hi everyone , can anyone please give me some advice , my dog ozzy is recovering from a crumbling disc in his neck , the vet has said when he is better we must not put him on a collar / lead when we walk him , so we are going to have to try a harness only problem is he goes mad if we go near him with it because i think he thinks it is a muzzle , but the main problem we have with him he constanly pulls (he is 10 ) is it to late to try and sort the pulling out ?? if not how do we go about it ???

Course not! My 13yr old pulled like a freight train her whole life (something to do with very rarely being walked, and then by my brother (she was his dog) who just let her do it) until she got here a year ago - she now walks beautifully on the lead and doesn't pull at all She is also on a harness - after all that pulling she has arthritis in her neck so a collar is a no-no for her too.

Have a look at this for a method: http://www.druidalegsd.karoo.net/300_peck.pdf

I've started that with my littlest dog (who is also an extremely strong puller) - it's the one and only thing that's ever made any real difference to her pulling.

Also, you need to do some work on making the harness a nicer thing. I've known a lot of dogs be wary of harnesses - my 2yr old would try to bite if I went near her with one when she first got here.

With her, I started by just having the harness in one hand and giving her tasty things with the other - starting a good association. When she was ok with that, I fed her through the head hole - not putting it on, just feeding her through it - and from there, giving her a bigger tasty treat that I kept hold of while I slowly slipped the harness over her head. With it being a bigger treat it meant she was nibbling at it the whole time the harness was going over. She was fine with it in about 3 days.

Make sure the harness is comfortable - some designs rub some dogs under their armpits, for example my older boy cannot wear any normal walking harness because they sit too close back there and he gets huge red welts very quickly But he wears a Mekuti as it sits a bit further back. Something like a Dog Games or Snugglepet fleecey padded one would be a good idea.

Edit: you can get harnesses that have extra clips if putting it over his head is part of his worry about them - I believe both Dog Games and Mekuti have harnesses with optional neck clips on for that purpose.

thank alot for the advice , we will give it a try when ozzy is well enough to go out

You can use the time while he's not well enough for walks to teach him that the harness is a fun thing that generates treats! Then you'll be all set when he can go out.