sold4christ25
New member
Hello,
It seems that I always get a few questions about Apollo’s harness every time I post a picture of him, so I thought I would write up a review to link people to when I get asked. I spent a few months looking for a good harness and I finally chose the Signature K-9 LLC (Lift Load Carry) harness. This harness was made for Military Working Dogs, K-9 police units, and civilian use. I chose this harness because of the reasonable price and the quality. The harness is capable of being used in jumps from an aircraft, do I figured it was good enough for hiking every weekend, and daily walks around town.
My main reasons for choosing this harness with the exception build quality, it was made in the USA, it is used for MWD, and it is perfectly comfortable for dogs to wear all day. My German Shepherd Apollo had a basic nylon strap harness before; it would rub in his armpits and make him break out. It was also not very strong. I also liked that the harness came with MOLLE straps all along the sides for optional accessories. It also has a large Velcro strip along the back for other accessories and patches, we got a cool K-9 patch to show our support for all the K-9 working dogs out there.
Here are a couple links to purchase the harness, read to the end, and if you like what you read/see these will be your links.
Signature K-9.com LLC (Lift Load Carry) harness
Ray Allen.com LLC Harness
The harness is made for most large breed working dogs, Apollo is a very large GSD, his shoulder height is already 27”(.68m) at 16 months, and his chest is about 37”( .93m) around. Right now the LLC harness just fits around him at just about full extension, we will be buying the extension straps for the harness soon, this will add another 5”(.12m) of girth to the harness.
Harness
We go hiking quite frequently, and go on daily walks; we wanted a harness that had MOLLE straps for hooking up optional equipment, bags, and clipping other items to the harness. We know with Apollo being a working dog he should be able to easily haul around some stuff, and the bonus is it will tire him out faster from the extra weight. Right now fully loaded with all the stuff we make him carry, harness included, about 15lbs (6.8kg).
To go with his harness we got some accessories at a local Military Surplus store, I will post Amazon links here just for frame of reference. Here is all of Apollo’s gear more details below.
First we needed something for water, we got a 2QT (1.89L) canteen then we needed something for the canteen to go in that would strap to the harness, so we got this: a Black MOLLE Canteen Cover the canteen goes in this and keep the water cold.
Typically the night before a hike we will freeze a bit of water in the canteen to keep the water cold as we hike. Then we needed something for them to drink out of, so we got a silicone collapsible bowl this just clips to a carabineer that is clipped onto a MOLLE strap.
Here is our actual one we have
Next we wanted a bag to store anything else that he would need, so we got this: MOLLE Pouch Close-up on MOLLE back side we needed room for a bunch of stuff, and stuff we *hopefully will never have to use
Here is all the stuff that we have in the pouch (so far). Apollo carries: a first aid kit, alcohol wipes, lighter, matches, hand sanitizer, sun screen, poop bags [sup]essential[/sup] , electrical tape, survival guide, baby wipes, first aid tips card, extra paracord, survival kit (contains, razor blades, string, rope, fishing line, lures, hooks, wire, needle, more just can’t think of it). We just went to the travel section of a store and got stuff for it, even with all that stuff there is more room in it. I always carry a knife and a utility tool on my Camel Back.
Here are some action shots from hiking.
Let’s go DAD!!!
Apollo with our other dog strapped to him
I’m Tired now
I’m Handsome!
All Geared up!
Moving Along
After our first hike I found the handles were a little too small for my man sized hands, and ended up cutting into them. So I decided to wrap them with some Paracord, this is simple to do and there are tutorials all over online. I used about 8ft (2.4m) per handle, and in an emergency situation it can be unwrapped and used, 550 Paracord has a tensile strength of about 550lbs (249kilo).
Wrapped handle
Wrapped handle 2
I am going to attempt to make my own chest plate for it to make it a little more comfortable for him; if I fail I will just purchase the one on Signature K-9. Not that he really needs it, the top strap sits above his chest bone just fine, and he is extremely comfortable in it.
On our first hike I did use the handles to lift up Apollo, he tried to avoid a bridge and I had to list him up onto it, it felt very secure and he made no indication what so ever that it was hurting him at all. I can see now why it is used for repelling out of helicopters and such since it spreads the weight out over the straps nicely.
