Best harness for Newfoundland hiking

Hiking with a Newfoundland is brilliant — they're built for the outdoors and absolutely love it. The essentials you'll need are a well-fitted harness (critical with a dog this size, since control matters on trails), a collapsible water bowl, and depending on your terrain, possibly boots — paw protection on rocky or hot ground is more important than most people realise. To point you to exactly the right harness for your dog, it would help to know: what's the terrain like on your forest hikes, how long do your typical outings run, and do you have your Newfoundland's chest and girth measurements handy?

Perfect, that's really useful. A 95cm chest on a 65kg Newfoundland puts him firmly in XXL territory, and forest trails with roots and mud mean you want a harness with a solid back handle — so you can steady him over awkward terrain without grabbing his collar. What's your current setup? Is he in a harness already, or are you starting from scratch?

Then the Julius-K9 IDC Powerharness in size 4 (their XXL) is the one I'd go with. It's made specifically for very large, heavy dogs — the chest strap and belly band are wide and padded, which matters at 65kg because a narrow harness will dig in on a long hike. The top handle is robust and positioned well for actually lifting or steadying a big dog, not just decorative like on some harnesses. The reflective trim is useful in forest light, and the side buckles make fitting straightforward even with all that coat a Newfoundland carries. It fits chest circumferences from around 85cm to 105cm, so your 95cm chest sits nicely in the middle of the range — you'll get a secure fit without being at the limit. It's been around long enough that there are plenty of owners using it on large working and giant breeds, and it holds up to regular use in wet, muddy conditions without the hardware rusting out.

Harness is the main thing to get right first — everything else is easier. For forest hikes with a dog his size, a collapsible silicone bowl is worth having in your pack; Newfoundlands run warm and 2 to 3 hours is long enough that he'll want water, especially if the terrain is uneven and he's working harder than a flat walk. On soft forest ground you probably won't need boots, but if you ever move to rockier routes keep that option open — his paws are large but the pads can still wear on sharp stone. A long-line lead (5 to 10 metres) can also be useful in forests if you want to give him some freedom without losing control completely on a big dog.

Good choice. When it arrives, fit it with him standing and make sure you can get two fingers flat under every strap — not just the chest band but the belly strap too, because that's what keeps it from riding up on a big dog. Give it a test on a short walk before the first proper hike so he can get used to it. Have a great time out there — a Newfoundland on a forest trail is a pretty special thing.