Awesome review and nice details/description. We live out unifly and are lucky enough that our organisation has do not distract printed on ours. Thanks so much for your review!!!!!!

Totally loved the video! Although I am not a blind individual, I have a spinal cord injury and I have an assistance dog. Her and I use this harness. I myself love this harness and its been a game changer in the way my dog and I work together. I believe that it is a harness which could assist so many people! I know not only guide dog school can assess it (as we aren't) but they have to be a registered assistance/service dog school. One point you brought up about the writing "please do not distract" on the side which was just a great comment. I was super lucky that the organisation we are through has got on there harness's the organisation and also "please do not distract" under it which I think was a great item. So the schools might want to look at adding that when they purchase it.

Fantastic presentation of the harness from RUFFWEAR. I do like the policy that are you SFWEAR has in place because of the fake service dogs that are out there. Anything we can do to stop people using their pets and purchasing harnesses and pretending that they have a service dog is a good thing. I give are you FFW ER huge points for this itself.

You have an incredibly clear and punctual voice, very well done review!

Hi I am a guide dog users for almost 30 years. I’m on guide dog number for. And I’ve been blind since I’ve been six months old. And I live in Tampa Florida. Where the temperature can get up to 98°. And the feel like temperature can get up to 120. My first three GUIDE DOGS were black and they got severely hot because I ride the city bus a lot so got it dog number four I chose to go yellow. And his coat is like a copper or reddish brown. And his nose is a reddish pink. I know this because my family told me and GUIDE DOGS school told me. I never ever was able to see color. Growing up after looking at print for half a second my mom had to do homework for me. I went to the school from 16 through 18 in Saint Augustine Florida for the school for the deaf and blind. And it was still hard for me to read even the large print so they let me go home every weekend the first year so my mom can help me with my homework. And then the second year and third year it was mandatory for everybody to go home every weekend and my mom still helped me with my homework so thanks to her I was able to graduate. My dad taught the school do not teach me braille. So I didn’t get to learn braille until after I graduated high school in Daytona Beach where I am nice kind lady name Irene taught me braille. And I was not allowed to get my first cane until after I graduated high school and I went to Daytona. But yes I’ve been blind since I’ve been six months old and now I only have a tiny bit of light and a tiny bit of shadow close to my nose. So it’s not usable. And I’m like Tamara when I go outside in light is super bright it hurts my eyes and I feel like I want to rip my eyes out and I get severe migraine headaches and it causes my eyes also to hurt where I want to take them out and sometimes they make me throw up.

Good information and professionally done!

hi you give me a lot of inspiration and then I wonder when will your next video come

this is a fabulous, very detailed review. I agree with everything you've said, I've been using the Unifly for about 5 months now and love it. I'm hoping they might put a third opening on the left shoulder so it doesn't have to go over the head. My Guide Dog has an enormous head, like a big ol' coconut and it's easy enough to get on but I think it's uncomfortable for him taking it off.

So one other question just popped up in my mind comparing this harness to a regular traditional leather harness, it looks like it covers a lot more area the dog my concern would be that it would cause the dog to be too hot especially if using it in the southern parts of the state. It’s a padded material, but it also covers most of the dogs sides bottom and front literally half the dog with no air holes. It looks to me like it would cause a dog to overheat quite easily. I could see that being a huge problem I don’t think it would be a problem in the northern part of the states but definitely down here with a temperature can reach 100° and you know 90% humidity. It would be really warm for the dog to wear

I’m completely blind and have other disabilities and I’ve been looking into getting a service dog, but I probably would have to train it myself or with a private trainer because I don’t think there’s programs that train service dogs for multiple purposes and I just wish that programs would sell gear so that people who are owner training their dog can get the gear if they need it especially since it’s high quality. Not to mention I probably would need to get a poodle because they’re hypoallergenic.

I found your presentation very informative and professionally done. I've been a guide dog user since 1985 and the harness has changed very little in 37 years. I have two questions for you. First, do you have a list of guide dog schools that will facilitate the purchase of a unifly harness? Second, how much does the unifly harness cost? Thank you again for a very detailed and informative presentation.

I’m a Pilot Dog graduate who also has a poodle guide. I asked Pilot about the harness and they said it was too much of a hassle to try to manage. I would love to feel the harness myself to know if it was a good match for me or not.

