It's that time of year again! Spring and Summer fun with dogs!
Goodbye winter! Hello fun activities! No matter what you're choosing to do, whether you'll be hiking or maybe taking a new training class, I have a gear recommendation for you! Zoe and Phoenix absolutely love going on new adventures, hiking trips and exploring the great outdoors and we always have a blast testing out gear. We only share products that we completely believe in.
Hurtta is one of our favorite companies, they have been producing top notch dog gear for the last 20 years! They offer a variety of different items from amazing dog coats to cooling coats, boots, life jackets, harnesses, leashes, collars. You name it and Hurtta probably has it. One of my favorite things about Hurtta as a company is that they are constantly testing and improving the quality of their products.
When we go on our outdoor adventures or training classes with Zoe and Phoenix, the first thing I always pack is their harnesses. I prefer training and walking my dogs with their leashes attached to a harness and I feel that harnesses are the best way to keep dogs safe in the outdoors or challenging conditions.
Attaching a leash to the collar could be harmful to a dog's neck if they were to see something and suddenly jerk on the leash, not to mention the added pressure on their necks can cause some dogs to become reactive or stressed. (For more information why you shouldn't attach a leash to your dog's collar, please see this article: "Is it harmful to attach a leash to your dog's neck?" by Emily Larlham)
We generally only use our collars for their tags, quick potty trips out in our yard or when we go on our off leash hikes, where the leash is only attached to the collar from the car right to the trail and then they are taken off the leash.
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Attaching a leash to the collar could be harmful to a dog's neck if they were to see something and suddenly jerk on the leash, not to mention the added pressure on their necks can cause some dogs to become reactive or stressed. (For more information why you shouldn't attach a leash to your dog's collar, please see this article: "Is it harmful to attach a leash to your dog's neck?" by Emily Larlham)
We generally only use our collars for their tags, quick potty trips out in our yard or when we go on our off leash hikes, where the leash is only attached to the collar from the car right to the trail and then they are taken off the leash.
The Padded Y and Padded Y2
Harnesses are my favorite harnesses from the Hurtta line. These
harnesses are great for walks, hikes and dog sports of all kinds! This
harness is also great for dogs who may suffer from neck or back issues,
if the dog happens to pull on the leash, the close-fitting harness
distributes pressure evenly across the chest, preventing damage to the
dog’s vertebrae and trachea. These harnesses are padded with neoprene,
they are light weight and so comfortable for the dogs to wear. They do
not cause any rubbing of the fur or skin. The harnesses are easy and
quick to put on and my dogs have never had a problem adjusting to
wearing them.
The
Padded Y2 Harness is a little different from the original design, it
has an O ring in the front and a longer strap on the back. I really like
the updated design and I like that I could attach a leash to the front
of the harness on the chest if I needed to. Both of these harness styles
are excellent. The Y2 does run a little bigger than the original so if
you're upgrading you might want to get one size smaller than the
original Y that you had.
These
harnesses have one point of adjustment so measuring carefully is
important. The chest measurement is the most important one, from my
experience.
The Active Harness is a great harness for any adventurous dog! This is my favorite one for hiking trips. This harness is sturdy, padded and has 4 points of adjustment. It's a little more heavier duty than the previous harnesses. The back has a handle that is comfortable to hold on to. I really love this harness and use it on narrow trails or when we go hiking where there might be sharp cliffs. It makes me feel like I'm keeping my dogs safe in those kinds of situations. I also like the added handle that I can hold on to when we pass other hikers. The handle is also useful for keeping dogs secure in vehicles.
The Padded Harness was our very first harness that we purchased from Hurtta. It was what started our obsession and deserves an honorable mention! I've had these harnesses for as long as I've had Zoe. So going on 6 years and the harnesses are still in excellent condition, despite all the adventures we've been on, all the mud dirt and times I've dropped them in the washing machine. This harness is different from the Y and Y2 as it does not have a strap that goes between the legs. The design on this one is for over the head and buckling behind the front legs. My dogs do seem to pull a bit more in this harness and it's a great harness for nosework or any sort of scent detection where it's okay for a dog to pull.
The Padded Collar is neoprene-padded, reflective and is comfortable in use and provides long-range visibility. If you would like to see us putting the padded collar through it's paces, check out our video of Phoenix swimming: https://youtu.be/oR0iNxrSXFo. The Hurtta Padded Collar is the only collar I trust them to wear and not get ruined when we go get muddy at the park or hitting the trails!
The Mountain Rope Leashes are comfortably and soft to hold in your hand. They are highly durable and resembling climbing ropes in structure and materials. Hurtta recently updated their leads, replacing the mental with aluminium, which is highly durable, stainless and extremely light. Rope leashes are my favorite kind to use and I love these!
All of the harnesses, padded collars and rope leads have 3M reflectors that help keep you safe in low light conditions. All of the gear from Hurtta is machine washable. I would recommend using a garment bag and a gentle cycle. Don't dry the gear in a machine, air dry only.
We absolutely love our gear from Hurtta! Everything we've ever gotten has lasted for years. Hurtta is a fabulous company and wonderful to work with. I highly recommend checking them out and giving their gear a try!
Happy Spring everyone! What sort of adventures will you be going on this year with your dogs?
ZoePhee received products from Hurtta in exchange for our honest thoughts and opinions. All opinions are my own. We were not monetarily compensated.
We are partnering with Hurtta and Major Dog to give one of our readers a chance to win a prize pack worth up to $100! One (1) lucky winner will receive the Harness of their choice, a Padded Collar and a Mountain Rope Leash from Hurtta and a Tiger Toy from Major Dog. The giveaway is open to USA and Canadian (excluding Quebec), age 18 years or older. Please follow the directions on the giveaway widget to enter. The winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to reply before I choose someone else. Good luck everyone!
