Our friends over at Fur and Fables are massive fans of the Ruffwear brand, and have kindly shared some words on why they think it's so great. Kerry, the Fur and Fables director and proud dog mum to five whippets, specialises in pet photography and offers the most beautiful keepsakes starring your furry friend. You can check out some of her impressive work here: https://www.furandfables.com/portfolio/
Why I choose Ruffwear - By Fur and Fables
There were two reasons we were looking at harnesses; one our old boy Jasper was quite sensitive around his head when he had his inner ear removed, we felt a harness would be much gentler for him, and then there was Shadow.
When we first got Shadow, we realised that we would need a harness for some of our walks, basically wherever there was going to be any excitement, if he saw anything even remotely fun then he would leap four foot in the air and dance around like a maniac. Not great when the only thing he is tethered to is a collar round his neck.
It’s notoriously difficult find harnesses for sighthounds, most fits seem to be too loose because of their deep but skinny chests. We were pleasantly surprised by the RuffWear front range harness, because of the amount of adjusting we could do at several points, it fitted perfectly. I also loved the fact that rather than being strips of thinner material like a lot of harnesses, this has wider, more padded sections and the front almost feels like a chest piece. You can view the harness in more detail here.
The front range harnesses are great for general walking, however Shadow learned how to back out of it. So we checked out the six point webmaster - problem solved! Again this is super adjustable, it fits him really well and with the added benefit of the harness coming further towards where the waist tucks in, it’s Shadow proof. We went for the addition of the stomach protector as he had previously had trouble with an awful rash after going through long grass. Hey presto, we have the perfect harness! You can view the six point webmaster in more detail here.
We use the front range harnesses for all the other hounds with great success. We have the small size for all five hounds, that shows how adjustable they are as they are very different in height & weight! I can also pop them over our dog coats & jumpers.
When do I use them?
We use them quite a lot, like if we are going somewhere super busy like DogFest or when we are exploring the countryside. Anywhere there is too much going on for us to be trying to direct the hounds from collars, it’s not easy on their necks as they are constantly trying to hoover up dropped food or follow exciting smells.
Is there a downside?
The only downside I personally have is storing them as I have multiples. When you have more than one, hanging them up is difficult (particularly the webmaster) so we may have to designate a draw for them somewhere. That’s a small price to pay for a perfect fit, hard wearing, long lasting harness.
I have done a short video on how they look & fit: https://youtu.be/SaGPXdi7hrE
