Note: This article was originally published months ago but we discovered a new harness that in some corner cases, is a life/dog saver. I’ve updated the end of the article with the new information and re-published it.
Collars are a thing for all dogs. Some people use them always, some only when going out. Everyone has a different opinion on which sort of harness or collar to use and most of those opinions are great. What follows is OUR opinion and how WE do it for Golden Retrievers. Unless you are using one of the cruel collars I list below, we totally respect your preferences.
Harnesses
Harness have recently gained a lot of popularity because they essentially can’t slip off and never hurt the dogs throat. That is admirable and a real benefit but there are downsides.
This could be a long a detailed discussion but I’ll boil it down to the basics and that is: We’ve not had good successes with harnesses. Your experience may vary but please read on to hear ours.
A harness essentially does almost nothing to train the Golden Retriever. It does not hurt nor does it force him to change his mind about were he wants to go. A harness is essentially like a yoke harness on a horse or Ox or sled dog. It is designed to allow them to PULL with the least amount of discomfort. This is all well a good as a puppy that you can man handle but Golden Retrievers do not stay small long. 
If you do not train your Golden Retrie
ver to handle a leash really well by the time they get to 10-12 months old, your walking days are over if you do not have Dwayne Johnson’s size and arms.
Goldens are very strong and very energetic. Once you add adult weight, if they decide to pull you, you WILL be forced to move with them whether you want to or not if you use a harness.
We also tried chest ring harnesses that pull the Golden to the side if tugged on. This worked somewhat but the dog learned he could just bow up his back and pull sideways. This behavior was patently bad for his skeletal structure so we abandoned that as well.
I’m not saying harness are evil; they absolutely are not and many have good experiences with them but in our experience, they are difficult at best to train a puppy with and leash training is one of the most important things you can do for your dog (and yourself).
Evil Collars
I’ll step right into my judgemental tone here as I am passionate about this. Never, ever, ever use a collar designed to deliver pain with a Golden Retriever. No choke collars, no spiked collars with the spikes turned in, and no “training” shock collars.
These collars are all unnecessary, completely counter-productive for your Golden Retriever and frankly; cruel.
Disclaimer: yeah I know that thin chain choke collars are often used on conformation shows to really show off the dog and hide the collar but that is ONLY after the dog is really, really leash trained and does not ever pull.
Golden Retrievers are best trained using positive reinforcement. They are sensitive animals that want more than anything in life for you to love them and to please you. It may not seem like it at times but this is absolutely true. The biggest challenge is to keep repeating good behavior with loving and/or rewards and/or praise until they figure out what you want. If you hurt them, they interpret that as not loving them and has undesired effects. We prohibit these sorts of collars for any puppy we sell.
Ok, I’ll turn off the judgemental tone and get back to the fun stuff now…
Good Collars and How We Do It
In general a good collar should be smooth, comfortable and wide enough to not cut into your Golden Retriever’s neck. Depending on how it’s used (as I’ll explain below) it could be waterproof or not and loose or not and used for leashes or not. I’ll explain how we do it but again, you are free to choose what works best for you.
We use two different collars for each Golden Retriever. We have daily wear collars that never come off and leash collars just for walking on a leash.
Daily Wear
The daily wear collar is for occasional manual control of your golden Retriever but not for leash walking most of the time. Our daily wear collars are plastic to keep them from stinking when they get wet. This has the side benefit of not keeping a wet collar against their skin which can create unwanted “Hot
Spots”. They are easy to clean, have a reflective strip for better 
night time visibility and we added a durable name tag with their name and our phone number integrated onto the collar itself. Dangly tags always wear out and fall off so we prefer the integrated ID tag. Once your Golden has stopped growing, you may want to consider THIS COLLAR as it is, more attractive and the name tag is fully integrated and sits flatter on the collar.
The fit for the daily wear collar should be adjustable and if it is not a “breakaway” collar then it should be adjusted loose enough that the dog can get out of it if they get hung up on something but not so loose that it just falls off in normal play. If it is a break away collar, adjust it so that you can comfortably get three fingers under it and make sure the break away feature is not so weak that it comes apart with a gentle tug. After all, the collar is supposed to allow you to control an excited dog with your hand and for a few moments, they may disagree.
Leash Collar
The leash collar only goes on when it’s time to go for a walk and is put on on top of the daily wear collar. This is another reason that we don’t use dangly tags on the daily wear collars as the tags could get pinched under the leash collar.
Our collar of choice is the Martingale style collar, which is a cross between a regular collar and the evil choke collar that is adjustable to take away the evil part. When properly adjusted, the collar will tighten up just enough around the Golden’s neck to get their attention and be nearly impossible to slip out of but stops before it chokes them. Adjusting it is critical as it should be just a little uncomfortable at it’s tightest but not choke them. Care should be taken as the puppy grows to continue to adjust it.
