The user experience for this product evolves as the user grows more familiar with the product. Here is Rufus, my 14 week old Golden Retriever. Both Rufus and I have grown very familiar with the harness. I have been using this harness for the past 6 weeks. I will be analyzing my user experience in two stages. Stage 1 is the first two weeks of use. Stage 2 is past the first two weeks of use.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Secure: dog does not slip out of harness | Combination of buckles and straps makes it very enticing for the dog to chew harness, dog enjoys chewing the harness as a toy, this makes the put-on time very long |
| Lightweight | Snap buckles can pinch fur or skin |
| Adjustable: Rufus gained 5 pounds in the first week, and I was able to accomodate by adjusting the straps | Buckle clip noise sometimes starles the dog |
| Easy to clip on leash | The put-on time is 2-3 minutes |
| Seems comfortable: dog does not squirm or attempt to chew or pull off harness | The chest strap is thinner than the collar strap, so more perssure is distributed to the chest, and indents in the fur can sometimes be seen around the armpit area, indicating pressure and tension in that area from the chest strap |
| The Puppia logo is very helpful for orienting the harness the right way when putting it on. |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| All the pros from Stage 1 still hold true. Rufus has gained around 20 pounds in 6 weeks, and the harness still fits. He is projected to outgrow this harness (size Medium) in 2-3 weeks | As you can see from the video on the page titled "Trying it Out", Rufus still bites the harness when excited |
| The put-on time has decreased from 2-3 minutes to 1 minute | The harness still takes longer to put on in comparison to a collar, which takes around 20 seconds |
In order to observe whether user experienced is shaped primarily by familiarity with the harness or familiarity with the dog the harness is being put on, I interviewed a range of people who have varying familiarity with both the harness and Rufus.
First is my roommate Walaa, who is familiar with Rufus, but has never used the harness before.
Put-On Time: 5 min 3 sec
The process of using the harness was confusing. At first I thought the logo was supposed to go on the back. There are three different snap buckles, which seems a bit excessive, and also makes it confusing. The most confusing part of the process is visualizing where the dog legs are supposed to go. Because if you miss a dog leg hole, you have to unbuckle and start over. I think if I did it a second time it would go smoother. Also the buckles seem to pinch the fur, which is not great. But the harness is super cute and Rufus looks great in it.
Next is my friend Angela, who has used the same Puppia RiteFit Harness for years on her dog Twix, but has never put it on Rufus before.
Put-On Time: 1 min 37 sec
The process was simple and straightforward because I've been using the same harness for Twix. But I did notice that Rufus likes to chew the harness which makes it a bit hard to put on. Twix has shorter fur so it doesn't interfere with the buckling in the same way it does with Rufus.
Last is my colleague Aaron,who is unfamiliar with both Rufus and the harness, and has never owned a dog.
Put-On Time: 6 min 14 sec
The harness has too many buckles! It was confusing, and the more I fiddled with the harness, the more sound the buckles made, and the more Rufus wanted to chew on it.
Overall, it seems as though unfamiliarity with the harness is a greater hinderance than unfamiliarity with the dog that is going to wear the harness. Common complaints are about the number of buckles, the tendency for the buckles to snag fur, and Rufus' biting of the harness buckles. Check out the Redesigned
page for a new design that aims to tackle these recurring human use problems.