10 Best Dog Harnesses to Support Back Legs in 2024 – Reviews & Top Picks
Updated on
Aging is an unavoidable fact of life. Eventually, we will have to cope with the advancing years of our closest furry friends. Common ailments that affect dogs make it very difficult for them to get around comfortably once they reach a certain age or level of illness. As their protectors and closest companions, we must help make their time as comfortable as possible.
To that end, dog support harnesses will allow you to support your dog’s hind legs so they can get around without pain and still enjoy their time with you. We’ve tested a lot of these harnesses on our dogs, and to help you find the best one for your beloved furball, we’ve written reviews comparing our ten favorites. Once you read them, you’ll have a good idea of which harness will let you help your pet live out its days in comfort.
A Comparison of the 2024 Winners
Rating | Image | Product | Details | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Best Overall | WALKABOUT Original Back End Harness |
|
Check Price | |
Best Value | Pet Friendz Dog Lifting Harness |
|
Check Price | |
Premium Choice | GingerLead Dog Support Harnesses |
|
Check Price | |
Labra Sling Lift Straps Support Harness |
|
Check Price | ||
Love Pets Dog Lift Support Harness |
|
Check Price |
The 10 Best Dog Harnesses to Support Back Legs
1. WALKABOUT Original Back End Harness – Best Overall
The WALKABOUT Original Back End Harness is a high-quality support harness that’s designed to help dogs with hind quarter mobility issues. It’s suitable for dogs with arthritis, hip dysplasia, spinal trauma, athletic injuries, and general fatigue. You can also use it if your dog is recovering from back leg surgery.
This product has two parts—a harness and a detachable sling. The harness has a soft and comfortable inner lining to prevent chafing. It’s designed for all day wear, so you don’t have to put it on and off your dog every time you have to use it. When your dog needs help moving around, you can simply attach the sling to provide mobility support. The sling is also adjustable to your dog’s height and ensures that you can support your dog comfortably without straining your back.
This harness also has space to let dogs go potty without taking it off. We’ve noticed that it doesn’t seem to cause issues for female dogs, but male dogs are more prone to soiling it. Fortunately, the harness is machine-washable and easy to clean.
Overall, this harness is very versatile and has a wide range of sizes from extra-small to extra-large, this harness is the best overall dog harness to support back legs for most dogs.
- Designed for all-day wear
- Adjustable sling
- Machine-washable
- Sizes run from XS to XL
- Prone to getting soiled
2. Pet Friendz Dog Lifting Harness – Best Value
Simple and affordable, the Pet Friendz dog lifting harness is the best dog harness to support back legs for the money. With just two sizes to choose from, this harness spans dogs from 20-90 pounds. The design is one of the easiest to use and it just wraps under your dog with you holding both handles at the top. There’s nothing to attach, no holes to thread their legs through, it’s very easy and quick.
The soft material this harness is made from is nice and comfortable for your dog, so you never have to worry about it hurting them. That said, all of the pressure is applied to one area on your dog’s belly instead of being spread out across their whole underside. Luckily, this pad is wide enough to disperse the pressure a bit, and for the price, it’s still a great option. If the pressure had a better spread, we could see this harness making it into our top position. But as is, we felt the COODEO harness was more comfortable for our furry friends.
- Very affordable
- Super easy to use
- Only two sizes for easy selection
- All the pressure is applied in one area
3. GingerLead Dog Support Harnesses – Premium Choice
As our premium choice, you can expect to shell out a bit more on the GingerLead GL-LF dog support harness, but we think it’s a worthwhile investment. This harness has very specific sizing to get the proper fit for your dog, even differentiating between male and female. While this may make it more difficult to get the proper sizing, once you do, it’s one of the most comfortable options available for your dog. It has an integrated leash attached for comfort and control, but it can be swapped out to work with a chest harness instead if you prefer.
The GingerLead support harness was very easy to use and wrapped around the dog in seconds. It was thick and comfortable and we never worried about it causing any pain. If you plan on using one harness for multiple dogs, we’d suggest picking a different one since the sizing on the GingerLead is so specific. It’s hard to beat its overall quality and comfort though, which is why it has earned the third spot on our list and our premium choice recommendation.
- Well padded for the dog’s comfort
- Can be used with a chest harness
- Integrated leash for control
- Easy to put on
- Very expensive
- Specific sizing
4. Labra Sling Lift Straps Support Harness
Right off the bat, we liked the wider design of the Labra sling compared to most of the other harnesses that localized the pressure in a very small area. The Labra sling spreads the pressure out more, though it’s still a simple wrap-around design that doesn’t require your dog’s legs to be threaded through any holes. It’s easy to put on and use, and luckily, it’s pretty simple to size.
Despite being easy to use, we had some problems with it sliding out of position. In our testing, it tended to bunch up a lot towards the rear legs of the dog. Often, these types of harnesses are used to assist a dog in going to the bathroom. Unfortunately, when bunched up around the rear legs of the dog, this pad inhibits your dog’s ability to urinate properly, resulting in a sling that’s soaked in pee. We like the affordable price of this harness, but others around the same price point don’t have the same issue. For comfort and ease of use though, the Labra sling still earns a decent position on this list but falls short of our top three.
- Simple design
- Easy sizing
- Bunches up a lot and gets peed on easily
- Slides out of position easily
5. Love Pets Dog Lift Support Harness
Simple and very affordable, this support harness from Love Pets Love is one of the cheapest options we tested, so it’s going to appeal to many people for this reason alone. With just two sizes to choose from, it’s easy to get the right fit for your dog. As soon as we received it, we noticed that it rolled up into a small package that buttons closed for storage or transport. This is a nice little feature that we appreciated, though it doesn’t really affect the use of the harness.
