Our Updated Buddy Belt Review

Can you believe we first posted our original Buddy Belt Review back in 2012!?  I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun.  Lately I’ve been going back to rework some of our older posts.  I think it’s interesting to look back at what we thought of products when we first tried them verses now.  Since Buddy Belts are still available for sale, I figured I’d take a look back at what I wrote about them back in 2012, and update with some new insight nearly 10 years later!

Excerpts from Our Original Buddy Belt Review

Buddy Belts were originally developed in 1997, inspired by a miniature Dachshund named Buddy.  They are designed to reduce stress on your dogs neck.  This is important especially for smaller breed dogs who can be prone to tracheal collapse.  The harnesses are made out of leather, and come in an array of colors and sizes.

*** Neither the makers of Buddy Belt nor FunnyFur.com paid for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own!  This post contains affiliate links. ***

I got Kit a red (of course) regular addition size 6 Buddy Belt.  The website I got it from also offers a stain guard treatment, which I decided to get.  I also bought a pair of harness liners for $10.  Someone had told me that the leather on the regular addition harness was kind of stiff at first.  Kitsune has sensitive armpits.  Shipping and handling from FunnyFur.com was $11.95, so my order in total was $97.36.

First Impressions…

The first thing I noticed when the harness got here was that the leather was a lot softer than I was expecting it to be.  I don’t know if this was because of the stain guard treatment I had gotten, or some other reason.  I decided to put the liners on anyways, to hopefully make the area of the harness that goes under the dog’s armpits a little bit softer for Kit.  The liners are made of soft leather and attach around the harness with a strip of Velcro.

The size 6 I ordered, as far as I can tell, does fit Kit well.  The belt has 5 holes on it so it can fit slightly different sized dogs.  It fits Kit at a comfortable tightness when on the 2nd or 3rd hole.  I am glad that, if I need too, I can make it a bit looser on him.  I think in the winter it should fit fine over a t-shirt or sweater.  The Buddy Belt is a step-in harness.  It’s easy to put on – one leg goes inside each hole of the harness.  I thought the harness placement was a little bit weird at first.  The top of the harness, on Kit at least, falls on top of his shoulder blades.  I guess that’s good because it’s true that the harness does leave his neck completely free.

Escape Proof?

Those of you who know anything about Kitsune probably know that he is a very hyper/active dog.  I’ve always used harnesses on him since I got him.  I can’t recall him ever actually fully escaping from a harness, but there have been times when he’s been very close to backing out of them.  Unfortunately, Kit did escape from his Buddy Belt a couple of times.  Thankfully, he’s a good boy and didn’t run off after getting out of his harness.  Although I’d love to be able to recommend these harnesses for all dogs, I’d carefully consider if you have a dog that’s an escape artist, or one that’s a flight risk if he/she manages to escape.

One thing I’ve found that I’d change about this harness, and this is a very minor thing, is the O ring for attaching your dog’s leash.  I don’t know why they used an O ring instead of a D ring.  I would think that a D ring would lay flatter against the leather of the harness and look a bit nicer.

There is a section of the top part of the belt that sticks out a bit.  Once in awhile Kit’s leash will get looped around that piece of leather.  Then I’ll have to wiggle his leash around to free it.  It’s not a big deal though.  I can’t think of any way they could avoid this without taking away the ability to make the harness fit a wider range of dogs.  I’d rather deal with the leash getting caught once in awhile then not have the ability to widen the harness.  Like I mentioned I do want the harness to be able to fit over clothing during the winter.

Functionality…

Most importantly, Kit seems very comfortable in this harness.  It took him a few days to really get used to it fully, but now that he’s been wearing it for awhile he doesn’t seem to mind it at all.  The first couple of times I walked him on it I think he felt a bit weird having the harness be right on top of his shoulders.  After a few days though he seemed to get used to it and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t bother him at all now.

I would recommend the Buddy Belt for most dogs, with the exception of those who are escape artists/flight risks.  The Buddy Belt website recommends you use a leather treatment on the harness every 3 months.  That’s something I’m going to look into further.  Hopefully if we take good care of it it will last a long time.

So, What Do We Think of Buddy Belts Now?

I’ll be completely honest, I didn’t use Kitsune’s Buddy Belt on him for very long after we completed our review all those years ago.  As I mentioned in my old review, Kitsune was able to back out of his Buddy Belt a handful of times, and that’s saying a lot because he’s really not much of an escape artist.  We still lived in the city at the time, and although Kit has always had a pretty decent recall, the thought of him running loose in the busy city streets were just too stressful for me to continue using this harness.

I still have the Buddy Belt, and I’ll say it still looks great for being around 10 years old!  Take that as you will, though, knowing that it didn’t see really any use to speak of in those 10 years.  It’s been stored away for most of the time I’ve owned it.  Is it just me that finds that the more expensive a dog product is, the harder it is to get rid of it even if it doesn’t work out for your dog?

Would I Recommend Buddy Belt Dog Harnesses?

Knowing what I know now, if I could go back in time, I doubt I’d purchase this harness for Kitsune again.  It was quite expensive, and I don’t really feel like we got our moneys worth out of it.  That’s not to say that every dog owner will have the same experience!  The Buddy Belt website has lots of positive testimonials from happy customers.  One thing I will say, though, is that these days there are lots of harnesses you can buy that are very similar to Buddy Belts, many of them for quite a bit cheaper.  If you’re interested in a Buddy Belt it might be a good idea to try a cheaper, but similar, harness out first.  You can always upgrade to a Buddy Belt later if you find the style of harness to work well with your dog.