Walk in Sync and Freedom Harness Review

Helo has had a Freedom harness since he was 6ish months old. It does the job (discouraging him from forging by pivoting him around) but not effectively and I'm not totally happy with how it fits him. It comes across his shoulder right at the point where the scapula and humerus meet. Attempts to encourage it to sit higher usually ended by the end of a walk or training session with it back down lower.

A 9 month old Helo wearing the Freedom. 

In use, when Helo forges ahead the chest strap will buckle sideways - I'm not sure the best way to describe it. It tended not to pivot him much and largely he could ignore it because the chest strap was loose. All my attempts to fix this issue by tightening it made the harness sit on his body weird.

Further, the construction of the Freedom is such that it tended to pull on his long body hairs. Often little tufts of white hair would be found in the parts where the vertical strap met at the chest and neck. This is because instead of being sewn together, the chest strap loops around a portion of the chest and neck straps for some side to side flexibility.

Lots of Helo hair got caught in this part.

I do like the harness in general. The soft velvet on the chest strap is a very nice feature. I could see this harness working for dogs with short hair, with different conformation than my boy. For us it wasn't quite right. I am planning on trying the Freedom on the corgi, so I will report back in the future what I think of it on him.

We just got the Walk in Sync yesterday and already I'm much happier with how it fits Helo. I put it on him for CGC class and that night got a compliment on how well it fits him from someone we've taken a few classes from. It naturally sits up higher on his shoulder and when he forges or moves away, the front piece stays stable and pulls him around quickly.

I like that it doesn't come across his shoulder at any point.

For us, that is big because Helo really likes other dogs. He knows when he feels the tug to look back at me, but (my best guess) with the Freedom it tended to come after he was over threshold. Several times we were in close quarters with other dogs last night and he would be pivoted around to face me and just walk back as if to say "oh well I tried".

Now, don't get me wrong. Some of this is maturity and training. I've spent countless nights fretting that he would never find his brain again! Then I bonk myself on the head and remember he's an intact adolescent. But I definitely noticed a difference in just one training session with the Walk in Sync. Bonus? No white tufts of hair stuck on the harness when we were done!

Solid sewn together construction means no ripped hair!

**I purchased both the Freedom Harness and Walk In Sync for personal use. No money or items were given to me for this review. **

What's in a name?

A friend recently mentioned he is writing a blog on how he decided on his dog's name. I thought, "what a great idea!" so here we are.

Arya "Stark's Needle in a Haystack"

Arya's name comes from the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. You maybe more familiar with it's television cousin (which follows the books surprisingly well) Game of Thrones. On a car ride home back in college, James and I ferried a friend back home with us and we spent a good few hours listening to stories about the series. Never one to be deterred by spoilers, soon after we bought it and gobbled the series up. Since then we've been absolutely obsessed!

It is hands down my favorite series written ever. A while later I adopted a black/brown little herdy mix adolescent from the Tacoma Humane Society. James was with me and we brainstormed. We joked about calling her Sansa but agreed that didn't feel right. We settled on one of our mutual favorite female lead characters. Arya the dog is probably a little more Sansa in personality - certainly a princess who doesn't like having to go potty in the rain and expects her dinner on time, thank you very much!

Her registered name - entirely made up because I'm silly like that - breaks down like the following. Stark's- Arya's family name in the series is Stark. Needle - Arya's weapon is a small sword given to her by her half brother Jon called Needle. In a Haystack - Arya is my one in a million dog and the World's Best Dog (just don't say it too loud around Mochi and Helo, ok?) I also like plays on words. A few people have complained dog show names are silly, people put too much thought into them. 

Well phooey on them. Even if my husband and I are the only ones who get a smile out of it, seeing her registered name on things like our RN certificate makes me smile.

Bow to me!

I don't suppose you have a cookie for me for shoving this camera in my face?

Mochi "Amsburg's Ninja Invasion"

We got Mochi a month after we were married. We had our honeymoon in Seattle. We thought it'd be cute to name him something off theme from Arya and settled on our favorite discovery in China Town - mochi. If you haven't eaten yet, the next time you catch yourself at an Asian market buy some! I'm particularly fond of the exotic fruit flavored ones like mango and passionfruit, but the peanut butter ones are good as well. The standard flavor is just rice flower and red bean paste. Some love it, some not so much.

In a case of I probably should have waited to name him until I actually owned him, I got really excited and bought an expensive collar with his name on it in preparation. It turned out the two litters we had a deposit on were all girls... yes that's right 13 or 14 puppies and not a single boy! Mochi was 4.5 months and his breeder let us take him home instead of one of the girls. I have no idea what I would have named him, but I don't think Mochi totally suits him (of course now 5 years later I can't imagine what else he'd be!)

As for his registered name? Amsburg is the kennel he comes from. Ninja Invasion is just something silly we came up with - his sire's name is "Amsburg's Own Invader". Mochi are Japanese and for us that makes us think of things like samurai and ninjas. James and I originally got close because of a game called Ninja Gaiden, in fact! So Ninja Invasion was a nod to his Dad and his call name.

You're all stupid, I'm going over here.

I'll take a stupid picture for you Mom, gosh.

Helo "Revelaire's Compelling Truth"

Helo came to us, the long awaited grandson of a dog I had admired from afar for several  years. When we first talked about getting a second dog, I wanted an aussie from this line actually! So finally in 2012 that dream came true, and a fluffy little boy came home to us. As soon as we'd confirmed that we were in line for the litter, we immediately agreed we wanted a Battlestar Galactica name. Like Game of Thrones, we are a little obsessed with the series and we enjoy the theme of naming our dogs after series. 

Originally hoping for a girl, I spent a lot more time on girl names narrowing it down to Caprica, Athena or Starbuck. For boys I thought Helo, Baltar and a few others were ok. Then the litter came and there were only 2 girls with the breeder definitely keeping one for her daughter! A boy it would be!

We quickly decided on Helo, but decided to make sure this time - having learned our lesson from Mochi - that it fit him before it was final. 

Helo the character wasn't in the original series and wasn't even going to be a part of BSG until the producers were so impressed with local actor they'd hired for his bit in the pilot they wrote him in. Helo always tries to do the right thing, to find the truth. He actually becomes probably (one of) the most important character of the series... but I won't spoil it for you if you haven't watched it!

Luckily the name fits, though sometimes we joke we should have named him Baltar after the mischievous, devious and vain Gaius Baltar. Compelling Truth was a random thing I thought of, a nod to the character's decision to always follow the truth, no matter where it leads him

Waiting for his ball.

See? Poser!