What is the Best Collar for German Shepherd Puppies?

We raised 3 beautiful litters of West German Show Line German Shepherd puppies here. It was a great adventure and our girl Aura is now spayed. During that period, and to this day, people still ask me what the best collar is that they can put on their German Shepherd puppy.

I personally feel that the puppy stage is a time of learning. You definitely want to nurture your pup’s confidence and not be too harsh during the puppy phase. You wouldn’t send your 5yr old child off to boot camp, right? I wouldn’t stick a pronged collar an an 8 week old pup, either. This is why I like harnesses.

That said, all dogs are different and have different motivations. What works for one may not work for another. I personally have many different collars for different situations. I will go over them below.

Harnesses

Harnesses provide more of a “learning” process as opposed to “correction”. I personally put a harness on puppies as soon as they’re 8 weeks old. I have always loved the harness and I recently discovered a new type of harness specially designed to prevent your puppy from pulling as the latch is on the front. This is an amazing idea and the reviews on this item speak for themselves. I wish I had one of these. I just ordered one for Aura even though she is 6 years old!

Easy Walk Harness

The best place to buy this special harness is on Amazon. Beware of imitations and knockoffs! This link will take you directly to the  correct Amazon page where it is sold by Amazon and not a third party.

Buy the PetSafe Easy Walk Harness on Amazon here. They start at $17.95 with free shipping and go up a couple bucks for larger sizes and you don’t even have to get off of the couch to get one.

I personally purchase 2 different sizes when I order these because German Shepherd puppies grow so fast. I would personally go to this harness when the pup is around 12 weeks of age.

They come in a variety of sizes and Amazon doesn’t help much, so here is the sizing chart:

Size Pet Width Girth Measurement
Petite 6-7 inches 12-16 inches
Petite/Small 8-9 inches 13-18 inches
Small 8.5-11 inches 15-21 inches
Small/Medium 11-13 inches 19-26 inches
Medium 12-15 inches 23-33 inches
Medium/Large 14-18 inches 24.5-34 inches
Large 16-21 inches 27-40 inches
Extra Large 17.5-23.5 inches 32-50 inches

This video will show you how to measure your German Shepherd puppy:

That harness has nearly 7,000 reviews, so, you don’t have to take my word for it!

The harness I personally used

The harness wasn’t great and they did pull, however I only had puppies around 8 weeks of age. I would use one of these again from weeks 8 – 12, and then at 12 weeks move on to the harness I mentioned above. The puppy harness I used was a Kong Harness. They are $18 delivered and you can buy a Kong harness on Amazon here.

Audo

Collars

Not everyone likes their puppy in a harness, but it sure is funny the first 4 minutes they have one on. It is almost like putting socks on your cat. Anyways if you prefer a collar or they move on to a collar, I like plain old nylon flat collars. You can buy these on Amazon or at your local pet store. I personally ike these “Guardian Gear” collars but any collar will due:

What kind of puppy collar do you use on your German Shepherd Puppy?

Please feel free to comment below.

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