Vivienne and her parents have been working with a trainer with one goal being able to safely do off-leash hikes. Her papa is way better at this training and has been practicing in the Forest behind the house.
Well, it’s hunting season and even though Viv is much smaller than deer, she is shadow-colored, so he asked about some bright orange something for her to wear.
I used a store bought, light-weight harness we had as a pattern and a few different bright orange fabrics from my stash. The outer is a rip-stop nylon that I had to seam up the middle, so I reinforced that with s bit of a closer-to-pink florescent bias tape. The inside is safety orange polar fleece. It’s fastened with hook and loop, so is technically reversable, but it seems like the more moisture-resistant nylon would be out the most.
She is rocking this stylish outfit, and it’s such a good idea.
I found out via an episode of the Lateral Podcast that during filming for Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Chewbacca needed guards in high vis so Bigfoot hunters didn’t mistakenly shoot him!
So now Vivienne too is safe from being mistaken for a cryptid
I should make vests for our pups too. They are never loose but just in case they sneak out. Nebula could be mistaken for a baby bear and Toots…well Toots probably wouldn’t be mistaken for anything but she likes clothing and would feel left out.
Very true. I mean I don’t think I look too much like anything they are after but I still try to wear bright clothing in own woods during hunting season.
Looking hi-vis and adorable Vivienne!! How’s the off-leash hiking going? Our Rosie was pretty good off-leash (no hunting over here thankfully mind!), as long as she didn’t see a squirrel , but these two sighthound puppers we have now, nooooo chance, they’d be off like a shot as soon as the harness was off
Very snazzy new ‘fit!
She is growing up so pretty. Best of luck with the off-leash walks, & forest safety! Would a bell on her collar during the high season help?
@Loop-da-Loop It’s going pretty well. Our trainer convinced us to try a vibration collar and it has made a great difference in getting her attention and recall when she’s super focused on something - including some deer she decided to run after once when she was out with TheMisterT. Mostly we don’t even need to engage it now - even when a horse and rider were walking down the road this week! She stayed with me instead of running along the fence!
@Magpie She’s doing great! She never gets more than several yards away so I don’t know what adding sound would do.
Well that is great news. Peaches would take off like a shot the moment she got free of her lead. She’s a sight hound, the hunting instinct is stronger than her affection for anybody. And no road sense, wow.
It probably helps that we’ve fenced about 2.5 acres around the house, so we get to practice recall with her being not-super-nearby and train on the collar in an environment that’s not much different than the forest on the other side of the back fence.
Oh that’s cool, I’ve not heard of vibration collars, sounds interesting though cos I know how fixated they can get when they’re focused on other things and it’s so hard to get their attention!!
Mothdog? Selway Mini Monster? 
, but these two sighthound puppers we have now, nooooo chance, they’d be off like a shot as soon as the harness was off 