Hates his harness?

[Capones Momma]

My husband and I have an issue when trying to get Capone to come to us when we are leaving the house.  I know it is because he thinks we are going to put him in his crate and I can understand that because the poor pup hates his crate more then anything (we have tried very hard to get him used to it but nothing worked ).  The thing I don't get is when we take his harness out he still won't come to us!  We have never used the harness as a 'lure' to get him in the crate.  Anytime the harness goes on we are either taking a car ride to go somewhere fun (like the dog park or pet store) or we are going on a walk.  I would think he would associate the harness with fun but he doesn't seem to get it.  We either have to chase him and grab his collar or try and get him on the front porch where he can't run away from us to put the harness on.  He runs away and barks like crazy any other time. Then once the harness is on and leash is attached, he is ready and waiting to go out the door.

Does anyone have any ideas to solve this issue so he is ready to go when we are?  It is a pain to chase a puppy around the house when you are just trying to get in the car and go! 

[BoxerPerson]

I would not chase him...this is exactly what he wants you to do.  You need to get him to "come", so he needs to be trained to do this.

[Bruins_Boxer]

It could be a few things .
 If you chase him to put the harness on he may be associating the harness with being chased . Is he fearful when you chase him to put the harness on?
 Or maybe he wants to be chased and knows you will chases him to put it on him .

I would give him treats as a lure to put the harness on .No more chasing , hopefully he will see the harness as a good thing because he will get a treat and will want to come to you when you get the harness out . 

[Capones Momma]

He is trained and he knows the come command.  The little bugger is too smart though.  He knows if I am calling him to go in his crate or put on his harness and he won't come.  If I am calling him to feed or play with him he comes running. Too smart, or maybe I am not doing something right in our training? 

He does seem fearful when we are chasing him.  It doesn't really seem like a game - it seems more like he is pissed or upset.  I have tried giving him treats but he will ignore them if he knows I am trying to get the harness on or put him in the crate.  Just the other day I am trying to put his harness on so we could head up to VT and I took peices of cheese to lure him.  He would not come and this boy LOVES cheese.  I ended up throwing some in his direction and he ate it then I tried to throw some on the ground but closer to me this time and he wouldn't even take it - he ran the other way .  Do you think I just need to work on the come command more with him?  I almost feel like he is too smart and he can read me too well.

[Bugsys Mom]

Treats, praise, treats, praise, repeat until he sees it as a positive. 

He will get it. Be calm at all times and use a fun voice.

[BoxerPerson]

Ditto Vicky, and I would nor use the harness in the teaching come command.  Get him to come to you, all the time, and then try with the harness in sight, then when this works, try bringing it closer, and closer.  All this time do not put the harness on him. just leave it there.  You want him to come to you...eventually he will get it...Once he realizes that the harness isn't going on him he will start coming to you.  After that is solid you can try putting the harness on him.  This is a slow procedure and practice makes perfect.  Be sure to give him the time he needs.  Once he seems bored, quit and do it again at a later time.

[BoxerWB]

Can you avoid using the harness for a week or so? I'd try to do some training with him during a time period when you don't need to use it - so you don't have to do the "old" way and mess up progress you'd make during the good training sessions.

What I might try is a short training sessions with LOTs of praise - no deadline, no set goal. Keep it short and positive. Put yourself somewhere that he's nearby and can't leave/run off.  Have the harness by you or resting on you and be loaded with treats - start out just rewarding for voluntarily going near the harness... slowly increase your requirements - he be next to it, sniff it, touch it, working slowly to you moving it... after several sessions, you might be ready to put it on.  A clicker might be helpful to mark exactly when he does the "right" thing.

Rules:

NO tricks - no hiding the harness, "springing it" on him, etc.
ALL positive - don't get snarky, if you feel frustrated, do something fun and positive then end the session (can he give you paw or do a fun trick? if so, use that so he ends with a "win")
NO agenda - don't set goals for the sessions, let it evolve naturally.