Hello, I was just wondering where you got your guide? I’m legally blind too and I got my guide from Guide Dogs for the Blind. Mari is half lab half golden retriever. I think it’s cool that you have a poodle. I didn’t even know there were guide dog poodles. Great videos!

I’ve tried to get a UniFly through my guide’s school, Southeastern, but they wouldn’t go for it. The removable handle sounds great, Pierce’s handle is always getting stuck under chairs.

Great video really indepth review. May I ask how much it costs ? If I can afford it I'm going to reach out to my school to see if I can get the harness though them.

i've been DESPERATELY trying to get my hands on one for a couple of YEARS now and they won't sell to anyone outside of a program. it's ridiculous. not EVERYONE uses dogs from a program. my dog is multipurpose, with guide being what we need in low light situations when we're out and about in town as well as in stores to help me stay with ppl when i'm too dizzy to see straight. not all dogs who do guide work are from a program. there are shops out there who know how to screen handlers to make sure that they sell their gear to REAL service dogs. they should be asking both questions. it's frustrating. VERY frustrating bc this is a design that would work best for my dog. for now i'm stuck in a bridgeport until then.

I have thought about what you have said in your review my girl is guide dog from Occupaws she is a white standard poodle. I think I would rather have a y-front leather harness than nylon but I have a sensory issues so I am wondering if it would work for us. I don’t know. I have not flown yet with my girl (I just got her 1year ago.) I just wanted to also add that I worry if another dog comes after her which has happened.

Thank you for the video. How does the unifly harness stand up in the rain? I live in Portland, Orange and It rains a lot.

Hey Poodle eyes! Thank you for all the videos. I’m blind too and 19 years old living in Sweden. Which country are you from? When i gradute i will start my process of having a guide dog. The law i Sweden says that all guide dogs are welcomed in all areas. I’ve heard that the guide dogs sometimes are not allowed to enter for example resturants. In Sweden it is ok to deny guide dogs. I Also want to tell you that you are my idol and i would really like to have further contact with you about guide dogs. I hope you see my comment and that we could have contact. I’ve heard that you are on instagram, but i don’t have it. You can find me on facebook. Take care!!

This harness seems very similar to guide dogs for the blind Swiss harness know years ago. I actually tested the Swiss harnesses when they were being tested for the school. I hated it it was probably one of the worst harness I’ve ever used in my entire life number one you couldn’t feel the dog number two there were no I know people call them ears they keep the harness handle from flying over the dogs head so it would constantly happen would be I would over walk the dog, and the artist would literally go over his head. It was a complete mess. It also killed my hand, even though it was light. I had six other guy, dog users, test harness, not one person actually liked it compare to the traditions partners. Because of those problems no absolutely awesome to have a detachable handle is also nice for the dog and so my last thoughts on it where I believe everybody should be given a chance to try different harnesses when they go for their dog something on my other people are definitely not.. I do love the fact that the harness handle can be adjusted on the unit fly to be offset or regular and I do love the positioning of the handle for this reason case in point I have a wound on my foot and they wanted me to wear a boot well, I quickly found out that wasn’t going to work, because I was afraid I would step on my dogs paws not injured. I could walk in stride so the office that feature gives you a chance if you need extra. . I also like the fact that it’s soft for the dog but the fact is it wouldn’t fit over my dogs that I have a labrador was very big jowls.. I would like to know how the harness handle reacts, and if it has the same problem that the Swiss harness had with not having rabbit ears to keep the harness handle in place I actually found that one of the worst problems that I experienced trying to walk when you’re handle is going left to right you know when you’re trying to follow your dog is not easy_ All that said, I would really love the chance to try it. You never know him, but I do have concerns based on the Swiss harness design that was probably similar to this, but I still would love to try it they would just have to make the opening a lot more bigger in the head.

When did you purchase the Unifly harness and how much did it cost at that time? Ruffwear does have that 50% off work working dogs but I’m sure this was already taken into account. I know of a trainer who used to work for the organization that I’m getting my second poodle from. I wonder if trainers have to be employed by an IGDF organization and how does Ruffwear check?

Are there camo patterns

Hi Skye! I love my Unifly and Toonie does too. I would like to know if you have a link for the Ruffware Beacon with sound signals somewhere. I’d be very interested in getting a few for me and some of my guide dog handler’s friends here.

