Product Review: Kong-brand Reflective Harness

The Kong Reflective Harness is a Roman-style harness with a padded chest plate. It features heavy duty metal hardware and reflective stitching. It comes in four colors and four sizes to fit dogs with chests 12-38" around.

Photo by Erin Koski

The Kong-branded products not shown on the Kong Company website appear to be exclusive to Petsmart, which seems kind of weird. They are advertised under the slogan "tough enough to be called Kong" and range from collar, leashes, and harnesses, to beds, crates, and even life jackets. I'm not totally comfortable with the idea of products bearing a familiar and trusted brand name without actually being acknowledged by that company. Several consumers also appear to be confused, as bad reviews for this product often cite a "lack of durability" because their dog chewed through it. Harnesses aren't chew-proof....

This is a very nice harness, though. While it's not actually a crash-protection harness, it is overbuilt and extremely strong compared to the average walking harness. The leash ring is too big for the clips on my Lupine leashes, an issue I haven't had before. The harness adjusts around dog's neck and chest, but the front center section with the chest pad is a fixed length. This makes the Kong Reflective Harness slightly less adjustable, and it may not be a great fit for weird-shaped dogs. Unlike the EzyDog Chest Plate Harness, the chest plate on this one is flexible and doesn't stab my dog in the neck.

Pros: Extra strong and tough. Reflective stitching increases visibility. Metal hardware is durable and built to last.

Cons: Not terribly adjustable and extra large hardware limits which leashes can be used. Wide chest plate may rub the inside of the front legs or damage the hair on some dogs.

Bottom Line: It's a nice harness and a lot of people like it, but it isn't going to prevent injury in an actual collision. It works great for Ulysses.

Ulysses Returns

Almost three weeks ago, Ulysses was returned again. He was fighting with the other dog in the home, and showing some reactivity towards other dogs and people on a busy bike path. Between the fighting, barking, and lunging, the second adoptive family felt that Uly wasn't a good fit. I resolved to keep him for a few more weeks this time to better evaluate what type of home would be best for him. Although he has lived peacefully with two other dogs, he did fight with the dog in his second adoptive home, and he and Brisbane butt heads pretty regularly.

In fact, a little over a week ago Ulysses and Brisbane got into a fight in the yard. Though neither of them have been injured in any of their noisy disagreements, this time I got hurt. Brisbane wasn't ready to call it quits, so I grabbed him and walked away. Uly came after Briz and got my arm instead. He immediately bounced into a sit afterward, but I was left with a nasty puncture wound.

This is Uly's third bite, and that is very dangerous for a dog in rescue. Dogs with bite histories are a liability to place, I or anyone involved in his rescue could potentially be sued if he bites again in an adoptive home. For most dogs in rescue, a bite equals a euthanasia appointment.

So what's different about Ulysses? Uly remains an incredibly sweet dog despite his bite history. All three of the bites occurred in potentially preventable circumstances. Maybe just gut instinct too, he doesn't feel like a vicious dog.

The first bite occurred when the baby in the first adoptive family crawled near, or possibly on, Ulysses and took the toy he was chewing. The baby received a bite to the face, causing a bruise. The second bite occurred several weeks later when the adopter allowed both baby and dog to be on the floor with nothing between them. The baby crawled near Uly, the adopter says he stepped between them, picked the baby up, and pushed the dog out of the way. Uly turned around and bit his arm, causing a puncture and a single slice that required stitches. We believe the damage was largely due to Uly's broken lower canines.

This third bite is very different from the first two, I was actively moving out of Uly's space, and he was in the middle of a dog fight. Given his behavior immediately after the bite, I believe he was intending to bite Brisbane and not me. While this wouldn't be an ok bite for Briz to receive either, it makes a bit more sense than Uly randomly deciding to bite me.

So what is next for our boy? Prior to the most recent bite, we had been leaning toward finding Ulysses a home with someone who has worked with a reactive dog in the past. Immediately after the bite I was afraid that we were out of options because I could no longer keep Brisbane and Ulysses in the same house. However, Uly and Briz are both quite amenable to being crated, especially when there are stuffed Kongs involved. I've been able to keep the peace via the crate and rotate method, making certain there is always a door, gate, or other barrier between the two of them. This has worked extremely well, and has bought us some time to work out exactly what to do next, and to gather opinions from dog people near and far. When Uly is done with his current quarantine period in a couple of days, we'll be meeting with an evaluator for a local rescue, depending on her assessment we may meet with a highly regarded trainer in Los Angeles who works with aggressive dogs.

