*I was sent a dog harness for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own.

Pugs are a funny breed of dog in so many ways, they are pretty unique. One way that they are unique from other dog breeds is their activity level. They aren’t the type of dog who wants to (or really even can) go on a run with you or be really active for long periods of time, especially during the summer. Their flat noses make them prone to a variety of breathing related problems and they pant a lot more than most other breeds because their breathing is less efficient. So going on runs or even long walks during summer heat isn’t a good idea for pugs. They of course do need to get out of the house to at least go on walks, though. When it is hot out, we play with them either first thing in the morning or after dinner time when the weather is cooler so that they can spend some energy without being at risk due to the heat.

Where we live, it seems like the traffic is heavier during those times as so many people are headed to work or school (the school being really close to our home) and our dogs get really distracted by the vehicles, even if we are in our back yard.

Another reason why pugs are unique is their body shape. Their heads are quite small in proportion to their necks, so using collars on a leash doesn’t do much good if they wiggle at all because the collar pops right off.

From our back yard, Frank & Beans usually stop and stare at the cars until they pass by but occasional they dart away from the cars. While they don’t directly run towards cars, I was afraid that they’d dart away from one car and accidentally be heading towards another car. So I wanted to find a harness that gave us the feeling of being in control of the pugs while we went on walks just “in case”. Thankfully, EzyDog has a chest plate harness that is designed to give you control of your dog – whether they are the type of dog who tries to control the person walking them or are like our pugs and are jittery and unpredictable in crowds or near traffic.

The chest plate harness comes in sizes XXS – XL. Often times, pugs don’t fit well onto size charts because of their disproportionately large chest/front shoulder area. Due to the harnesses being really adjustable, Frank fits into the medium on the size chart all the way across. It’s designed for dogs 23-43lbs, with necks 16-27 inches and girths of 18-29 inches. Frank weighs 26lbs, a 17 inch neck and a 23.5 inch girth.

Compared to other harnesses that I have tried, the chest plate harness is fairly easy to put on, though it takes a second of looking at it the first time or two. I just lay the harness on the ground with the chest plate in the center. One side of the harness will have a closed shape formed to put your dogs foot/leg through. I have my dog step into that side and then pull the other side straps up and buckle them together.

Seems how both of the buckles are on one side of the dog, at first I always felt like the harness wasn’t 100% evenly placed on my dogs back. I think it appears that way because its not symmetrical, but Frank always seems comfortable so even if it does slide a tiny bit to one side sometimes, I don’t think it matters.

Although Frank was never the type of dog to try to walk his humans, I notice that he does seem to wait for guidance with this harness on than before, and in situations where he does get scared and try to bolt, we feel like we have better control of him. Yet, the harness is set up so that the stress is spread across his entire chest so it doesn’t seem to cause him any discomfort and it seems impossible for this harness to cause gagging seems how nothing is near his neck, which I have seen other harnesses cause on other dogs when they yank or pull.

There is reflective stitching on the harness so at night if headlights or other lights hit it, it reflects to make your dog stand out.

Frank is only 13 inches long across his back (shoulder to above the tail) and the chest plate is 9 inches long. Due to the long length, if he lays down with the harness on, the top of it does gape away from his body as a result of the bottom of the chest plate being pinned under his tummy/chest. It doesn’t seem to cause him discomfort at all so I personally don’t worry about it but I don’t think this would even happen with most breeds. Seems how he is a pug and pugs have large neck and chest sizes compared to other dogs of similar lengths, most dogs of his length would wear a smaller harness size.

The D ring is really thick and durable and the plastic buckles are of good size and seem nice and sturdy as well. I’m really happy with this harness overall and I haven’t reached for any of the other harnesses that we have for Frank since we got this one. It’s definitely my favorite.

EzyDog makes other types of harnesses, coats, collars, car restraints, leashes and more.

You can connect with EzyDog on Facebook and Twitter.

Emily

Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.

Follow Emily on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

www.emilyreviews.com/category/emily