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Gentle Leader vs Easy Walk Harness (Which Is Better For Your Dog?)

Kimberly Alt Updated: March 6, 2019 Dog Accessories 51 Comments

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Does your dog have issues pulling on the leash, barking excessively or lunging and jumping while walking?

Not every dog is a perfect Lassie. So a training leash is a helpful tool to tame your pup’s anxiety and aggression.

Article Overview

Gentle Leader vs Easy Walk Harness Features
How To Use The Gentle Leader Leash
Harness Sizing & Pricing
Can You Use Both The Gentle Lender & Easy Walk Harness?
Tips For Improving Dog Walking Behavior

PetSafe Easy Walk Harness	PetSafe Gentle Leader

View Easy Walk on Amazon	View Gentle Leader on Amazon

Gentle Leader & Easy Walk Harness Features

Two popular training collar options are the Easy Walk Harness and Gentle Leader Headcollar.

Both can help train against unwanted behavior, but they are not identical products. So when comparing side by side, we wanted to point out the features of each.

To help you see which one you should pick, take a look at the table below. After reading, you may decide that your dog could benefit from both (more on that below).

	Easy Walk Harness	Gentle Leader Head Collar
Discourages pulling on the leash
Helps train against excessive barking, lunging, jumping and even anxiety and aggression in some cases
Perfect for training dogs to heel
Easier to fit because it goes on the body, not the head
Recommended for brachycephalic breeds or short-nosed dogs (pugs, boxers, etc.)
Can be used on most breeds older than 6 weeks
Does not damage the trachea
Prevents gagging, choking and coughing
Requires little acclimation time or special technique
Great for every day walks
Popular among trainers and vets because you can walk your dog more comfortably on a leash

How To Use The Gentle Leader Leash

Why is the gentle leader effective for dogs who pull? Because the Gentle Leader harness applies gentle pressure on the nose when the dog does a pulling action.

Putting the Gentle Leader on correctly is critical to its effectiveness, so watch this 1-minute video from Austin Pets Alive to see how this head collar should be worn appropriately.

Dog Harness Sizing & Pricing

The Gentle Leader head collar is sized by weight, whereas the Easy Walk dog harness uses chest and girth measurements.

The Easy Walk harness has four adjustment points, so your dog is comfortable and has a reliable fit. There is a martingale loop in the chest piece to prevent twisting and the quick snap buckles on the shoulder, and belly straps make it easy to put on and take off. The collar sits high on your dog’s neck without putting any pressure on the throat.

The Easy Walk harness costs Check on Amazon and the Gentle Leader for dogs is Check on Amazon.

Gentle Leader Head Collar	Easy Walk Harness
Petite weight under 5 lbs	Petite chest width 6"-7" girth measurement 12"-16"
Small weight up to 25 lbs	Petite/Small chest width 8"-9" girth measurement 13"-18"
Medium weight 25-60 lbs	Small chest width 8.5"-11" girth measurement 15"-21"
Large weight 60-130 lbs	Small/Medium chest width 11"-13" girth measurement 19"-26"
Extra Large weight over 130 lbs	Medium chest width 12"-15" girth measurement 21"-32"
	Medium/Large chest width 14"-18" girth measurement 24.5"-34"
	Large chest width 16"-21" girth measurement 27"-40"
	Extra Large chest width 17.5"-23.5" girth measurement 32"-50"

Can You Use Both The Gentle Leader & Easy Walk?

These two tools are fairly inexpensive. So, if your dog has issues with pulling on the leash and lunging, you may want to purchase both. You can then apply the training tool that makes sense in a particular situation.

For example, you may use the Easy Walk at the park but the Gentle Leader for dogs at the vet’s office.

Tips For Improving Dog Walking Behavior

View Easy Walk on Amazon | View Gentle Leader on Amazon

We want to remind you that although these harnesses can be immensely helpful, they are still just one of many training tools. If your dog’s issue is that he pulls on the leash, it’s important that you are consistent with your commands. Also, don’t forget to reward him when he isn’t pulling, so it reinforces good behavior.