I can't say for certain what is going to happen to Ulysses, there is still the possibility that we will all conclude that he is too dangerous to be placed in an adoptive home. We may find really reliable triggers for his behavior, and then begin working with those triggers. All I can say for now is that I will do my best to see that Uly is happy and loved for the rest of his life.

Last Day of Quarantine!

After today, this blue beast is finally allowed to leave the house again! First stop: the dog beach! Second stop: the grooming station at work. I cannot believe how much this dog sheds.

Photo by Erin Koski

Uly has been handling his ten-day quarantine period well, aside from shredding my fourth edition Van Norstrand's Scientific Encyclopedia/doorstop. This evening I gave him a rawhide chew and was pleased to see that he spent longer than Brizzy devouring it and didn't try to swallow any really big pieces. He has also successfully enjoyed Nylabones, the Urban Stick filled with peanut butter, and a variety of other toys without destroying them, so he's probably not going to be a serious chewer.

I am very pleased that Ulysses has become significantly more food-motivated since escaping the Orange County municipal shelter. This makes him much easier to train. He wants to sit and wait politely while I prepare his dinner, but he's so excited that he just has to dance. And Sit. At the same time.

A couple of days ago Uly picked up the plush Eiffel Tower from our latest BarkBox. Once he had the toy, he began to worry when Brisbane, Ru, or the cats were nearby. He has been gradually relaxing while staying here with us, but the other animals near his toy brought back the still posture, laid back ears, and wide eyes had had all the time when he was fresh out of the shelter. This kind of concern could turn into resource guarding if handled poorly, so we immediately started telling him what a good boy he was when the other pets were nearby. Right away he started relaxing and enjoying nibbling on the stuffy instead of focusing on the other animals.

Uly also doesn't like being led by his collar. At first I thought maybe he was unused to wearing it, but his shelter paperwork says he was wearing a collar when he was picked up as a stray. If I try to coax him up onto the couch or bed by pulling his collar, he drops to the floor and looks scared. I suspect he has been punished by being grabbed and shaken by the collar, so now he is afraid. We will be working on making collar touching a positive experience for him.

Welcome Back Ulysses!

Ulysses is back with us right now, his adoptive family returned him. This was a wise move, and we are very glad to have him back.

No idea what happened to that book.

Uly's adoptive family had a baby just under a year old. While Uly didn't show any signs of uncertainty about the baby while we were there, we also didn't get to see how he felt about the baby crawling on the floor. I did let the adopters know that he had growled at my dogs and cats one day while he was resting, and that he might feel uncomfortable being approached in that situation. I recommended a crate in the living room or wherever the family spent the most time, so he could have a protected resting spot where he felt safe.

Within a few days in his new home, Ulysses bit the baby. There was no damage aside from a small bruise, but it was concerning. We are told that the baby was crawling near him while he was resting, and that he probably gave signals that he was uncomfortable beforehand. The family said they still planned to keep him, and even took him to be signed up for their pet health care plan.

A few days ago he bit the man of the house. We're told that the baby was crawling near him, and that the man went to pick up the baby and pushed Uly out of the way, and then Uly turned around and bit his arm, leaving a puncture. While I wouldn't normally continue working with a dog that had a bite history, I feel there is more to this story.

First, Uly has an incredibly soft temperament. He is an absolute moosh. I have a very hard time believing that there wasn't some sort of severe and extremely scary correction involved in the original baby incident. The adopters seemed to be fairly competent in their dog training abilities, but I'm not certain they knew how to deal with behavioral issues. The average human would probably respond to the baby incident by screaming and punishing the dog, and then attempt to prevent future incidents by warning the dog not to do anything bad when the baby was nearby. This would actually just teach the dog that the baby is bad news, and that he is not safe around it.

We shared Dogs and Babies with the family, and recommended total separation via baby gates along with helping Ulysses understand that the baby means good things for dogs. Obviously neither of these things happened. The adopter tells us he went to push Uly out of the way, but Uly can't tell us how he was feeling at the time. Not everyone speaks Dog, and he may have been giving every possible signal that he was afraid. I honestly think he was afraid he was going to be hurt or killed when he bit.

Now that Ulysses is safely back in foster care, we're taking the time to learn more about him. The friend that picked him up and brought him back tells me that he wouldn't approach her husband even for bacon. He has been extremely friendly and affectionate with me, much more relaxed and playful than he was when he left. However, he is just as reserved as ever with my husband and male friends. Uly will greet them and hope for petting, but he isn't as happy and silly as he is with women. We haven't gotten any sort of fear or aggression response out of him. When he's off his ten day quarantine, we will be meeting lots of men and watching him carefully to see how he feels.

