harness

Question
QUESTION: Hi there,
We have a 15 week old British bulldog who gets excited when he meets people and other dogs. He pulls and chokes himself and is sometimes  sick.
Is there any reason why we should not put a nylon puppy harness on him to stop him choking himself on his collar?
Also is there any way we can train him to alert us when he needs to go to the toilet?
We leave the door open and he goes out and does his business but if the door is shut he will just do it by the door or find a corner,he has been clean at night for a week now and never messes when he is left.
Thanks.
ANSWER: He should be wearing a harness anyway. Collars aren't a good thing for Bulldogs.

He hasn't been taught to alert you when he has to go out if you're leaving the door open. The fact that he's this well house trained at 15 weeks amazes me. You might hang a bell by the door and give it a jingle when he goes out. He might catch on, but Bulldogs aren't much for parlor tricks.

Be patient and let him grow up.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your quick reply,the reason i asked you about the harness is because we had been told by several people not to use a harness untill he is older.
In relation to the other question you made me feel as if i have done something really bad for training him this way,i was asking for advice not to be made to feel like i was doing something wrong by leaving the door open.

Answer
You didn't do anything bad and if you took it that way, I'm sorry. You just didn't TRAIN your dog, you simply made it easy for him to go out anytime. There are no consequences when the door is closed.  Good grief.

Oh, and whoever told you to use on collar on a Bulldog puppy probably raises Labs.