You’ll notice that I use a harness for a lot of my field work vs. a regular collar. I just started using one this year and I’m sold on it. I do this for a couple reasons. The first reason is when I first take a dog out they’re VERY excited and can start choking themselves, especially if they chase after a flushed bird and hit the end of the check cord! At this point in the game, I’m not too concerned if they pull on the check cord, so a harness is much easier on them. Secondly, you’d be amazed at how much less you’ll get the check cord tangled in the dogs legs! By moving the point where the check cord attaches from their neck, to midway on their back, eliminates leg tangles by at least 75%.
Here is a video of our “failed foster” Sassy out at a pheasant preserve. Although I’ve been running her on wild birds without a check cord, she is not quite ready to work on pen raised birds without one. In this video I have a 50ft. check cord attached to her harness. Fifty feet is a lot of rope!! Even with 50ft. of rope, she never gets her legs tangled. We were out about 3 hours with her and could count the leg tangles on one hand. Unfortunately, she went on point right as she got out of the camera view. But you can hear the outcome :)