Long time no bark!

Mom has been so dog gone busy lately that she’s had no time to sit down and let me dictate my thoughts to her. Needless to say my big paws make typing pretty dang hard, so I’ve been forced to silence myself for the last few weeks. And I have to say, I’ve missed you!

Today I’m celebrating the death of my old harness. Mom bought it for me 3 years ago and I hated it from the first moment she put it on me…mostly because whenever I wear it, I usually have to go where I’m told instead of slipping away like I can do with most regular collars.

Since the harness is hitting the trash can today (thanks to a new different harness arriving in the mail…boooo!), I thought it would be appropriate to give a full review of the Limex harness I’m retiring.

It’s a pretty simple harness made of nylon and neoprene. And that stitching you see on there is reflective. There’s nothing too fancy about it, but it was one of the only harnesses mom could find at the time here in Germany that was big enough for a dog like me. In fact, they come in sizes so big that the first one she ordered for me was too big (over 100 cm around the chest — I’m more in the 85cm range).

 

It’s got a couple of rings to attach the leash to. There is a primary ring in the middle which attached to a polyester nylon strip that allows the ring to move back and forth while I’m on leash. That strip held up for about two years…but started to wear a bit with daily use. And last year mom attached me to a fence when a neighbor was approaching with his three dogs, knowing that I was already über-excited and she couldn’t hold me back with her broken arm. Unfortunately, I was going so bizzerk at that moment that I pulled the strip right in half and still managed to run over to the neighbor to say hello. Nothing bad happened really, but if it had been a dog that didn’t know me and wasn’t so friendly, or there had been traffic around, it could have been a pretty risky experience.

Then, just last week, another of the D-rings on the side was pulled out of the harness. These rings on either side would have made this harness good for carting…if I actually knew how to pull when there’s something weighing me down. When this particular ring pulled out, we were actually on the busy street in front of our house and I just had to go greet a guy with a dog that I don’t really know very well, but I love to act tough around. I ran out in front of a car and very nearly got hit…not that I noticed, but I sure did give my folks a panic attack. Not to mention the guy with his little dog who thought I was going to eat them.

The humans figure they could have sewn the harness back to together in all of these areas, as they’ve done it before with leashes I consumed, but since the non-nylon parts were also old and cracked on the harness, it was just time to let it go.

My Ratings

  • Drool factor: 0/5 — I don’t like harnesses very much, they don’t taste good and they help me to be controlled better when I get excited, so nothing to drool about here.
  • Safety: 4/5 — This harness definitely kept me out of a lot of trouble in its prime. The reflective stitching on it really does very little to help me be seen at night. But I’m a Newfie with long hair — so you can barely even see the harness or even LED lights on me at any time of the day.
  • Durability: 4/5 — As explained above, the harness was no longer in “like new” condition. But considering the fact that I had to wear it every single day, rain or shine, in and out of the water, mud and snow, I guess it held up pretty well.
  • Price: 4/5 — It cost less than €30 online which is comparable to other harnesses.

So there you have it. My new harness is ultra stylish and I know I’ll be photographed in it sooner or later. Do you humans make you wear a harness? Or are you a good dog with a neck not quite so thick as mine that manages to stay in your regular collar?

Kisses,