Hunter

Hunter is a German pet accessory maker, in business since 1980, and the name most often recommended when someone wants a collar or harness that lasts. What we stock here is their hard-wearing polyester and nylon walking kit, their melamine bowls, a few pieces of training equipment and two cat toys. The build quality is the reason people come back to it; the sizing is the reason to read before you buy.

Collar Or Harness?

• A collar is for identification and ordinary walking. If your dog walks on a loose lead, a collar is simpler, lighter and cheaper, and it carries the ID tag - which is the part that actually gets a lost dog home.
• A harness is for any dog that pulls. It moves the pressure off the throat and onto the chest. That matters most for flat-faced breeds, for small dogs with delicate windpipes, and for any dog strong enough to make themselves cough on a collar.
• Most owners end up with both - a collar worn all the time for the tag, and a harness that goes on for walks.

The Three Collar Lines

• Vario Basic is the plain one. Soft nylon, a slider you set by hand, a metal D-ring, nothing else. The sensible choice for a tag collar or a spare.
• London is the polyester Vario. It adds pull-relief, which spreads a sudden lunge through the collar instead of loading the plastic buckle, and a safety clasp that locks firmly but opens easily. It comes in brighter colours, including a lime.
• Divo is the wide, padded one - a band from 4cm up to 5.5cm, with reflective material along its whole length. It is the comfort option, and it suits a long-necked dog far better than a short-necked one, where a band that deep can get in the way.

The Two Harnesses

• London harness: two-point adjustment, polyester, light and quick-drying. Simple and quick to fit, and plenty for a normally-proportioned dog.
• Divo harness: five-point adjustment, padded, reflective full length, and a second D-ring on the chest as well as the one on the back. Buy this one if your dog is an awkward shape - deep chest, narrow waist - or if you want the option of clipping the lead at the front to steer a puller.
• On front-clip walking: it redirects a pulling dog rather than stopping one, and it works alongside training rather than instead of it. Do not use the chest ring with a long or retractable line, because the lead runs between the front legs and tangles.

Measure It Once, Properly

• You need a tape measure, not a breed guess. Two dogs of the same weight can be two sizes apart. Every collar and harness page here carries Hunter's own size chart, converted into plain measurements.
• For a collar: measure round the neck where the collar will sit. You should be able to slide two fingers flat underneath the fitted collar.
• For a harness: you need the neck and the girth round the deepest part of the chest, just behind the front legs. Check the chest strap sits clear of the armpit, which is where harnesses rub.
• Between two sizes? Take the larger one. The ranges overlap, and the wider band is usually the more comfortable.
• Re-check a growing puppy every couple of weeks. They outgrow a collar faster than anyone expects.

Training Kit, Bowls And Cat Toys

• Two-Tone Whistle: one whistle, two frequencies, so you can train a recall on one tone and a stop on the other. Carries much further than a voice and sounds the same whatever mood you are in.
• Clicker with lanyard: the simplest precision tool in dog training. One click, one treat, every time.
• Bugrino treat belt bag: rewards at your hip rather than in a pocket, in medium and large.
• Easy Comfort muzzle: adjustable nylon, shaped to allow panting and drinking. We stock the size 7. Worth saying plainly: a muzzle is a management tool for vet and groomer handling, it needs introducing slowly with food, and it should never be left on an unsupervised dog - least of all in UAE heat.
• Mela and melamine bowls: a melamine outer with a stainless steel inner bowl that lifts out, and a rubber rim so it stays put. The steel is the part your pet eats off, which is the hygienic way round.
• Limana cat toys: a wooden wand with a feathered prey piece held on by magnets, so the prey comes away when your cat catches it. These contain magnets, so they are play-with-and-put-away toys, not leave-out toys.

Making It Last In This Climate

• UV is the enemy of webbing and plastic. Nylon and polyester fade and lose strength under constant sun, and plastic clasps turn brittle. Check the clasp still clicks firmly shut, and look for fraying where the hardware meets the webbing.
• Rinse out salt and pool water after the beach, and dry kit in the shade rather than on a hot windowsill or a car dashboard.
• Dry padding fully. A damp padded harness left against the coat in this heat is how hot spots start.
• Never microwave melamine, and do not pour boiling water into a melamine bowl. Warm the food separately and then serve it.

Good To Know

• Hunter make more sizes and colours of most of these than any one shop carries, and not every colour holds every size at a given moment. If the combination you want is not showing, message us before you settle for a different size.
• A reflective strip is not a light. It only works when headlights or a torch shine at it, so on an unlit street after dark add something lit.
• Put an ID tag on whatever you buy. A collar with no tag gets a lost dog as far as the nearest vet and no further.
• Take collars off when your dog is crated or unsupervised. They snag.
• Not sure between the London and the Divo, or between two sizes? Send us your dog's neck and chest measurements and we will tell you which one to buy.