The part of the collar that goes around the front of the neck should be pliable, strong and wide. It is important that it be able to apply even pressure all around the neck and not cut into it if the pup gets feisty. Pliable leather or some form of stitched cloth is fine. This is their “Sunday Best” collar so make it pretty and get a matching leash. It does not need to be waterproof as you will likely never allow them to swim or play in the mud in it on purpose.
For Our leash collars, we prefer the Martingale style that uses a chain for the leash attachment and cinch. We feel it is stronger and gives more reliable tightening and loosening without hanging. Look for chain link styles that will slide through rings easily. Models that use a cloth hookup are also acceptable but we prefer chain. 3/4″ collar width is fine for puppies and adolescents but as they get bigger, we suggest moving to a 1″ wide collar.
The Martingale style collar gives you effective control of the Golden’s neck and head without harming them, especially if you can keep it high on the neck. As the collar tightens, it presses on the entire neck, not just the windpipe when they pull. This gives you control of the neck that also gives you control of the head. If you can turn her head, she must turn as well and turning them is the best way to prevent and/or train against pulling. We’ve also found that the tightening action serves as a sign to them that they should pay attention when they casually get to the end of the leash. Harley tends to go to the end of the leash but when it tightens, she pauses and lets it loosen up.
It is exceedingly easy to put on and take off. When not being pulled on it slips easily over the head but when they pull, it tightens in a way that is impossible to escape but does not harm their neck.
We leave ours attached to the leash and just put on or take off the entire rig as a unit. They are not very large and are easy to store on a wall hook with the leash.
Head harness collar for difficult dogs (added 2019/12/24)
So our River (neutered) has a heart condition and as a result, training is difficult. When something scares or startles a dog it is natural for their heart to race somewhat but other than a little racing blood, it does not bother them.. The problem with River is he has a heart defect makes his heart feel uncomfortable when it races and has since he was born so he reacts more often than learns when something bothers him and in the case of leashes, he PULLS. He is also not all that motivated by treats. These things make training him when he’s not perfectly calm very, very difficult. He is also huge (almost 90lbs). Luckily for us, he is incredibly sweet and mild mannered any other time but on a leash, he pulls like an ox.
The Martingale collar was an improvement over a regular collar but he still
pulled HARD. We also tried chest ring harnesses but that just made him get all twisted up and he still pulled hard and we feared he would hurt himself. Out of desperation, we finally tried a “Gentle Leader” collar and OMG, it worked.
Now when River pulls, it just points his nose down and he stops pulling. It took some time to get it fitted right and for him to get used to it but now he is among the easiest of our dogs to walk when using the Petsafe Gentle Leader head harness.
The gentle leader must be introduced to your dog over time as it is not completely natural for a dog to have a strap over it’s nose but they do get used to it with a little patience. It is also a little confusing to get on the dog’s head and fitted correctly so we don’t recommend it for every dog nor for long term use for most Golden Retrievers.
There are however times where this collar could come in handy
- You have a Golden that has a permanent condition like Rivers that makes training a real problem
- You didn’t invest the time and effort to train your pup when they were small and now they are too big to control and you need a temporary solution to be able to leash your dog in public until you get them properly trained.
- The person waling the dog is too small and/or not strong enough to handle a partially trained adult Golden if they get excited and decide to chase a squirrel.
Conclusion
There are endless types of collars out there and almost as many opinions on what is the right collar or combination of collars to use. We suggest a daily wear collar that is easy to clean, waterproof and has a durable/integrated name tag with ID information. The collar should either be a firm break away style or should be adjust loose enough that the dog can get out of it in an emergency.
The leash collar should be an attractive and properly adjusted Martingale of stitched material or flexible leather. We like the chain pull but cloth works as well. Be sure to adjust the Martingale properly as it is not supposed to choke; just give a firm wrap on the neck to get their attention. Remember that puppies also grow so adjust them often until adult.
If you have a uniquely difficult to leash train fully grown Golden Retriever or are not physically able to handle it when they get dexited on leash, then try the Petsafe Gentle Leader. It does work for difficult fully grown Goldens but we still prefer the Martingale collar whenever possible.
(said in firm voice) Avoid all collars that have inward spikes, choke or shock your dog, always!! Remember that we may void your contract if we catch you these collars this with our puppies – it is that important to us.
About the Authors
Bryan and Terri Curry love all dogs in general, especially Golden Retrievers. They have had dogs for all but 6 months of their long lives and all have lived happy and much longer than average. Bryan and Terri are co-owners of Texas TLC Goldens; a small responsible breeder producing high quality Golden Retriever puppies.
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