S-K9 ChestCollar full FAQ

The S-K9 ChestCollar is a chest-based dog walking system: a flat collar joined to a torso strap, with a D-ring on each. It uses two contacts set off by the dog’s own movement – the Chest Touch at the sternum and, only if the dog keeps moving forward, the Collar Touch at the base of the neck.

It is designed to keep pressure low, early and away from the throat.

Learn more → How the S-K9 ChestCollar works

A harness is built around the body and spreads the load across it. The S-K9 ChestCollar is built around a flat collar, held in place by a torso strap. The lead runs through rings so that the first contact is at the sternum and, only if the dog keeps moving forward, the second is at the base of the neck.

Learn more → Dog walking tools compared

Because it is built around a flat collar. The torso strap holds the collar in place where an ordinary collar sits, so it is a collar system, not a harness. The ‘chest’ in the name is the first contact: when the lead first draws taut, it touches the chest at the sternum, and nothing crosses the front of the chest before that.

Not in the way a slip lead or choke chain does. Nothing closes around the throat.

If the dog keeps pulling after the Chest Touch, the lead draws the front of the collar down, creating padded pressure at the base of the neck – the Collar Touch. The torso strap holds the collar in place, so it is built not to swing round and load the throat, and the pressure eases as soon as the dog eases off.

It does not make neck load zero: a strong lunge still produces more pressure at the base of the neck than a gentle drift.

No. Any equipment that connects a dog to a lead creates some physical sensation, and the S-K9 ChestCollar does too: a light Chest Touch and, if the dog keeps pulling, padded pressure at the base of the neck.

The S-K9 ChestCollar is designed to keep that pressure low, early and away from the throat.

No. It does not steer the head or turn the body. The lead clips to the front of the collar and runs through the ring at the base of the torso strap, so the contacts are at the sternum and the base of the neck.

The collar is linked to the torso strap by a dorsal strap, and the lead pathway runs through the structure, so there is no loose loop for a dog to back out of. Fitted correctly, it is designed to make escape extremely difficult. No equipment is fully escape-proof, so check the fit, the buckles and straps for any damage before every walk.

Sebastien Lempereur designed it after years of walking and working with dogs, including large and powerful breeds. The story is on the Behind the S-K9 page.

The Chest Touch is the first contact in the S-K9 ChestCollar sequence: a light contact at the sternum that arrives when the lead first draws taut as the dog moves forward. It is designed to come first, and in the same place, each time.

Learn more → What is the Chest Touch?

The Collar Touch (previously called the Scruff Touch) is the second contact in the S-K9 ChestCollar sequence. If the dog keeps moving forward after the Chest Touch, the lead draws the front of the collar down, creating padded pressure at the base of the neck. How firm it is depends on the tension in the lead, and it stops as soon as the dog eases off.

Learn more → What is the Collar Touch?

The Scruff Touch is now called the Collar Touch. The mechanism has not changed. It was renamed because ‘scruff’ is commonly associated with scruffing – gripping, lifting or shaking a dog by the neck – which the S-K9 ChestCollar does not do. The Collar Touch has no grip, no lift, no shake and no hand: it comes from the dog’s own forward movement, through a padded collar.

The dog’s own movement sets the timing. As the dog moves forward and the lead goes taut, the lead path produces the Chest Touch and, if movement continues, the Collar Touch. The handler does not have to time or deliver anything.

Yes: both contacts come through the lead. The Chest Touch comes when the lead first draws taut, and the Collar Touch only if the dog keeps moving forward. The S-K9 ChestCollar is designed to keep that pressure low, early and away from the throat, and the Collar Touch stops as soon as the dog eases off.

The handler does not apply it. Both contacts come from your dog’s own movement when the lead goes taut, and the Collar Touch stops as soon as the dog eases off. It is still pressure: padded, and designed to be low and early, but real. Whether that counts as a correction depends on how you define the word, so we describe what happens instead.

Learn more → Is the Collar Touch a correction? Two ways to read it

Fit it using the size guide, clip the lead to the front of the collar and through the ring at the base of the torso strap, and walk. The contacts are set off by your dog’s own movement when the lead goes taut, so you do not have to time them.

Your role is to observe, stay calm and stay aware of the environment. Near roads, children or other dogs, step in whenever you need to. Avoid jerking the lead, because a sudden tug gives a firmer Collar Touch.

Learn more → Do no-pull dog tools need training? What each one asks of you

It is a walking tool, not a training programme. It has no sessions, exercises or schedule. Reducing pressure does not automatically solve every behavioural issue.

If your dog is reactive, fearful or aggressive, the S-K9 ChestCollar does not replace support from a qualified behaviourist or your vet. Read Safety and liability before your first walk.

It sets off the Chest Touch when the lead first draws taut and, if the dog keeps moving forward, the Collar Touch. In our experience, many dogs begin adjusting at the first touch, often within a few walks. It does not promise to stop pulling, and not every dog follows the same pattern.

In the few seconds after each contact, watch for:

• Signs your dog is settling: a looser body, sniffing, a soft mouth, looking around, walking on a loose lead.
• Signs your dog is uncomfortable: lip licking, stiffening, freezing, a lowered head, ears pinned back.

If you see the second set regularly, loosen the lead, slow down and check the fit. If you are worried, stop using it and speak to your vet.

Learn more → Safety and liability

Dogs pull for good reasons. They walk faster than we do, the world is full of things worth reaching, and pulling gets them there. A tight lead does not remove the reason behind it.

Learn more → Why dogs pull on the lead

Pressure has two sources for the dog. Environmental pressure is the pull of the world: a smell, another dog, a favourite route. Tool pressure is what the equipment adds when the lead goes taut. The person on the other end of the lead carries a third kind, handler pressure.

In our experience, pulling usually starts with environmental pressure and can get heavier with tool pressure. The S-K9 ChestCollar cannot change the pull of the world. What it changes is the tool pressure on the walk: the dog slows, the lead loosens and the handler is carried less. That eases handler pressure and, we infer, social pressure too. Watch the young Rottweiler walk to see the lead change.

Learn more → Pressure and the walk

Environmental pressure is the pull of the world on the dog: movement, smells, sounds, other animals, a familiar route. It acts before the lead goes tight, which is why a dog can start pulling before you notice.

Learn more → What is environmental pressure?

Tool pressure is what the equipment adds when the lead goes taut: contact at the neck, chest, head or body, depending on the tool. Some of our older articles call it physical pressure. It can change how pulling develops, but it does not start it.

Learn more → What pressure does a lead create?

Handler pressure is the load the person on the lead carries. It has three parts: the strain of the pull, social pressure (being watched and judged) and expectation pressure (what you expect from the walk, and the urgency when it does not match). A dog may respond to the changes it causes in how you hold the lead and move.

Learn more → What pressure do handlers feel on a dog walk?

Social pressure is the pressure of being seen: other people, a public place and the feeling of being judged when your dog pulls or reacts. It can change how you walk before anything difficult happens.

Learn more → What is social pressure on a dog walk?

Expectation pressure is the pressure of what you expect from the walk, and the urgency or frustration when the dog does not match it. It can show up in a shorter lead, a tighter grip or an earlier stop. Earlier S-K9 writing called it moral pressure.

Learn more → What is expectation pressure on a dog walk?

Pressure stacking is the S-K9 name for several pressures arriving together, faster than the dog can settle: the pull of the world, the lead and the person holding it. Trainers use a similar idea, trigger stacking, for several triggers building up.

One interpretation is that this is why the same dog can walk well one day and struggle the next. It is an interpretation, not a measured result.

Learn more → What is pressure stacking?