Rabbitgoo
Rabbitgoo is selling all kinds of products, but only a few of them are dog-related as of today.
You probably saw the base harness (or a really similar one) sold by many other companies, but I haven’t seen one with the LED light before. I also have to mention that this was the first harness that came in a nice, branded package instead of a bag. It had the harness, a detailed user guide, and the charger nicely arranged, which tells a lot about the company before you even start using their product.
About the harness in general
This harness is a padded Y-harness that only comes in black for now - which is a little weird when the main functionality is the visibility, but as far as we know, they are planning to sell it in different colors soon.
Good to know that the harness comes in only one size for now: the chest circumference is 27-32 inches (68-81 cm). The neck circumference isn’t on the product page, and it is hard to measure correctly, but ours is around ~14-23 inches (35-58 cm). The part between the legs is 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) wide and 11 inches (28 cm) long. These are essential measures because they will determine where it will be positioned on your dog. Only using the chest girth will not tell you if the chest straps would be too close to the armpits of your dog (e.g., in case of a deep-chested breed).
Detailed Review of the Harness
The harness has a handle on the top and two leash attachment points: one on the back and one no-pull ring on the chest part. The outside material is sturdy and supposed to be water-resistant, but the latter doesn’t really matter since the inside mesh material will soak the water in like a sponge.
The mesh padding is soft and supposed to be a breathable material. Can’t tell much about the breathability, but after the first few uses, you will have dog hair stuck in all of those tiny holes. It will also soak in the mud and can take long hours to dry completely, which makes the harness heavier. The mesh padding material is similar to the one used for the TLH6071 and the TLH5753 Truelove harnesses.
In general, we are not a big fan of having the back ring on the middle of the top part instead of the back part of the harness, because, for bigger dogs, we have the feeling that the pressure is more on the neck than on the chest this way if the dog pulls on the leash. If you look at the picture below, you see that pulling the harness back with a leash will mostly pull the neck-straps, which is like having a big collar on the dog. The big difference is that a collar would be higher around the neck instead of pressing against the throat, which tightens the blood vessels and/or the neck nerves.
If you imagine the pulling force being in the middle of the top part of the harness, it will try to “rotate” the harness - sliding the neck part higher and the chest straps closer to the front legs. My feeling is that you can only put most of the pressure on the chest pad/straps if you are pulling the chest straps backward as well - which will only happen if the leash attachment point is behind the chest straps. This doesn’t stand for small dogs because you are pulling the leash upwards anyways. We hope this makes some sense; we couldn’t find too much information on this, so feel free to prove me wrong and send me any studies.
The front no-pull ring didn’t really work for us - just as we expected based on my experiences with the similar TLH6071 and the TLH5551 Truelove harnesses. It can be used for a slight correction, but it will turn to the side since there is room behind the dog’s front legs, so there is nothing to keep it on the front of the chest. The other issue is that light is on the way of the leash if you use the front ring, which is just a little annoying. It’s not a functionality issue, but I’m wondering if the leash would scratch the light and the rubber holder around it in the long term.
Having the light on the chest part makes the chest pad a little heavier and pulls the harness a more forward when the dog is running off-leash. This isn’t an issue; it’s not restricting the movement - you should just expect that the chest padding will look a little stiffer; in some cases, it doesn’t lay flat against the chest.
The LED light
Let’s talk about the most exciting part of this harness; the built-in, rechargeable LED light. The light can work up to 10 hours with one charge, and you can easily switch between four modes: steady and flashing white; or steady and flashing red light.
You can easily pop out and press back the light from/to the rubber holder on the harness, but at the same time, it holds the light in place well. We went for hikes in cold, mud, through bushes and forest, and the light stayed perfectly in place.
The harness will come with a charger cable for the light, and charging usually takes less than 2 hours.
You can also use the light on your clothes or attach it to another gear on the dog. You will also find a rubber strap in the package that you can use to attach the light somewhere else besides the holder on the harness.
One thing to keep in mind, that the light is weather-, but not waterproof, so don’t let your dog jump in the water with the light on. We used it on some rainy and slushy days without any issues.
The other experience with the light is that it cannot handle frigid weather since it has a lithium battery in it. It only means that sometimes it turned off when we walked below -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit). It works better if you turn it on inside a few minutes before the walk to gave it some time to warm up.
Update after a year
The harness still holds up well, there are no loose threads coming our from the outer material although it was used for hikes and got scratched by bushes all the time. The buckles, rings and the light still works well, we haven’t discovered any new quality or functionality issues with the product.
Functionality Review
No-pull: It does have a no-pull ring, but if you are planning to use the front ring mostly, we would suggest looking into a harness that only has a front ring and was designed for that.
Running/biking (as an irregular hobby, buy specific equipment if you want to get into it seriously): We would prefer a harness with the back ring attached farther back on the dog, but you can use it to give running/biking with your dog a try before deciding to buy a more suitable gear. Be sure it is a good fit for your dog and positioned as it should be.
Hiking: we like it, it doesn’t restrict Mia’s movement, and it’s visible. The handle on the back allows you to help your dog up or down, but it can also get stuck in a bush. If you are hiking in a muddy weather/through water crossings, expect the harness to get heavier due to the mesh material, which takes a long time to dry.
City walk: It works pretty well for city walks for the same reason described above.
Easy to put on/adjust: All straps are easily adjustable, but only the chest straps have buckles, so you have to pull the harness over the dog’s head and use both buckles on the chest straps.
Visibility: Good, it has reflective straps besides the bright LED light. It would be even more visible if you could buy it in yellow or orange since the original harness comes in those colors too - hopefully, those will be available soon.
Summary
When we first got this harness, we thought it’s not the smartest thing to put the light on the chest because you will not be able to see it unless the dog walks toward you. As you can see in the pictures below, it is a bright light that will also reflect on the ground in front of the dog, and you can easily see it from all angles.
The best use case for this harness over the basic one (without the LED light) is if you hike or walk your dog off-leash in the dark a lot. There isn’t much add-on value in it for leash walks since you can control your dog well, and it is less critical to keep him/her visible for other people.
We would be interested to see studies showing if putting a light on the chest helps or distracts the dog’s vision in the dark. While it lights up the ground right in front of them, we feel Mia had a harder time seeing what’s coming outside of the circle of the light.
The harness itself proved to be sturdy; we haven’t had any quality issues with it while testing it for months. The adjustability of the harness is excellent; it gives you a wide range to customize it for your dog.
Where to buy
You can find this product on Amazon here is the link.
Disclaimer: this review contains an Amazon affiliate link, which supports Dog Gear Review if you purchase the product after clicking on it without costing you anything extra. Using affiliate links will never compromise us writing unbiased, honest reviews!
Mia’s measurements
Many of you asked Mia’s measurements to better understand the different products’ fit. Your best chance of finding a good fitting gear is always to measure (and remeasure) your dog. Even we grab the measuring tape before getting a new product - even though we tested a lot of them, and have a good feeling of her size by now.
I share her measurements below, but don’t go ahead and order the same size just because your dog is similar to Mia ;)
Shoulder height: 19.5 inches (50 cm)
Weight: 37-44 pounds (17-20 kg)
Widest chest circumference (where the most harness would have the chest strap): 25-26 inches (63-65 cm)
Neck circumference for collars: 15-16 inches (38-40 cm)
Back lengths: 22 inches (56 cm)
