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(Click to see why Humans are "the issue" when it comes to any training tool that needs lessons to be used)
Leading from the front is the magic
The Walk Your Dog With Love dog harness and head halters work the same way – they both lead from the front. This gives The Walker the ability to steer and turn the dog, while at the same time not triggering off a dog’s natural instinct to pull. A good thing.
The differences
One of the MOST important differences is that your dog won’t hate the Walk Your Dog With Love dog harness. When dogs wear a snout loop, they often try to paw at it or rub their noses in the ground to get it off, We have all seen this. And some are even willing to rub their noses on cement to do so. Those that don't do this wear it under protest. More on that in a moment.
Walking differences
If you are used to a snout loop, please know that the Walk Your Dog With Love dog harness does feel different to the human walking the dog. Because the snout loop is closer to your hand, humans sometimes interpret that its feel as more responsive.
Yet that is just a perception, not the reality. The reality is that the results are actually the same, because you are still steering and directing the dog just as effectively. Walk Your Dog With Love’s lead point is lower on the dog and further behind than when using a snout loop, and thus our harness has a ‘softer’ ride than a head halter. This is like the difference between a sportier car and the softer ride of a luxury car.
AN EVEN DEEPER LOOK: Anatomically, Psychologically. Physically.
Though they both lead '"from the front", leading from the chest is much more friendly because the snout loop produces those results by doing many things that are medically and mentally not good for a dog. Most dogs paw at snout loops trying to get the off their noses, and some are even willing to drag their snouts on cement to get them off… that should say something right there.
Inside a dog’s snout
Depending on what we believe, dogs have anywhere from 100-600 times more olfactory receptors than a human. In all cases, dog’s have an extremely sensitive and delicate snout. Imagine smelling things with more sensitivity and accuracy than we see. This sensitivity is because their longer snouts contain a complex maze of ultra thin bones called turbinates. The turbinates are lined with an epithelium. This provides a very large surface area for the air a dog breathes to pass over.
In the front of the snout the bones are called maxillo-turbinates; they are lined with a respiratory epithelium. In the back part of the snout there are ethmoid turbinates with epithelium that is for olfactory sensing. Smelling by another name. It’s this lining that contains the millions of olfactory receptors (neurons), that recognize odor molecules. The neurons need as much contact with the air as possible to detect the odor molecules. To increase the contact, the neurons have cilia – tiny hair-like projections. The latest scientific thinking (about mammals like us and dogs) says that each olfactory receptor cell only recognizes a single odorant receptor gene. After an odor is ‘recognized’, a pathway of tiny nerves relay signals to the brains olfactory lobe – which then interprets the odors.
In addition to the above, dog’s snouts (not humans) have some a special ‘tool’ called the Lamina Transversa. This is a unique plate of bone that forms a nook in the snout which is separated from the respiratory section of the snout. This recess holds an extra bit of air for the dog to smell, even when it is exhaling. Which means that a dog is getting a second opportunity at sensing a smell.
Dogs also have a vomeronasal organ (Jacobson’s organ) which is two elongated fluid-filled sacs just above the roof of the mouth. These detect body scents (pheromones) allowing, among other things, sexual and social assessment of other dogs.
The Bottom Line on all of this is the snout is very sensitive and also very important to a dog - so it should be left alone
*****
OK, now you know too much about a dog’s nose. And why we need to be very careful with it. And you now know that a dog is living in a completely different world than you and I are because of it. A side note- it is this completely different world that makes our best friend behave in a manner that we don’t understand, because Humans are most often driven by what we See... and what we Believe