How To Make A Dog Weight Pulling Harness (5 Easy Steps)

Most parents love to make dresses for their kids. Your pet dog is just like your kid, so you also love to make your own harnesses for your furry kid. When the dog puts on the harness, it creates an emotional attachment between you and him.

But don’t you know how to make a dog weight pulling harness? Never mind, we can feel you, so here we discuss step-by-step instructions to make a DIY weight pulling harness for dogs. Just keep reading

Homemade Dog Weight Pulling Harness

You have to do some pre-work before starting to make a dog weight pulling harness. Such as measuring the dog to determine the harness size, collecting the materials and tools that you’ll need to make the harness, etc

Dog Harness Size Chart By Weight

Most probably, you don’t have any idea about dog size based on his weight. So let’s see an average dog’s size and weight chart. The chart will help you to get an overview of how long and wide a dog harness should be.

Size	Weight	Neck	Chest
Small (S)	15-20 pounds or 7-10 kgs	7-10 inches or 17-25 cm	14-20 inches or 35-53 cm
Medium (M)	30-40 pounds or 13-18 kgs	11-14 inches or 28-35 cm	21-25 inches or 53-63 cm
Large (L)	50-60 pounds or 22-27 kgs	14-18 inches or 35-45 cm	26-32 inches or 66-80 cm
Extra Large (XL)	70-80 pounds or 31-36 kgs	20 -24 inches or 50-60 cm	28-37 inches or 71-93 cm
Extra Long Large (XXL)	100-110 pounds or 45-50 kgs	25 -30 inches or 63-76 cm	38-45 inches or 96-114 cm

The Materials You'll Need

It’s impossible to make a dog weight pulling harness with an empty hand. So know the materials you’ll need.

Polyester fleece (For padding)
Nylon webbing (For back and belly straps)
2 D-rings, slide release buckles or Fastex, and nylon or steel sliders (For connecting the belly straps and hook pulling equipment)
A measurement tape (For measuring dog size)
A note pad (To note down the dog size)
A scissors (For cutting the fleece and webbing)
Polyester thread and a needle (For sewing)

How To Collect The Materials

After knowing the materials you’ll need, it’s time to learn from where you can collect them. You may have to buy some of the materials, and some of them you can collect from the older household items. For example

In most cases, you should buy the nylon webbing, as there is little chance to have these at home. You can collect them from your nearest shopping mall or online.
It’s easy to collect Fleece padding from old pullovers or blankets.
You can collect the straps, buckles, slides, and D-rings from old bags or luggage.
You may have Polyester thread and needles at your home as these are the basic sewing tools.

How To Measure A Dog For A Harness?

Though above, we provide a general dog chart to know its size. But, you have to know the exact size of your dog to make a snugly fitting harness. It’s just two-step work to measure your dog to learn its harness size.

Step 1: Measure chest size

Place the measurement tape covering your dog from the back of its front shoulder blades to the other.

Step 2: Measure neck size

Cover the base of your dog’s neck, where he usually wears a collar.

Tip: You must follow the two fingers rule to ensure your dog’s comfort when wearing the harness. That means during measurement, put your two fingers in the tape before noting down the dog size to make your DIY harness. It helps you get the correct number of your harness size.

How To Make A Dog Weight Pulling Harness

So now you are ready with your materials and know the dog size. So, why late? Let’s start making an excellent weight-pulling harness for your dog.

Step 1: Cut the Polyester fleece and webbing

The harness pad should be thick enough to protect your dog from being hurt when he pulls weight. So you must ensure at least 10 inches thick and 10 inches wide to cover the dog’s chest adequately.
To get enough thickness of the pad, first, collect the Polyester fleece from your old blanket and fold them 4-5 times.
Now cut the fleece with scissors ensuring 2.5-3 yards in length.
Cut 2.5-3 yards long and 1.5-inch width nylon webbing.

Step 2: Sew the pad

Place the nylon webbing at the center of the folded fleece and sew it with the help of a needle and Polyester thread to make the padding. Otherwise, the padding won’t evenly across the chest of your dog.

Step 3: Make a chest strap

Now, you have to make the chest strap by adding a D-ring with the pad. To do that, insert two parts of the D-ring into both ends of the padded web creating 1½ inches overlap gap.
Then sew both sides gap to ensure the D-ring is kept in the right place. So the belly band of the dog can pass between the harness straps.

Step 4: Make a belly band

Pick one yard-long webbing and put on the webbing into the female part of the slide release buckle or Fastex.
Now take it at the last end of the webbing where you cut.
Then connect the male part of the slide release buckle with the other end of the strap.
Bring both of the sliders to the strap center for adjustable buckle attachment.
Take the belly band into the 1½-inch gap to the chest band.
Now, find out the exact place where you want to attach the collar band.

Step 5: Make a harness collar band

Pick 1 inch wide and 4 inches long woven webbing.
Sew the female part of the second buckle with one end of the webbing and the male part with the chest strap you made.
Pick another 1-inch wide and 20-24 inches long web and sew it against the opposite direction of the chest strap.

Connect the male and female parts of the Fastex by ensuring enough room for collar band. Best collar for 8 week old puppy adjustment.

Note: Here, we mention a medium-sized dog harness materials measurement. You have to take the materials depending on your dog size.

Is It Worth Making Your Own Dog Pulling Harness?

Sure, it’s worth it. Because you have to invest around $50-$100 to buy a commercial weight pulling harness. On the other hand, you can make the DIY dog harness within zero or a small $20 cost (if you have to buy some equipment). And it’s easy to make the harness at home with a little effort. So making your own pulling harness saves $30-$80.

Some Helpful Tips For Training Your Dog To Pull Weight

Start wearing the harness to your dog from the front side leg.
Whatever equipment you want to use for training your puppy to pull weight, just hook it with the D-rings of the harness.
You have to attach not more than 3 times more weight than your dog’s own weight for entry-level weight pulling training.
You can gradually increase the weight limit by considering the dog’s health condition.
It’s better to talk to a dog behaviour trainer to know the right weight for weight pulling training.
You have to give a 5 minutes break to the dog after 3-5 minutes of weight pulling. It’s a session, and you can continue 2-3 sessions daily.

FAQs

How much weight can a dog pull safely?

There is no hard and fast guideline to determine how much weight a dog can safely pull. Basically, you have to consider some factors to know your dog’s weight pulling capacity. Such as

What is the age of your dog?
What is his size and body weight?
What is his health condition?
What is his weight pulling level?

In general, a medium size healthy dog can pull up to 3 times more weight than his own weight at the beginning of weight pulling training. The weight may be 40 to 90 times higher for a mid-level and trained dog. This means a 25 pounds dog can pull 75 pounds of weight at the beginning, and that may reach up to 1000 to 2250 pounds.

Is weight pulling good for dogs?

Yes, weight pulling is good for dogs and helps improve their muscle, bones (Here you can make an internal link on Best bones for dogs teeth) and energy system. According to the American Pulling Dogs Association (APDA), it solves dogs curbing problem behaviours.

What kind of harness is best for a dog that pulls?

X-Strap, two hounds design freedom no-pull, and double-connection front and back clips leash harness are the best for the dog that pulls weight.

Conclusion

All dog lovers who own their pet dog must have a harness to train their puppy to pull weight. If you don’t want to break your bank to buy a weight-pulling harness, then nothing is great to make one yourself.

After reading this post, you have learned how to make a dog weight pulling harness, and it is possible with household items. So make the harness and start training your dog how to pull weight.