Kurgo Harness Review

I was recently contacted by Kurgo and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their new Kurgo Dog Tru-Fit Enhanced Strength Harness. I'd actually been thinking about trying a car harness for the dogs to use with my new, revamped car set up, since the seat belts are actually accessible now, so I was happy to review this harness.

I actually gave them Koira's measurements for the harness, thinking I would use it for her in the car to keep her from diving onto the floorboards and riding there. When I got the harness, though, I realized how much metal was on it. As far as safety goes, that is a great thing, because it means you won't have plastic snaps breaking if you get in an accident. For the rare metal-allergic dog like Koira, though, it means she would break out in hives if she wore this harness too much, though I could put it over a lightweight t-shirt or something.

With how close my dogs are in size (despite the height difference) and the adjustability of this harness, I was able to change my mind and use it for Pallo instead. Not only do the neck and chest bands adjust, but there is an option to adjust the length of the chest band depending on how deep of a chest your dog has. For Pallo, I pulled it into the smaller setting, as you can see in the above photo.

All of the hardware on this harness is, as I said before, solid metal. Even the attachments where you close the harness up around the chest are metal, and designed in such a way that there is no way they would be coming undone if you were in an accident, or if you dog just wore the harness around. They were actually so hard to undo that I had some serious issues when I was fitting the harness, until I gave in and read the instructions and figured out that there is a right and wrong way to do it. And I rarely read instructions, especially on things like dog harnesses. It was mildly annoying to have to read them, but at the same time, the clasp being designed in this way makes the harness that much safer for my dog, so I guess a little reading is worth it.

The chest plate is wide and tapers between the legs, supporting the entire chest area of the dog. You can tell in the above photo that it goes up to the top of the breast bone on Pallo, and a little higher, but not seriously up into the neck area.

There is a front hook and a d-ring on the back of the harness, so you can use it as a walking harness as well as in the car. Pallo was plenty comfortable wearing it, and while I wouldn't use such a heavy breast plated harness if he were doing a lot of running, it seems fine for going on walks. We briefly tried out the front hook and ended up just getting the leash tangled in his legs until we gave up. But then, we've never used a front hook harness and his short legs tend to make leash tangling more of an issue anyway.

I had Pallo wear this harness when we went on a four hour drive up to Washington for a flyball tournament. The tether worked well hooked onto the seat belt. Pallo was still able to lay pretty much however he wanted to without getting seriously tangled, though I did have to untwist him once on the way home. But once in about six-plus hours of driving isn't too bad.

An unexpected plus side is that Pallo is not only safe in the car in case of an accident, but he can't get into things if I leave him for a minute. I wouldn't leave a dog hooked into a set up like this if they are going to be alone for long, but when I stopped at a rest stop, I did leave him hooked up. Benefit to that is that he couldn't get into the fast food wrappers in my car trash from the dinner I grabbed on the way home. He normally will get into and shred any fast food wrappers he can get his teeth on, and while I obviously try to make sure they aren't left where he can get them, I'm human and occasionally forget.

I think Pallo may have been a little uncomfortable about the getting hooked in process, as I had to scoot him around to get the carabiner to hook onto his harness (I decided to just leave the seat belt hooked with the attachment on it, due to the type of set up I have in the car right now). Once he was hooked in, though, I don't think he cared much.

Overall, I thought this harness was well designed and well built, and has a good chance of helping to keep your dog safe in the car.

The harness is even crash tested, for additional peace of mind.




Right now, you can get 20% off Kurgo outdoor dog gear using the discount code K15Road.


Disclaimer: I was sent this harness for free in exchange for my honest review. The content of this post is my own and was not influenced by the company. I did not receive any compensation outside of the harness required for the review, which I am able to keep.