Help 'Em Up Harness

Sizing: the two decisions people get wrong

Sizing is by bodyweight and nothing else, which makes it look easy and hides two traps.

Trap one: the dog on a size boundary. The manufacturer's instruction is to size down, and almost every owner's instinct is to size up. A support harness that is slightly loose does not support — the padding sits off the pressure points, the hip strap slides back toward the stifles, and the dog gets lifted by webbing rather than by foam.

Trap two: the dog whose back end has wasted. This is the more important one, because it describes most of the dogs the harness is bought for. A dog with three months of chronic hind-limb pain has thinner thighs and a narrower pelvis girth than his bodyweight suggests, and a rear half sized to his chest will hang. The company sells the halves separately through Mix & Match precisely so you can order a smaller rear. Nobody in the reviews mentions it and it is the difference between a harness that works and one that rubs.

The male-dog decision. Conventional or U-Band is not a preference, it is anatomy. The manufacturer's test is the clearest we have seen anyone publish: if the tip of your dog's penis is not visible from a side view, order the U-Band. Otherwise Conventional.

The recurring complaint, adjudicated

The one complaint that shows up more than once in retailer reviews is the rear straps cutting into the inner thigh — in one reported case badly enough to need veterinary attention within a week, with the owner noting the padding was thinner than the older combination harness they had used before.

Is it fair? Partly. Two things are true at once. The manufacturer does tell you to loosen the straps when the dog lies down, and a harness worn tight for twenty-four hours a day against a thin-skinned, low-muscle inner thigh will chafe — that is a use problem, not a defect. But it is also true that a product sold specifically for all-day wear on dogs with wasted hindquarters ought to be robust to the most obvious mistake its buyers will make, and this one is not. Check the inner thighs for the first week the way you would check a new pair of boots, and loosen the rear straps every time your dog settles.

Who should not buy this

• Dogs who need help for four to six weeks and then won't. After an FHO or a straightforward TPLO, this is more harness than the job needs. A rear sling is quicker to fit and half the price.
• Dogs whose problem is only the back end and always will be — a rear-only sling is lighter, cooler, and faster.
• Dogs under about 25 lb who can simply be picked up. Nothing here beats two arms.
• Households where nobody can bend to fit it. The front half is genuinely fiddly the first few times. If the person doing the lifting has their own back or shoulder problem, get a demonstration before you commit.

Head-to-head with the GingerLead, on one axis: how long you need it

Both products lift a dog. They are built for different durations, and duration is the only axis that matters when choosing between them.

The GingerLead is a single-piece rear sling with an integrated leash. Time from picking it up to the dog being outside: seconds. That is the right trade for the first six weeks after surgery, when you are doing four supported bathroom trips a day and then, mercifully, stopping.

The Help 'Em Up is a garment. It is meant to stay on, and the reason to accept the extra bulk is that it carries a hip handle and a chest handle. A dog eighteen months into bilateral hip arthritis is not failing at one end — he is failing at the back and overloading the front to compensate. On a bad-elbow day you want the front handle. A rear sling cannot offer you that choice.

Rough rule: if the honest answer to "how long will we need this" is under two months, buy the sling. Over six months, buy this. In between, buy the sling and keep the receipt.

Longevity: what wears first

The foam-padded handles and the ballistic nylon body outlast the dog in most cases. What goes first, in order: the hook-and-loop closures lose bite once dog hair works into them, usually inside a year of daily use; the fleece lining on the rear straps mats down and loses loft where it takes load; and the buckles get brittle if the harness is dried on a radiator rather than air-dried. It is machine or hand washable and the manufacturer asks for mild soap, no bleach, and air drying — following that is most of the longevity story. The warranty is one year, with a 14-day exchange window, which is short enough that you should fit it and use it properly within the first fortnight rather than leaving it in the box until the dog gets worse.

The cheaper things first

A rolled bath towel under the belly, held at both ends, costs nothing and works for one or two lifts a day. It also tells you, in an afternoon, whether your dog needs holding at the front, the back, or both — which is the question the Mix & Match sizing above is asking you to answer.

A rear sling at $35–$90 covers the short post-surgical window.

And when you do buy this one, buy it from the manufacturer. On 31 July 2026 helpemup.com listed every size at $80.00 while Amazon ran $95 to $155 depending on size. We link Amazon and we earn a commission there. We would still rather you paid $80.