Once we wrapped the Love Pets Love harness around a dog, we realized why it was so cheap. It’s not padded as well as many other competitors, so it’s not as comfortable for your furry companion. Moreover, this harness liked to slide all over the place, never wanting to stay put in any particular position. We experienced this with every dog we used it on—the harness repeatedly bunching up around the back legs. Also, this harness is not a great choice for the largest of dogs. It’s not strong enough or large enough to accommodate them, so owners of large dogs will need to look elsewhere.
- Very affordable
- Easy sizing
- Doesn’t stay put
- Bunches up around back legs
- Not appropriate for the largest dogs
6. LOOBANI Portable Dog Support Harness
With just three sizes to fit dogs of all sizes, it’s easy to get pick the right one for your pup with the LOOBANI dog sling support harness. Between the three sizes, this harness covers dogs from 4 pounds up to 200 pounds. In our testing, we determined this number to be exaggerated since ours broke carrying a dog that was only a little over 100 pounds. Granted, it had been used quite a few times, but it still lost quite a few points for the failure.
This harness wasn’t as wide as the others we reviewed. For the comfort of your dog, we suggest getting the widest one, since it will spread the pressure out over a larger area. With a smaller harness like this, sometimes premature urination can be experienced by having so much pressure applied right to the bladder when you help lift them.
- Just three sizes fit all dogs
- For dogs from 4 to 200 pounds
- Not wide enough for comfort
- Not as sturdy as advertised
- Can cause urination
Other useful doggy articles:
7. PetSafe Solvit Lifting Aid Harness
The PetSafe Solvit CareLift harness had a unique design that we really hoped would set it apart from the competition performance-wise. We could tell right away that it was very heavy, easily several times the weight of other harnesses we tried. For dogs who aren’t able to move much on their own, this harness can be left on all day with no issues.
When used on a dog with independent mobility, this harness falls off very easily if you’re not holding the handle. We also didn’t think it was padded quite enough for our dog’s comfort, though we thought the design placed less pressure on important areas than the sling design of most others we tested. Overall, it needs some work to climb further up this list, but if it were more padded and stayed on better, we think it could earn a top-three spot.
- Can be kept on all day
- Not enough padding
- Doesn’t stay on very well
- Heavier than other options
8. I-pure items Dog Lift Support Harness
We like things simple-to-use and cost-effective. The I-pure items support harness checks off both of these boxes, so we were hoping for a solid performance to earn it a higher position on this list. With just one size available, there’s not enough diversity to fit many different-sized dogs, our first flaw.
In testing, this harness wanted to slip backward and bunch up around the back legs of some dogs. This prevents them from being able to freely use the bathroom while in the sling, which is one of the main reasons you may need one. Moreover, this harness wasn’t quite as padded as other options we tried and didn’t seem as comfortable for our pets. Since comfort is one of our highest priorities in choosing a support harness, this one is relegated to the eighth position on our list.
- Very affordable
- Only one size
- Bunched up around rear legs
- Wasn’t as well padded as other brands
9. voopet Dog Sling Support Harness
As one of the cheapest options, we didn’t expect too much from the voopet VP013-Black-L dog support harness, though we hoped it would prove us wrong. While we like the price, we think affordability is probably its best feature. The thin straps on this product are less comfortable for both you and your dog.
The slippage problem was also markedly worse with this harness than with any other—it persistently slips back and bunches up around the dog’s crotch area. This made it so that if the dog tried to pee, the harness would get soaked. This is frustrating and can be easily avoided by picking one of the harnesses that earned our top three recommendations.
- Very cheap
- Thin straps are less comfortable
- Slips backward repeatedly
- Can’t be used when peeing
10. Wodifer Dog Lift Harness
For large dogs, the Wodifer dog lift harness is a simple option that wraps around your dog with two handles for you to hold. It’s only good for dogs over 50 pounds, so smaller dogs will need a different harness. For dogs of this large size, we prefer a harness that’s much wider as it lets the pressure spread out across the dog’s underbelly. Also, this product was much less padded than competitors, once again detracting from our dog’s comfort.
It also seemed to be a bit too long, making it difficult to get proper leverage for lifting. Though it’s a solid harness, it just doesn’t live up to the bar set by other products at the same and even lower prices, which is why it rounds out the bottom of our list.
- Rolls up small for storage
- Only supports dogs over 50 pounds
- Not wide enough for the best comfort
- Not as padded as competitors
Conclusion
All of these dog support harnesses are intended to fulfill the same function, help your aging doggo get around comfortably. We hope that after reading these 10 reviews, you can make the best choice for you and your companion. We thought the HandicappedPets Dog Support Sling Harness was the best overall, and it’s earned our top recommendation. We liked how this design spreads the pressure across your dog’s whole chest in a very comfortable manner. Even though it worked so well, it was still an affordable product.
For an even more cost-effective solution, you can take a look at the Pet Friendz dog lifting harness that we think provides the best bang for your buck. It’s cheap, very easy and quick to use, and still comfortable for your pet. The GingerLead GL-LF harness earns our premium choice recommendation for its versatility of the integrated leash or a chest harness, and most importantly, it was very comfortable for all pets.
- Looking for the best harnesses on the market? Check out our reviews!