Prior to the 1920s, the most common harnesses used with cart dogs were the breast harness and the rigid collar and hames harness. Both types of harness are familiar to people who drive horse carriages. The breast harness (figure 1) is fairly simple to make. It can be made of strong leather or nylon straps. The straps should be at least an inch and half wide. The harness needs to be padded across the chest and back. Real or fake sheepskin fleece works fine as padding. When you make the harness, remember to make the inside surfaces smooth so the harness will not chaff the dog’s skin. Figure 2 shows the breast harness pattern.

Harness Labels Fig. 1

Harness Pattern Fig. 2

The two traces are made of the same strong material as the harness. They are used to transfer the pulling power of the dog to the wagon. They are long straps with clips on both ends. The length of the traces should be the distance from the D-ring on the harness to the pull points on the dog cart.

Full Breech

Fig. 3

If you are using traces and full breeching (figure 3), the tugs (shaft loops) should just be loops that the shafts slide through. Thus, the breeching does not engage when the dog is moving forward. When stopping the cart, the breeching should be adjusted so that the cart will roll forward an inch or so and the shafts will slide through the tugs. The cart is stopped when the breeching engages against the dog’s rump.

The breeching straps allows the dog to brake the wagon and keeps the dog cart from overrunning the dog on down hills. He also uses it to back the wagon. The simplest breech to make is a ‘false breech.’ The false breech is a strap attached between the shafts. The strap should be one to two inches wide and the length of the distance between the shafts. It should be located about 1 to 2 inches (2 to 3 cm) behind the dog’ rump when the traces are engaged.

The false breech can be used only when the height of the shafts at the spot immediately behind the dog’s rump is at just the right height. The False Breech strap should engage at the same spot on the dog’s rump where the horizontal strap of the full breech is located.

Figure 2: Harness Measuring Points on the Dog

Points A to B on Figure of Harness Measure the circumference of the dog’s body behind the front legs. On a horse, this is the girth measurement. A buckle will be added to this section of the harness at point A, so add a few inches to the measurement. Pad the area across the dog’s back since this part of the harness carries the weight of the shafts.

Points C to D on Figure of Harness

Measure from one side behind the dog’s front leg at the girth, across the front of his chest, to behind the front leg on the other side. The chest strap must be padded so it doesn’t chaff the dog. A D-ring is installed at point C on the harness on both sides of the harness. These are the pulling points on the harness and the traces attach here.

Points E to F on Figure of Harness

Measure from the chest strap just below the base of the dog’s neck, across the dog and on to the chest strap on his other side. This neck strap keeps the chest strap from falling down.

Measure the diameter of the shafts.

Using the strap material, make two loops just large enough to slide freely on the shafts. Install one loop on each side of the harness between points B and C. These loops hold up the shafts. The shafts should be high enough so they don’t get in the way of the dog’s movement. Ideally the shafts should be about an inch above point C on the harness.

 contribution by Rebecca Morris

 AutoCad Drawing by Michael Moran