog Quick Fit with seat belt adaptor) and also possibly a Dog Games harness with a front ring...


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## Guest (May 14, 2012)

I've got a Julius K9 harness for Kenzie. I tried over 10 different harnesses and the Julius fits her the best by a country mile.

I find it doesn't actually cover any more of her body than other padded harnesses like dog games, in fact it probably covers less because the chest is left completely free. Granted it covers more than just a webbing harness, but I wouldn't use just a webbing one on her anyway. I've never found that she gets hot in it at all to be honest. And it's not bulky at all when it's on - again not nearly as bulky as fleece harnesses, nor as bulky as the Ezydog one with the chest plate IME.

Like Milliepoochie said, nearly all other harnesses rubbed under her armpits and that's one of the big reasons why I choose to use the Julius K9.



TabithaJ said:


> The only harnesses I'm looking to get now are a car harness (might get an Ezydog Quick Fit with seat belt adaptor)


Just as an aside, please don't use the Ezydog harness as a car harness. It is not designed to do anything to protect your dog in a crash, all it does is keep them in one spot but the harness itself could seriously injure the dog. Please look into a crash-tested car harness like Bergan, or at least a harness properly designed for use in a car


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Doesn't rub Spen, doesn't twist all over the place, doesn't slide around on him, doesn't come loose. All the other harnesses I've tried have done one or more of those things.

I also don't use it to stop pulling, I train for that purpose as I've not found anything else at all that helps long term.

Tabitha, I know several people who were really disappointed with the Ezydog harness. Said it was absolutely useless.


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## Milliepoochie (Feb 13, 2011)

TabithaJ said:


> I found the Halti harness useless - really disappointing as had read great reviews. The only harnesses I'm looking to get now are a car harness (might get an Ezydog Quick Fit with seat belt adaptor) and also possibly a Dog Games harness with a front ring...


As a word of warning if you have a broad chested dog the Quick Fit harness will prol be useless.

I tried it for Millie (If you look at my old threads youl see some photos) and we tried the Medium (Which should of fitted according to the manufacturers) and a large and neither were any good, in fact after 3-4 emails to Ezy Dog for fitting isntructions I was told Millie was an 'odd' shaped dog :cursing:. I found it hard to adjust and the velcro felt quick flimsy and there wasnt much room for adjustment (We needed it on the largest setting within the safe adjustment area) and even on the longest setting it never seem to move the harness back from the armpit region. Also I would DEFINATELY not use a harness with no strap between the front legs as a car harness.

We personally have found the Ezy Dog Chest Plate harness sturdier and 'simpler' if that makes sense.


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## Wyrd (Jul 27, 2010)

I've got 2 Julius k9 harneses at the moment, we use them rain or shine, summer or winter and not had any issues with rubbing or movement which is the problem with other harnesses.
I also use panniers on Coopers harness and find the handle really useful for helping my oldie in and out of the car and for holding the dogs if I need to when out walking.


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

Sarah1983 said:


> Doesn't rub Spen, doesn't twist all over the place, doesn't slide around on him, doesn't come loose. All the other harnesses I've tried have done one or more of those things.
> 
> I also don't use it to stop pulling, I train for that purpose as I've not found anything else at all that helps long term.
> 
> Tabitha, I know several people who were really disappointed with the Ezydog harness. Said it was absolutely useless.


I didn't think the Julius K9 would move around or adjust itself, everyone seems to think that's what I said by the looks of the replies :lol: but I was only referring to the Halti Harness 

I wasn't really trying to use the harnesses as a solution to his pulling either (although the Halti one sort of was, on paper it looks foolproof but in reality it's badly designed and poor quality) the reason I used a harness was because on a flat collar, he was choking himself and he made himself sick a few times, so I decided to give harnesses a go for his comfort rather than trying to find a solution. However, after 4 years of owning him and making NO progress in the pulling department apart from a few steps here and there, I have all but given up trying to stop the pulling. A figure of 8 headcollar or a Canny Collar seem to do the trick and we can both agree on them.



Wyrd said:


> I've got 2 Julius k9 harneses at the moment, we use them rain or shine, summer or winter and not had any issues with rubbing or movement which is the problem with other harnesses.
> I also use panniers on Coopers harness and find the handle really useful for helping my oldie in and out of the car and for holding the dogs if I need to when out walking.


Yeah I thought the handle looked useful, I did wonder at first if it was an agility/flyball harness lol.


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