Paying for each step of putting a harness on

Liver treats for harness training pay one small bit for each step of putting the harness on: looking at it, nosing it, a head through the loop, the buckle, then a few steps wearing it. Go back a step whenever your dog moves away, and keep the session's liver inside the day's treat budget.

What are the steps of harness training with liver?

Think of the harness as a string of small jobs rather than one big one. Each job gets its own bit of liver, and each repeats until your dog does it without a second thought. Then you ask for a little more.

• Your dog looks at the harness in your hand. Pay.
• Your dog sniffs or touches it with the nose. Pay.
• Your dog puts its head toward the opening. Pay.
• The head goes through the loop. Pay.
• You close the buckle. Pay.
• Your dog takes a few steps wearing it. Pay.

Do not rush down the list. If the nose step is still new, stay on it, because the later steps lean on the early ones. A dog that breezes through the early steps is ready to move on, and one that hesitates needs you to wait.

We use the same one-step, one-bit idea for nail trims, applied here to gear the dog wears rather than a clipper.

Where should the liver be when the harness goes over the head?

Hold a bit on the far side of the head loop. Your dog reaches for it and, in doing so, puts its own head through. You never pull the harness over the dog and you never push the head into it.

Keep the bit low and a little ahead, close enough that the dog does not have to stretch. Let the dog eat it while the loop is still in place, then pay again, then take the harness away. That small gap, harness on and liver arriving, is where the dog starts to link the two.

Hold the harness steady and let the dog do the moving, since the goal is a dog that offers the step.

What do you do when your dog backs away from the harness?

Go back to the last step that was easy and pay there. Do not chase and do not hold the harness out until the dog gives in. When a dog backs off, read it as a sign the step you tried was too big.

Drop to a smaller piece of the job. If the head would not go through, go back to the nose touch. Pay it, repeat it, and try the head again with the liver held a little closer. Nothing here needs a hard rule except one: the dog is never forced into the gear.

Some sessions will end early, and that is fine. Stop on a step the dog finished, put the harness away and pick it up again later.

How much liver does a harness session use?

It all comes out of the day's treat budget, and a ladder with many steps can add up quickly. VCA Animal Hospitals puts the ceiling for treats and snacks at no more than 10 percent of a dog's daily calories.

Break the liver small before you start. The pieces in a bag of our freeze-dried beef liver are medium sized and break apart by hand, and a small bit is enough pay for one step. Get the day's liver from your vet's calorie target, weigh it out before you begin, and keep the rest of the bag sealed. Our high-value training treats guide explains why a dog gets liver for the harder asks, and a harness is often one of them.

When can you stop paying for the harness?

Fade it, do not stop all at once. When the harness goes on easily, move the pay later in the sequence. Pay after the buckle instead of after every step, then pay at the start of the walk instead of at the buckle. Each move asks the dog to carry on a little longer between bits.

If the easy routine starts to wobble, step back to paying earlier for a while. Some days the harness is simply a bigger deal than usual.

In time the harness goes on, the walk begins, and the walk is the payment. You can still hand over a surprise bit at the buckle now and then.