I tried to buy a Canny collar last weekend. Actually drove Isis to Seattle to do so, because you can't just buy a Canny collar anywhere. They're from the U.K.

Why I thought the Canny collar would be better than the Gentle Leader or the Halti, I cannot explain. But when I got to the pet store, the employees talked me out of the Canny collar.

"See, she doesn't like it," the guy said, as Isis batted at the strap over her nose. Well I didn't expect her to like it!

They convinced me that a harness would be better, but they didn't have the right size so I went to a second store and bought the Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness. And then didn't use it until this morning because I didn't feel like walking in the rain on Sunday and slept too long yesterday.

For the first block, she pulled as usual, and I felt discouraged and thought I'd just order the Canny collar online anyway, because the D-ring on her chest pulls to the side when she forges ahead of me. But, I think overall, she pulled less, and then I remembered the point was to prevent lunging and snarling at other dogs. Which we didn't test today because we didn't see any dogs.

I put her prong collar on her as well (without the leash attached) just in case things didn't go well with the harness. Looking at it as we walked, I felt so foolish. How could I have not understood that by tightening up on the prong collar, I was prompting her to lash out at other dogs?

I'm nervous about how she'll do with other dogs while on the harness. I suppose I should just saunter on past them, rather than anticipate her lunging. And if she does, shrug, smile and apologize like I always do.