To further maximize your dog’s walking success you might also consider other dog training collar options or an online dog training class.

What issue does your dog have on leash?

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Kimberly Alt

Kimberly received her Bachelor of Arts in multimedia journalism from Simpson College. She has been writing about dogs since 2014, covering subjects such as dog insurance, training, health, accessories and more. Her natural curiosity helps her research as she seeks the truth when learning about, comparing and personally testing canine products and services. With every piece she writes, her goal is to help our readers find the best fit for their unique needs.

Kimberly grew up in a family that loved Labrador Retrievers and remembers running and playing in the yard with them as a child. In 2017, she and her husband adopted their Coonhound mix, Sally, from a local shelter. Kimberly's research was put to good use since Sally faced some aggression issues with other dogs and needed some training to be an inside dog. She worked daily with Sally and sought help from professionals to help Sally become the happy pup she is today.

One of Kimberly's favorite pastimes is spoiling Sally with new toys, comfy beds and yummy treats (she even makes homemade goodies for her). She tries to purchase the safest products for Sally and knows that each canine has their own specific likes and dislikes. Kimberly is passionate about dogs, and knows the bond between humans and canines is like no other.

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Tony Dellwo

My dog Brena is a Malador Shepard. She pulls like a plow horse, she whines. She won’t heel. She wants to run free. She’s a big ball of energy.

Eric Delacy

Which would you recommend for a 120lbs Male Akita that pulls for the first 20 minutes of a walk, or when he sees another dog. We also have a female that doesn’t pull at all.

Eric

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

The Easy Walk Harness is meant to help with the pulling, so that may work well for the male Akita. Does the female have any barking or lunging issues? Or is she pretty well-behaved on the leash?

Eric Delacy

the female is young (4 months), but is perfect so far.

Eric Delacy

also, I don’t see an XL version of the Easy walk harness. only goes to 95lbs

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

The XL version is for dogs 90+ lbs. If you click on this Amazon link, you can select XL and the color you want it in.

Jenna Bud

What would you recommend for a Dalmatian puppy

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

What types of issues are you facing with the puppy? (pulling on the leash? lunging? etc.)

Peggy

The Gentle Leader has been a lifesaver for us. We live in an RV resort during the winter. Our lab was pulling and lunging, but no more. We can walk him anywhere in the park.

Bruce F.

Word of warning on the Gentle Leader. I’ve used it for my German Shepherd for the last 7-8 months. It works great for keeping him on heel and no pulling. The VERY BAD News is that he developed sores on the side of his mouth and jowls. We didn’t know why his jowls, especially on one side were red and irritated and occasionally “crusty” or scabbed. Duh! We stopped using the leader a couple of weeks ago and his jowls have healed. We are looking at trying the Easy Walk. If you look at the design of the Gentle Leader you’ll notice that it goes across the dog’s snout and will rub the back part of his jowls with any tension applied by the dog or by you during the walk. Too bad, because as a walking and training aid the Gentle Leader is great.

Merilyn

I am wanting to buy an Easy Walk Harness, but am having trouble finding one to buy. One crowd advertise they keep it in store and they actually don’t. Where can I buy one please?

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

You can purchase it on Amazon with this link.

Lauren Rossi

I got mine from chewy but I advise you not to get the easy walk harness due to the fact it does not work if you are trying to stop pulling.

Sharon

My daughter has a Doberman and just bought a gentle leader and he’s being stubborn and not wanting to poop like his normal times like in the mornings. He waits til lunch.

Jr hii

I would be cautious about the gentle leader on a doberman. As I was warned,They can be prone to neck issues, especially with head halters. Their bodies and so fast and strong compared to their head and neck proportions that they can hurt themselves. I use an easy walk with mine and it works very well.

