VestHarness Review

Rating: 3 paws

The VestHarness is a sort of cross between a dog harness and a padded vest or chest protector. I bought the Vest Harness (made by Canine Friendly Products) mainly to use as a "seatbelt" for my dog. I have previously used other car harnesses and regular harnesses as seatbelts, but the main problem I had is they were uncomfortable for her to wear, and most were not padded. The Vest Harness design doesn't put the pressure a regular harness does on the dog's neck or chest in case of an accident or sudden stop, which I liked. Most of the harness is padded, so it's comfortable for the dog to wear. One thing which can be a problem: There is a space for you to thread a car seatbelt through the harness to use it as a car harness. This works fine if the dog sits still in the car, but if she tries to turn around, she will get twisted in the harness. What I did to prevent this is I bought a very short lead with a swivel hook, attached it to the harness, and threaded the car's seatbelt through that. Unfortunately even with this, my dog was getting tangled. I then tried a BatziBelt, which is a leash strap made for use in cars. This worked pretty well, but the dog still managed to get tangled fairly often, so I finally stopped using this seatbelt altogether and switched to the CARE Champion System (see review.) Please note also that the VestHarness is not an accident tested dog seatbelt, which I would recommend using for car travel.



The only problem I had with the VestHarness was fit. My Golden has a large chest and small neck, making it difficult for her to fit many products that have to go around the neck and chest. Due to this problem I was not sure which size to buy. The size I ordered turned out not to fit my dog, and when I exchanged it for the next size down that did not fit either. I ended up contacting the customer service of the company that makes the VestHarness, Canine Friendly Products. They were very helpful and they actually modified a large size harness to fit my dog.



I have used the VestHarness when bike riding with my dog. It works VERY well for this, and, unlike a normal harness, doesn't dig into her skin if I stop the bike suddenly. It would also work well in other situations where you want a dog to be comfortable while pulling, but it is not an actual "pulling harness" for weight pull or similar sports.

You can purchase the VestHarness at the manufactrurer's website www.caninefriendly.com

Outward Hound Quick-Release Dog Pack

Rating: 3 paws

The Outward Hound Quick-Release Dog Pack is a dog backpack made by Kyjen. The backpack or saddlebag is removable from the underlying harness.
This is a basic dog backpack. The compartments are large, and there are plastic rings where items can be tied down above the zippered compartments. The large size does make them a little bulky. This backpack features padding underneath all buckles for comfort, although unfortunately the padding is in small pieces which can sometimes be pushed or twisted from movement so that they are no longer padding the buckles. The backpack section is removable and attached with velcro so that you can take it off your dog during rests to give the dog a break from the load. The harness/base is also padded. However, this part unfortunately does not feature any place where a leash could be attached, so it can not be used alone or as a regular harness. The Outward Hound pack all in all is a very basic and "entry-level" dog backpack. It may be fine for short hikes or walking your dog but the lack of ruggedness or special features makes it not the best choice for long hikes or active dogs who may cause a lot of wear and tear.

Rover Dog Lunchbox

3 paws

This is a "lunchbox" for dogs. The two sides of the box split apart, one side is a reservoir for water (can hold 3 liters) and the other side contains two bowls, one for food and one for water. The food compartment has a plastic lid which locks on so that food can be kept inside without spilling.

This product can be very useful when going on day trips or overnight vacations. I prefer to bring water from home for my dogs when I go out of town because sometimes well water can disagree with a dog's stomach, and there's nothing worse on a long trip than a sick dog. The water reservoir on the Rover lunchbox is very useful for this purpose, although on longer trips I need to bring more than 3 liters of water- in those instances the larger Woofpak lunchbox may be better. I like the Rover lunchbox because the medium size is easier to pack and carry, even when full of water. The company's website advertises the Rover as being for small dogs, however I use it with my Golden Retriever and it works very well. The only problem is the compartments for food and water are a bit small and because of the unusual shape can be a little awkward for a larger dog to drink or eat from at first. Having the food and water compartments next to each other could also cause pieces of food to drop into the water dish when the dog is eating, meaning it may need to be cleaned out pretty often. I bought the red lunchbox. I would not recommend this color for one reason: it bears a strong resemblance to a gas can! I did not realize this when I bought it, but later I noticed the similarity. Hopefully, no one who saw me giving water to my dog at rest stops on vacations thought I was feeding her gasoline.


Update: This product is no longer available for purchase. If you are looking for a similar product, I would recommend the Pet King Travel Bowl by Petlane or the Travel-Dine by Bergan.