Was Ulysses labeled aggressive in the shelter because he was cornered by a man? We're not sure, but it seems likely. He's still the soft, gentle, sweet boy we thought he was. Now we need to find an adopter who is willing to respond to undesirable behavior with a quiet "uh-uh" or "what's wrong?" rather than "NO! BAD DOG!"

Congratulations Ulysses!

Last week Ulysses and I drove way down to Orange County to meet the person who helped coordinate his rescue from the shelter. Uly had gone from unwanted and unadoptable to rescue superstar, with ten applications to adopt him within a week of him appearing on the rescue's Facebook and website.

Photo by Erin Koski

We met a couple of different families who had passed the approval process. With so much interest in this angelic boy, we were able to pick our favorite family. Ulysses is now named Cal, his new family has a red heeler named Tex. We loved how Tex's dad interacted with him, very patient and extremely positive. Tex's mom also adored him, and Cal liked sitting on her feet for petting.

The family also includes a baby and an older boy, around 8. He lamented that Tex only cuddled with his parents. Cal figured out right away this the kid was an easy person to beg for petting. I think he's going to end up bonding with the kids very nicely.

We don't know a whole lot about Cal's history. He came into the shelter as a stray, and acted like many things were very new. He had clearly never seen the ocean or a swimming pool before. He may never have been on a leash or in a house before, but he was so good-natured that he figured it all out very quickly.

Cal has been with his new family for a few days now. He is rapidly bonding with his new people, and warming up to them much faster than he did with us. It took him a week to get comfortable enough to play fetch with us, but he was playing ball with Tex and his new family on his second day home. Cal is in for a long life as a beloved family member, full of trips to the lake and snuggles on the couch. He's a naturally well-behaved dog, and he deserves such a wonderful life. I am delighted that I could be a part of his rescue and help him on his way home.

Teaching Ulysses to Dance

Brisbane has a personal space bubble, when I move toward him he moves out of my way. In our small house I never run into him because he is constantly aware of where I am, and anticipates where I am going. Briz is very much a velcro dog, he usually stays very close to me, so we move through life together in a sort of dance.

Moving Brisbane from place to place is a bit like moving a buoyant object through water, a light touch sends it away. I can lead Briz by the collar, and position him very precisely with subtle cues.

Ulysses is another story entirely. He moves like a wet blanket, I touch him and he sort of folds around me. When I push him, he collapses around my hands. Pulling Uly's collar or harness mostly just makes him ooze to the floor.

I'm not sure now if Brisbane has always had his personal space bubble, or if it is something I taught him as a puppy. Before Uly arrived I had thought it was an innate quality of herding breeds, minus some very squishy German Shepherd dogs. Now I suspect it is something that must be taught, but herding dogs probably learn it better and with more finesse than insensitive gundogs and bully breeds.

So I'm teaching Uly to dance. It's a clicker game, I move toward him, he takes a step back and gets clicked. I'm sure he knows I don't like running into dogs constantly, but he didn't know what I wanted him to do instead. He's picking it up very quickly, dancing out of my way while staying as close as he can. He's nowhere near as good as Brisbane, but Briz and I have years of experience and tons of formal obedience training. Uly is learning how to move with me though, and it's a lot of fun to watch.

Meet Ulysses!

We got a new foster dog on Saturday! Ulysses is a five year old Australian cattledog mix. His blue eyes, fuzzy toes, and natural dock lead us to believe that he's mixed with Australian shepherd.

Uly came from the Orange County municipal shelter, where he was listed as available to rescues only for being kennel aggressive. He was evaluated by a rescue and found to be totally oblivious to other dogs in or out of his kennel. Last week I mentioned to a friend that I was considering fostering another dog, and she was looking for someone to foster Uly so she could pull him out of the shelter. He was scheduled for euthanasia in just a few hours.

We don't know a whole lot about Ulysses. He came into the shelter as an intact stray in mid-April, wearing a black collar and no identification. His teeth are very worn and a few are broken, he's going to be getting them taken care of soon. The shelter thought he was around five years old, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a little older. Uly seems to be housetrained and crate trained. He is somewhat food-motivated, but really loves attention more than anything else.

Ulysses is a wonderful dog!. He is mildly interested in my birds and turtles, pointedly avoids the cats, and is extremely polite to Brisbane and Ru. Ru has discovered that Uly is easily intimidated and likes to growl at him, Uly hides behind me. Brisbane is personally offended by intact and recently-neutered male dogs, but has finally decided that Uly is probably ok. We're taking things very slow and letting Uly relax and decompress before we start doing anything really fun and exciting.

This is a marvelously people-oriented dog, he doesn't really care what the other dogs are doing. Shelter dogs tend to change as they recover from the trauma over time, it often takes several weeks for their real personality to emerge. I am very much looking forward to seeing Uly blossom.