Zoe

Hi,
I have a 16 week old Beagle puppy that pulls a lot when we go for walks. She wears a SPORN harness to prevent pulling but it’s not working. Even if I tighten it she STILL pulls. She doesn’t seem to care. Which harness do you think might work better on her? I’d really appreciate some advice. As she is starting puppy school soon, and I would like to at least tone down the pulling.
Thanks,
Zoe

Michelle Schenker (Admin)

Hi Zoe, We use the Gentle Leader on our strong-pulling Lab, Bella, and it works like a charm. It is the only thing I have found that stops her from either pulling or choking herself. There is no guarantee that it will work for your dog of course, but it sure has helped us.

Nathaniel

This is very informative. Thanks for posting all the pros and cons of this product.

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

You’re welcome, glad we could help!

Caroline

I have a young Basset who has just turned a year. He is quite lean but girth measures 63 cm when last measured. The problem is in training he pulls – I have tried several harnesses on him and the recent was the PerfectFit Harness which supposedly was guaranteed against pulling – but he still pulls if he cannot get away using front muscles he uses his back muscles to pull and is really strong. What would you suggest be used for him in training so that he does not pull?

Leah

This is very informative, thank you!

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

You’re welcome!

Amy Ferraro

I have a 97lb rescue shep/lab mix.. That still has some anxiety issues. She is also houdini!! Her escape trip is to Back out of collars and some halters I have a combo halter’ish leash made from woven cotton.. I think. That puts pressure around her chest directly behind her front legs and not her neck at all. It is also houdini proof. I’m concerned when this wears out… I don’t think it’s still made, what is the best alternative for her. She gets freaked easily and does not respond well to change. However, we live in the rural area of Maine and is off leash with good recall during the day. Nights are another matter when the wild things are out and about. Thanks for suggestions.. Sorry so long

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

Hi Amy, if you’re looking for a replacement harness I’d recommend you consider the Easy Walk Harness. However, it depends what types of issues you run into with her on leash. Does she bark, pull, etc? Or is the main issue that she’s an escape artist?

Amy Ferraro

She does pull a bit but my biggest concern is that she is an escape artist. If something frightens her or she just doesn’t want to go forward.. She can back out of most everything

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

Your dog won’t be able to escape the Easy Walk Harness. It connects in a way that can only be removed if you unbuckle it. The leash attaches to the front of the harness, near the chest, and doesn’t allow for any Houdini dog tricks. I suggest looking into this harness further for your needs. 🙂

Schnauzer

If she doesn’t pull, you may want to try the ruff wear webmaster harness. It has and extra belly strap making it virtually impossible to escape. However, the leash attaches to the back of the harness, so it will not help with pulling. You could also get a martingale collar. These collars tighten slightly when a dog tries to back out of the collar but there is a limit on how tight a martingale collar
can go which means that when they are adjusted correctly they will not choke the dog, just tighten a LITTLE BIT if they try to back out of the collar which stops them from escaping. The best martingale collar is the PetSafe quick release martingale. If you don’t buy that one, just make that the one you get has a fabric loop (Not chain; it can get stuck when it tightens) and make sure it has quick release buckles. Martingale collars should only be used for walks and should not be left on a dog 24/7. Goof luck!

CJ davidson

I bought easy walk harnesses for all 3 of my dogs & am sorry I did. I have GSPs which have very deep chests but narrow shoulders. The easy walk is supposed to be adjustable but I could never adjust them properly for my 2 bigger dogs (both got sores); I can sort of use it for the younger one but it doesn’t stay adjusted. I’m disappointed.

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

Hi CJ, we had a similar issue with using it on our dog. I think we’ve adjusted it properly but since she pulls so much it moves quite a bit on her. We actually just started taking her to a trainer this past weekend and I think it was more “user error”. Basically, we were walking our dog incorrectly (didn’t know you could do that!). A dog should walk beside you and follow your lead. Your dog shouldn’t be walking ahead and leading you because that gives her the impression that she is the alpha. Because our dog was walking ahead of us, she was pulling and moving every direction and the harness moved with it. I think once we get her walking correctly the harness will work better for us.