Here is a video of the first time he wore the harness, he is very comfy already And yes my girly puppy voice, YOU ALL DO IT! DON’T JUDGE ME! Ha ha
Let me know if you have any questions or comments, I will try and update this with new details, and hopefully my conversions for weight and volume work, I don’t really know the metric system, since Merika…
Thanks for Reading, Neal (ApolloKubitz)
It seems that I always get a few questions about Apollo’s harness every time I post a picture of him, so I thought I would write up a review to link people to when I get asked. I spent a few months looking for a good harness and I finally chose the Signature K-9 LLC (Lift Load Carry) harness. This harness was made for Military Working Dogs, K-9 police units, and civilian use. I chose this harness because of the reasonable price and the quality. The harness is capable of being used in jumps from an aircraft, do I figured it was good enough for hiking every weekend, and daily walks around town.
My main reasons for choosing this harness with the exception build quality, it was made in the USA, it is used for MWD, and it is perfectly comfortable for dogs to wear all day. My German Shepherd Apollo had a basic nylon strap harness before; it would rub in his armpits and make him break out. It was also not very strong. I also liked that the harness came with MOLLE straps all along the sides for optional accessories. It also has a large Velcro strip along the back for other accessories and patches, we got a cool K-9 patch to show our support for all the K-9 working dogs out there.
Here are a couple links to purchase the harness, read to the end, and if you like what you read/see these will be your links.
Signature K-9.com LLC (Lift Load Carry) harness
Ray Allen.com LLC Harness
The harness is made for most large breed working dogs, Apollo is a very large GSD, his shoulder height is already 27”(.68m) at 16 months, and his chest is about 37”( .93m) around. Right now the LLC harness just fits around him at just about full extension, we will be buying the extension straps for the harness soon, this will add another 5”(.12m) of girth to the harness.
Harness
We go hiking quite frequently, and go on daily walks; we wanted a harness that had MOLLE straps for hooking up optional equipment, bags, and clipping other items to the harness. We know with Apollo being a working dog he should be able to easily haul around some stuff, and the bonus is it will tire him out faster from the extra weight. Right now fully loaded with all the stuff we make him carry, harness included, about 15lbs (6.8kg).
To go with his harness we got some accessories at a local Military Surplus store, I will post Amazon links here just for frame of reference. Here is all of Apollo’s gear more details below.
First we needed something for water, we got a 2QT (1.89L) canteen then we needed something for the canteen to go in that would strap to the harness, so we got this: a Black MOLLE Canteen Cover the canteen goes in this and keep the water cold.
Typically the night before a hike we will freeze a bit of water in the canteen to keep the water cold as we hike. Then we needed something for them to drink out of, so we got a silicone collapsible bowl this just clips to a carabineer that is clipped onto a MOLLE strap.
Here is our actual one we have
Next we wanted a bag to store anything else that he would need, so we got this: MOLLE Pouch Close-up on MOLLE back side we needed room for a bunch of stuff, and stuff we *hopefully will never have to use
Here is all the stuff that we have in the pouch (so far). Apollo carries: a first aid kit, alcohol wipes, lighter, matches, hand sanitizer, sun screen, poop bags [sup]essential[/sup] , electrical tape, survival guide, baby wipes, first aid tips card, extra paracord, survival kit (contains, razor blades, string, rope, fishing line, lures, hooks, wire, needle, more just can’t think of it). We just went to the travel section of a store and got stuff for it, even with all that stuff there is more room in it. I always carry a knife and a utility tool on my Camel Back. Here are some action shots from hiking.
Let’s go DAD!!!
Apollo with our other dog strapped to him
I’m Tired now
I’m Handsome!
All Geared up!
Moving Along
After our first hike I found the handles were a little too small for my man sized hands, and ended up cutting into them. So I decided to wrap them with some Paracord, this is simple to do and there are tutorials all over online. I used about 8ft (2.4m) per handle, and in an emergency situation it can be unwrapped and used, 550 Paracord has a tensile strength of about 550lbs (249kilo).
Wrapped handle
Wrapped handle 2
I am going to attempt to make my own chest plate for it to make it a little more comfortable for him; if I fail I will just purchase the one on Signature K-9. Not that he really needs it, the top strap sits above his chest bone just fine, and he is extremely comfortable in it.
On our first hike I did use the handles to lift up Apollo, he tried to avoid a bridge and I had to list him up onto it, it felt very secure and he made no indication what so ever that it was hurting him at all. I can see now why it is used for repelling out of helicopters and such since it spreads the weight out over the straps nicely.
Here is a video of the first time he wore the harness, he is very comfy already And yes my girly puppy voice, YOU ALL DO IT! DON’T JUDGE ME! Ha ha
Let me know if you have any questions or comments, I will try and update this with new details, and hopefully my conversions for weight and volume work, I don’t really know the metric system, since Merika…
Thanks for Reading, Neal (ApolloKubitz)