Oscar’s New Harness

I think Oscar may be a bit . . crazy or hyperactive or both.

It’s hard to find a harness that fits a dachshund. Years ago, a friend, Vicky, gave me one that didn’t fit her dachshund and it fit Speck perfectly. At some point, we got a harness for him from Dachshund Delights. Their harnesses are not inexpensive but you measure your dog and they are custom made for your dog and they fit perfectly. You can get them made for any breed of dog. Instructions for measuring are on the website. Rita has one too because chihuahuas are kinda hard to fit with a harness too. Maybe all dogs are . . I’ve only tried to find harnesses for Speck, Rita and Oscar.

So, the new harness arrived a couple of weeks ago for Oscar. I remember showing it to Vince. It’s black with red trim. Vince said “Georgia colors!” (He’s not a Georgia fan!). In my head, I planned to bring the harness downstairs and put it where we keep the leashes but all I remember was handing it to Vince to look at.

Oscar had been wearing a really cute little brown harness. It matched his spots and was so sweet on him. Above is a picture you’ve seen before but it’s the best one I can find to show his harness. It has velcro tabs on each side of the neck piece then those clamps that you squeeze to unclamp so I felt it was very secure. It wasn’t a perfect fit but it wasn’t terrible. It came from Amazon and he had been wearing it for a month or so. It was starting to get a little tight around his chest so yesterday I was going to take it off and put the Dachshund Delights harness on him . . but then I couldn’t find it anywhere. Of course I couldn’t . . I can never find anything!

I asked Vince .. oh, no! He had not seen it. I said “Yes, you saw it because you said it was GA colors!” Yes, he remembered that but he handed it back to me. Probably. I’m the one who loses everything. I looked for a while and it was just nowhere to be found. I figured I’d worry about it another day.

While I was out watering, somehow Oscar got the little plastic clamp things undone on the brown harness and chewed up the clamp so the neck piece no longer stayed around his neck. Good grief!

I searched and searched and still could not find the Dachshund Delights harness. I had three more harnesses that we had bought. I tried two of them on him and they were quite a bit too big. The third one that I had liked but it had been too big the last time I tried it on him but now, it was too small. I had to use it to take him out but I was so afraid it was going to come undone and I would lose him. I was seriously almost in tears.

I measured him again and yes, he was bigger than he was when I ordered the last Dachshund Delights harness. I ordered another harness, explained that I couldn’t find the other one and asked if they could get this one to me as quickly as possible.

Then Vince went upstairs and searched. He found it!

I was so happy to see that harness. Oscar . . not so happy. You know how he is with new things.

You should have seen me trying to get that harness on him. He saw those plastic clamps. He loves those things and he was determined to get one in his mouth. I was sitting on the floor, had one leg over his head, had my elbow over his back end and was trying to get the thing over his head. After about 10 minutes of trying, I told Vince “You’re going to have to help me!” He said “Ok. What do I need to do?” I said “Just hold him and hold his mouth shut because as I’m trying to slip this over his head, he grabs it in his mouth.” Vince couldn’t hold him and hold his mouth shut. Oscar is so strong and when he’s determined to do something . . two old folks are not a match for him.

We finally got it on him, got it securely fastened. I wish I had videoed it. I can see how it would feel different for him. He flipped end over end, kinda like doing somersaults, then he would roll side to side. Then he would go round and round, like he was chasing his tail but he was trying to get his teeth into the far back of it so he could yank it off. All he could think of was getting it off . . not happening!

I feel like these are so secure with the velcro . . big, wide pieces of velcro that I have a hard time undoing, and the clamps. I’ve never had Speck or Rita come close to getting out of one of them but . . this is Oscar and he’s just a bit different . . more determined, stronger, destructive . . and so cute.

Vince said “We should take it off him when we’re not going to be around him til he gets used to it.” I looked at him like . . are you crazy? Then Vince said “Oh, we wouldn’t be able to get it back on him, would we?” Probably NOT!!

At least when the new Dachshund Delights harness arrives, I’ll have a backup. I’ll have to do a blog post about where I’m putting it so y’all can help me find it when I need it!