For the time being, the trainer gave us a pinch collar to help teach her to walk next to us. She’s caught on rather quickly to it. If you decide to try it, be careful using it because you don’t want to have constant tension on the leash. Pinch collars are used incorrectly and result in ruptured tracheas and result in euthanasia. It’s important to use short, quick, soft tugs of the collar to help direct your dog. Be sure to read all instructions before purchasing/using this type of collar. Some people think pinch collars can be cruel, but it’s comparable to flicking your trachea with your finger. (That’s what we were told by the trainer.) Let me know if I can help you with anything else. It seems like we’re experiencing the same thing with our dogs. 🙂

Tom

I must say that as an owner of a service dog, my dog leads in front of me like a guide dog as I have PTSD. I am sometimes stopped at least a few times a week by people telling me that my dog is not obedient. He is highly trained and taught to walk specifically like this.

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

I was speaking about dogs who do not perform jobs. Dogs who perform jobs, such as yours, may have other guidelines for how to walk them.

Dione

Most of us considering harness and head collars do so because we don’t want to use pinch collars. Look them up on the RSPCA website.

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

Totally understand and respect that. We tried everything for our dog including using the Gentle Leader and Easy Walk Harness. They didn’t seem to resolve all the issues for our dog, which is why we chose to use a pinch collar. Each pet parent has different comfort levels and dogs have different needs, so I wanted to share my experience in case it might help someone else out.

j. Giblin

I bought the Easy Walk Harness for my 63-pound Border Collie/Black Lab Cross because walks had become so uncomfortable for me from her pulling that I finally stopped walking her. I was led to believe that the harness would help control the pulling and jerking, but it not only didn’t help, she was even less controllable than when we used a ‘choke-chain’ training collar. I felt that she could have easily pulled me over if I had been less steady on my feet. I’m sure it has been fitted to her correctly according to the instructions, and I believe the purchase was a waste of time and money. I’d still like to have walks with my wonderful (in every other way) pet. So I’m on this site to consider buying a gentle leader head collar. A good idea? or wasting more money and time?

Hound Dog

The Gentle Leader worked for my dog, and I used to use an Easy-Walk Harness, but stopped because it didn’t work and was rubbing.

Hound Dog

Absolutely the same same problem! Glad to here I’m not the only one! My dog is very slim except for her BARREL chest, and it always rubbed on her too. Try the Gentle Leader, it worked better for me.

Maddy

Our Large Munsterlander has the same physique, deep chest and narrow shoulders. Try ‘The Perfect Fit’ harness. This has a front attachment and it fits perfectly!

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

My husband and I purchased the Easy Walk Harness for our dog in late February after I wrote this article. The harness tends to move on her some. We are unsure if we have it fit properly. We’ve read the instructions and watched videos but the harness seems to move on her during our walks. She still seems to pull too, but it’s manageable. Anyone have any tips?

Michelle Schenker (Admin)

It seems like you may have a size too big but perhaps she will grow into it? Or try adjusting it smaller. Our dog Bella uses the Easy Walk too and it is the ONLY thing that allows me to keep ahold of her when we walk by other dogs she wants to meet!

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

Yeah I was wondering if the sizing was off. We purchased the medium/large for her. She weighs 50 pounds but I haven’t measured her with a tape measurer. Maybe I will do that when my husband gets home. Last night she was a little more rambunctious on our walk and she was a little more difficult to manage. Hopefully we figure out a solution! Thank you!

Hound Dog

Well what size did you get, and what size is your dog?

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

I got my dog a medium/large. She’s about 55 pounds. I don’t remember what her measurements were but they were within the suggested range.

Hound Dog

I really don’t like the easy-walk harness for the reason that it chaffs many dogs, and like most harnesses, has to be really snug to work right. I found a “Sporn Non-Pull” harness, it has fleece padding, and tightens under her front legs when she pulls. (If she doesn’t pull, it remains totally loose.) It doesn’t eliminate pulling, but doesn’t rub. I recommend for light-medium pullers!

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

We just ordered the Gentle Leader last night off Amazon. We should get it in a couple days. I’ll try to remember to update everyone on which we like better.

