IWCA Harness Project

When one of our hounds becomes unable to stand on their own, it is often sudden. No matter what the cause, we are immediately faced with trying to figure out how to help our hounds during their recovery and treatment. A very good harness can be a literal life saver, especially if you know which harness is appropriate, how to get the right size and how to get it on your hound in the first place!

Many members of our community have experienced this personally and have purchased a harness. After its use is complete, the harness often goes into the back closet just in case another hound needs it. The Harness Project aims to create a lending library of Help ‘Em Up brand harnesses made by Blue Dog, in a range of sizes. These specific harnesses are well made, easy to clean and work very well when properly adjusted.

Any IWCA member can request a harness for use with their hound from the Chair of the project via email. The Chair will ask you to take some measurements of your dog, and the right size harness will be overnight shipped to you. We ask that you make a donation of $50.00 to the project to assist in shipping costs and replacement harnesses as needed. You may use the harness for up to six months, and return it to the Chair when it is no longer needed. 

We invite generous members that might have a Help ‘Em Up harness stored, not currently in use, to donate to the program. There will be no cost to these members if they should need the use of a harness in the future. Our goal is to have several Large and Extra Large harnesses, and a couple of Medium and Small harnesses for puppies who may need them during a recovery. At this time, we have two Extra Large harnesses.

IWCA members can find more details about how to borrow a harness, how to donate a harness, or how to make a monetary donation to the Harness Project, on the Member Programs page.

This page was last updated 03/14/2022.