About Heelbrook
We sell dog harnesses and publish the research behind them, including the parts that do not flatter what we sell.
Heelbrook exists because of one uncomfortable finding. In 2021, Shih and colleagues measured leash tension across 52 shelter dogs and found that dogs pulled harder on a back-attachment harness than on a plain collar — peak tension of 16.87 newtons against 6.97. Yet the shelves are full of back-clip harnesses sold under the words “no pull”.
That gap between what a label says and what the mechanics do is the whole reason this shop has a narrow range. We sell one harness built to handle a dog that pulls, and it has a ring on the chest. We sell one padded vest with a printed name patch, and we say plainly on its own page that it is not a no-pull harness, because it attaches at the back only. Two products, two honest descriptions.
Why we are picky about where the leash attaches
The second thing that shapes this site is that we would rather publish a number than an adjective. Every claim about pulling on these pages traces to a named study with a year and a sample size, listed on how we test. You will not find a percentage figure for how much this harness reduces pulling, because nobody has measured this specific harness. The 70–90% figures circulating in this category come from marketing pages, not trials.
We are a small operation shipping from stock in the United States. Our work is reading the studies, cross-checking published size charts against what buyers actually report, and steering anyone whose dog drags them down the street toward the chest attachment.
Where the numbers come from
Three things we would rather you knew before buying.
We have not held every unit we sell. Buyer reports disagree about whether the hardware at the chest is metal or reinforced polymer. We publish that disagreement instead of picking the flattering version, and we will update this page when we have a sample in our own hands.
The reviews on this site come from buyers of these harness models, translated from the original. They are real people who bought and used the product; they are not people who bought it from us, because Heelbrook is new.
A harness is not training. The equipment changes where the force goes. Rewarding a slack leash is what changes the habit, and no product page can do that part for you.
What we sell, and to whom
Three harnesses, and the first question decides most of it: does your dog pull?
If it does, the front-clip harness is the one. It attaches at the chest, which is the configuration that measured a reduction in pulling in a 2024 trial of 23 dogs. Sizes S to XL, covering a 43 to 107 cm chest.
If it pulls hard, or you want the heaviest build, the tactical harness carries metal rings front and back in 1050D nylon, with a MOLLE panel for patches. If it does not pull, the personalised harness gives you a padded vest with your dog's name and your phone number printed on both flanks, in six sizes from a 39 cm chest to 101 cm. It attaches at the back, and its own page says so in the first paragraph.
How we decide what to write
Three rules govern every page on this site.
Numbers come from named studies. Each figure carries an author, a journal and a year, listed in full on how we test. Where a study states a limit on its own result, that limit appears alongside the finding.
Specifications come from the maker, cross-checked against buyers. Size charts are compared against every review that names both a size and a real measurement. Where the two disagree, both appear.
Recurring complaints go in the FAQs. The hardware question, the sizing question and the handle question all came out of critical reviews, and all three sit on the product pages rather than in a footnote.
Getting in touch
Questions about fit are the ones we can help with most usefully, and the answer almost always starts with a chest measurement. The contact page reaches us directly. For sizing, how to measure a dog covers the method; for fitting, how to put a harness on a dog.