Hound Dog

Can’t wait to hear! If that doesn’t work I still recommend that “Sporn no-pull” harness–I like it better every single day!

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

Unfortunately, the Gentle Leader isn’t fixing our issue either. I’ll need to explain what exactly we’re dealing with in regards to our dog, Sally. Sally has gotten better at not pulling on leash thanks to our use of a pinch collar. However, she is extremely protective on the trail we walk and barks/lunges at any dog we pass (you can read more about it here). We decided to try the Gentle Leader after my cousin told us that it worked well for her dog. It muffles Sally’s bark and makes her more manageable to “pull” along when she gets barky and lungy on the walking trail. However, she’s still super aggressive/protective. I’d like to state that neither of these harnesses in this article state that they will help with the issue we are facing with our dog, but we wanted to test them out to see what the result would be. Ultimately, neither harness helped with Sally’s pulling; however, I’ve heard successful stories from others so perhaps Sally is a bit more determined/stubborn than other dogs 😉 .

FYI: We are meeting with a trainer this coming weekend in the hopes of finding a way to end this behavior.

Hound Dog

Just saying, I don’t all the tools in the world will a make a difference to this problem. Work on training, and stop trying to slap a tool on her. Didn’t realize before you were dealing with behavior/emotional, not behavior/pulling

Kimberly Alt (Admin)

Actually the pinch collar and training has really helped us. Sally is much better on our walks, she isn’t perfect but I’m sure it will continue to get better as we continue to work with her. I believe that using tools and training together can payoff if done properly. We took training classes and were taught how to properly use a pinch collar, which is why I feel comfortable using it on my dog.

Gretchen

I’ve been worried about my dog’s neck when I tug on her collar when she’s sniffing around or picking up something on the ground that she’s not supposed to eat while out on a walk. So I’m going to give one of these a try and hope it helps!

Hound Dog

If your dog sniffs a lot, DON’T get the easy walk harness, or any harness for that matter! Here, I’ll explain it. My dog is very barrel-chested, so that even though we got a medium easy-walk harness, the chest strap was out ALL the way. That was also because my dog sniffs a LOT (she’ll walk around the block without taking her nose off the ground) and when she sniffs her chest would push forward more so that her nose could reach the ground. If I didn’t want the whole harness pulled off whenever her chest and nose went down to the ground, then I had to loosen the chest strap to give her room for the sniffing; however, whenever my dog wasn’t sniffing the now loose chest strap would begin to rub. (Actually, she got a lot of places all over that were raw, from the harness.) My dog is also a very strong puller and though this decreased the force, she still would kind of run pulled sideways, and could also pull her way out of the harness. SO, if your dog is a hard puller or has a barrel chest or likes to sniff or all three, don’t get this! (My dog has a gentle leader now, and it works fine.)

Hound Dog

So, an update–I, or actually my neighbor found a harness that I like and works for my dog! (I know, I just said don’t get any kind of harness and now I’m advertising one!) I left Rosie with my neighbor while I was out of town for 4 days. And Rosie chewed up her Gentle Leader (true, it had been left ON her, which I never did because I was pretty sure I knew the results)! Anyway, my neighbor went to Pet Smart and bought this “Sporn no-pull” harness”. It has a neck collar and then two straps run from it between her belly and up onto her back where a leash ring is attached–the way it works is when the dog pulls, the straps squeeze under its belly, and loosen when it stops pulling (unlike the Gentle Leader which didn’t always loosen after it tightened). The under straps are padded with fleece and it’s only $8 on Amazon. The great thing (to me) is that you can fasten it really loose, and it will only tighten when the dog pulls; this is the best tool I have yet to find!

Gentle Leader vs Easy Walk Harness (Which Is Better For Your Dog?)

Article Overview

Gentle Leader & Easy Walk Harness Features

How To Use The Gentle Leader Leash

Dog Harness Sizing & Pricing

Can You Use Both The Gentle Leader & Easy Walk?

Tips For Improving Dog Walking Behavior

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