Do you still use the Unifly harness? Did GDD let you keep your leather harness?

The straight fronts don't sit well on poodles I had a custom made y front for my poodle service dog! she is a cardiac and autism dog though and doesn't do guide work

How does Cindi do with the Unifly in the heat of summer?

I love the review but I have to disagree with your analysis of the Ruffwear distribution policy, Even though they claim, as you say, that it has to do with the proliferation of fake service dogs, this can't possibly be the reason. First of all, most of the people claiming their pets are service animals are not passing them off as guide dogs. I can't say that in the US with a population of over 300,000,000 in a world with population over 7 billion, nobody has ever pretended to be Blind with a fake guide dog. I'm sure someone has, but if so, it's a rare situation indeed. Even for dogs the right size to pass as guide dogs, getting them to behave like a guide dog, while the fake handler pretends to be blind would be a very difficult task to pull off and people faking their pets as service dogs are not putting in that kind of effort. They are putting vests on their dogs that say "service animal" and carrying around meaningless registration papers. It's just not the behavior of the preponderance of people with fake service dogs. Secondly, Ruffwear wouldn't be, as you say, just giving the harness to everyone. I forget the price and can't seem to find it right now, but it's quite costly. Guide dog handlers who want to use it are really motivated to do so, unless their school is giving them out, because it's a significant expense. And you say it doesn't even look like a traditional guide dog harness. There are much cheaper traditional looking guide dog harnesses for purchase on Amazon, and even those are more expensive than what most people are paying for the vests they use to pass their pets off as service dogs. So, Ruffwear wouldn't be changing the landscape at all by letting "just anyone" purchase their guide dog harnesses. People who want a harness that looks like a guide dog harness already have cheaper options out there, and these people just don't exist. Like I said, I'm sure there is at least one person doing this, but it's not the profile of the fake service dog owner. It just is not. This is a made up problem. So, Ruffwear is a company of intelligent skilled people designing sophisticated gear. It doesn't seem possible they would create such a restrictive policy based on a non-existant problem without researching just how big a problem fake guide dogs are. If they did, they would not find it to be a problem. And it doesn't take a marketing genious to figure out that there is no market for a costly product to be used for a purpose for which there are already cheaper products which are already not being used for that purpose. I think the reason they are doing this is closer to what you said about safety and irresponsible use affecting their reputation, etc. But not exactly. Ruffwear makes products for use in lots of situations where proper use and safety are a concern. They take pride in it. Just a quick look at their site shows them highlighting their products being used by dogs assisting with rescue work for the ski patrol and some of their Ambassadors doing things like paragliding and paddle boarding with their dogs. They are a go-to company for products for use by working dogs which work in numerous professions and activities which require skill and attention to safety by their handlers. These dogs are using products they sell to "just anyone" without having to have a professional sign off on their use of the products. There is just no unbiased justification for the policy. The only thing I can deduce is this is sighted paternalism. I'm sure Ruffwear doesn't think that's what it is, but neither did the many sighted people who have tried and sometimes succeeded in blocking me from many activities in my life. This is a very common and damaging experience for probably most Blind people. Even a company which did hire me and supported me as an employee, felt the need to get some sort of letter from a doctor that I could do the work. When I was happily employed and chatting with the people involved, they admitted they didn't know what they were doing, they just thought there must be some concern, like the work not damaging my remaining vision, that someone professional must be able to testify to. It's a socially ingrained bias that disabled people in general, and Blind people specificly, are less cognicent of our own abilities and limitations than non-disabled people are and that we are more child-like in our reasoning processes, and that we need professionals, specifically sighted professionals, to verify our decisions. There was a point where I looked into the harness, when I was in a better position to afford one and just reading the Ruffwear policy had me walk away from it. Even if my school had allowed me to have one, the need for that permission, just makes me sad and angry. Also, although I will probably never train my own guide, I value the right to do so. It made me almost angry enough to stop buying from them altogether, but we are a small minority and if we don't purchase things we need from companies with crappy policies, it hurts us more than it hurts them.

Hi Sky. I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to check and see if you were still interested in participating in my study on how having a service dog impacts the social interactions of college students.

It's like a tesla. Completely unattainable for the majority of the population. And I would really fight for one except my guide dog is about to be 11 years old.