Dog Community

Red skin, hair loss from nylon harness

Posted : 7/17/2006 12:36:18 PM

Hello,

This is my first post to this forum, though I've been reading for a while now. I'm Toby's mom, he's a 2-year-old, 17-lb. terrier mix rescued in February from a foster group in Reno, NV.

Toby's a very obedient dog, but he's got a strong prey drive for chipmunks and other little critters so I walk him on a lead and harness whenever we go out (I'm not confident he'd heed my recall if he were unleashed.) We take long hikes through the woods and around the mountains of the Sierra, and one of his favorite activities is taking a dip in the lakes and ponds we come across on our walks. I hop in the water with him so I can keep him on the lead, and he swims around for a few minutes and cools off before we head home. This week I've noticed that Toby's harness has caused an unsettling amount of hair loss and rubbing irritation under his forelegs and on his belly.

The harness fit is loose enough to get a finger or two between the webbing and his body so I don't think it's too tight on him, I'm guessing it's from the friction of the wet webbing against his skin as we walk home after he swims. I'm not too sure what to do for him; the skin is already red and irritated so I suspect that continuing to use the harness will only exacerbate the problem, but I don't want to curtail his daily walks, and using a flat collar when walking a little guy like Toby chokes him into coughing fits with the slightest little tug.

Can anyone make any recommendations on how to heal Toby's sore skin and protect him from further injury while still using the harness and allowing him to romp and swim the way he enjoys?

Thanks, everybody!

Chris Komar

Posted : 7/17/2006 6:32:44 PM

The only thing that comes to my mind, could you use a gentle leader or halti some call it. I wouldn't use the harness untill he is healed, it will only make it worse

simcoe

Posted : 7/17/2006 11:20:26 PM

Hmm, I do have a Halti collar but it sure isn't much fun for general romping and playing. Mainly we use it for high-traffic walking or for situations where there are a lot of strange dogs present. I guess if we have to we have to, but he'll probably call the ASPCA on me while I'm sleeping for ruining his fun. [

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Are there any effective, soothing salves I can put on the irritations that won't poison the poor little guy if he licks them?

Chris Komar

Posted : 7/19/2006 8:52:47 PM

I've always used polysporin on my dog they have one that is a cream so it would soak up into his skin, so if he did lick it most of it would have already absorbed into his skin.

M.W.Lewis

Posted : 7/20/2006 11:01:13 AM

What about a vest harness?
I saw one on a site called Bella Paris, also they make them for toy dogs if you google it.

simcoe

Posted : 7/20/2006 2:15:40 PM

Hey, that vest harness is interesting! I would never have thought of looking for one of those. I was toying with the idea of having him wear a t-shirt under his harness for a while, but a vest harness is definitely a little more practical. I'm not crazy about the patterns and fabrics I saw on my first search, they're a little... uh... decorative for my pooch. Maybe I can adapt the pattern and a nice plain cotton one for summer and fleece for winter — wow, maybe even a neoprene one for swimming. So many possibilities! [

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Toby spent last night trying out a new boarding kennel across town (I'm planning a vacation sans dog in August) so he got a nice break from collars, leashes, and harnesses for 24 hours, and they put some neosporin on his boo-boo overnight and it isn't even red today — just bald. I think he'll pull through, I may just have to revoke his pool privileges for a few days.