Choosing The Right Help'Em Up Harness Size

Determining the proper size of a dog support harness for your dog is based primarily on their body weight, and secondarily on their body shape.  Their body weight guides us to the correct harness size, and then we check the dimensions for neck, chest and waist to give ensure the size we have chosen will fit. Because each dog is unique, we’ve designed the dog support harness to provide as much flexibility as possible.

While some dogs gain weight with age, others may slim down. Certain hip and spine issues can cause the chest of dogs to deepen while their hips and waist become narrower.  With the five sizes currently offered, you should be able to get a very good fit for virtually any dog from 4.5kg to 100kg.  If your dog is on the cusp of weight range and you don't expect weight gain, we recommend going down a size to avoid excess straps.    

In some cases, we may need to mix and match sizes to get the right fit for you. We can do this for every harness except the XS size.  Mix and match does incur a $10 administration fee as we need to split the harnesses and repackage them.  Please contact us if you feel you need a mix of sizes. The most common time this happens is when the dogs are bigger in the chest and smaller in the hindquarters (ie: degerative myelopathy, weight shifting forwards resulting in more muscled front legs and chest while hind leg muscle atrophy).  
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​Choosing The Correct Style Hip Lift

The Conventional Hip Lift
The best fit for all females and most males

The conventional version of the Help ‘Em Up harness has a padded  belly band and works great for all female dogs and 90% of male dogs. 
The Conventional hip lift rear harness has two sturdy fasteners on each side for easy centering, an ergonomically designed belly band to fit under the pelvis, and neoprene-wrapped support straps to prevent chafing. 
Male dogs whose penis is visible forward of their hind legs can wear the conventional hip lift, allowing them to urinate freely. We recommend this version for 90% of male dogs. 

​The U-Band Hip Lift
The ultimate dog support harness for male dogs whose penis is located farther back.

For around 10-15% of male dogs, the tip of their penis (opening of prepuce) starts farther back between their legs. The prepuce shown in the diagram here is between or in-line with the front of the hind legs. This dog will need the U-Band Hip Lift.  The U-shaped opening in the belly band provides clearance for those male dogs who may be prevented  from urinating freely by the Conventional hip lift due to their prepuce/penis position.  The U-shaped opening helps them to urinate freely. 

The aluminum armature used to create this opening is lightweight, ergonomically designed and padded so it provides easy clearance for urinating and is comfortable for male dogs when they are going about their daily activities, but even so we do not recommend letting dogs lay in the harness for extended periods of time.

Note: Dog harnesses are sold as a front & back combination. We do not recommend using the Hip Lift by itself as it may slide off, possibly causing injury to your dog. Also, do not leave it on your dog for over-extended lengths of time (ie: take it off each night). ​

Conventional hip lift harness

Correct fitting conventional hip lift for male dogs

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U-Band Hip Lift

This male dog needs a U-band hip lift because his prepuce is between his legs.

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