****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
We ordered two of these harnesses (for both our dogs), one in purple and one in lime. We opted for these because Hamilton also made collars in the same colors (Hamilton Double Thick Nylon Deluxe Dog Collar, 1-Inch by 22-Inch, Lime Green), and since the dogs wear different sizes, color-coding is an advantage.The picture shows a triangular metal piece that I assume is supposed to be part of how it adjusts, but it doesn't exist on the harnesses we got, and that's probably a good thing because it looks uncomfortable to me. The straps are attached to strong metal rings and the parts that adjust are made of quality plastic. Over all, I'm pretty pleased with this product, though there's a bit of a learning curve. It's a bit confusing at first to figure out how it goes on the dog, then once you work it out, it's tough to get it adjusted correctly (or maybe that's just because we have very active, excitable and large puppies, which can make just about anything tough). It might be easier with a calm adult dog.But now that we have the hang of it (and they're used to being harnessed), they go on pretty easily, even when they're really excited. I can get them on in about 15 seconds and the dogs are over a third my body weight, almost half my height and aren't huge fans of having their paws touched. I just lay it on the floor in front of them, pick up their upper body and set their feet in, then pull it up and snap it. It's even easier to get off. Just unsnap it and let it fall and they walk out of it.Our dogs are big and they're strong pullers and these work very well. In fact, with the harnesses, they stopped pulling as much within the first few walks. They still get obstinate occasionally, but I'm much more confident I can control them when that happens (without injuring their windpipe, which was a concern with collar-only walking).The straps do get twisted and it's virtually impossible to get rid of all the twists, but it seems to bother me aesthetically more than it actually bothers the dogs when they're wearing it and it doesn't seem to affect the way the harness works. We do have to be careful to keep them put away because the dogs can chew through the single nylon. We've already had one of them chew through the matching leash (Hamilton Single Thick Nylon Dog Lead, 1-Inch by 6-Feet, Purple) when we turned out back for a minute to harness up the other one and had to replace it, but they can chew through one of those giant rawhide bones in about an hour if they work on it consistently, so who's fault is that?I like the colors that they come in and despite having to order the Hamilton-brand leash from a different seller, the colors were a spot-on match. The colors — at least the purple and lime, but I assume the others too — are exactly what you think you're getting if you see them here (from other sellers, the pictures aren't as good, which caused concern about the color matching), but Hamilton clearly has a foolproof dye process (or buys nylon from someone who does).I'd originally given this 4 stars, but the more I wrote my review, the more I realized that while it may be a 4-star product as compared to others that are easier to put on, those others are far more expensive and typically look like bulletproof vests, lifejackets or something you'd expect to see as part of mountain-climing gear.
