Because no harness is escape proof.
When I'm talking about polite leash walking with my clients, I almost always recommend people walk their dogs on a front-clip harness, because it balances the person's need for leverage and control with the dog's need to explore without undue pressure on their neck. I love my Blue-9 Balance Harness, but it does have one shortcoming: no harness is escape proof. If Milo really wanted to, he could probably back out of his harness.
As a former dog walker, I know that both equipment and training can fail, and I'm not willing to take the risk of my dog running into New York City traffic. (At least, I won't let it happen a second time!) That's why I always use a back-up leash attachment.
As you can see in the photo above, the leash attachment is a smaller strap that gives you a second point of connection to your dog. I like to connect my leash to the harness and the back-up attachment to the collar, but you could also hook the harness itself to the collar.
If you use a head collar like a Gentle Leader, I'd always recommend having a back-up attachment—in fact, to put less pressure on your dog's face, I'd recommend attaching your main leash to your dog's front-hook harness, and the back-up attachment to the Gentle Leader.
While I don't tend to recommend prong collars for a lot of reasons, if you do use one on your dog, you should definitely get a back-up attachment, because those prongs can pop apart, leaving you no longer holding your dog! And while I know you've probably been working on your recall, even the strongest cues can fail in the face of something incredibly exciting (like another dog) or incredibly scary (like, maybe, another dog).
My back-up strap is from Bold Lead Designs, but some of their designs are currently on backorder or out of stock, so although they're a steal at $5.50, you may not get your preferred color or texture. (They come in woven or flat nylon.)
There are a ton of other options on Amazon, though you may have to pay a few more dollars.
This one has lockable swivel clips for even more security, at $12.
This one from Best Pet Supplies is a solid choice at $9.
This two-pack is great because the straps are long enough that you won't have to worry about putting too much pressure on your dog's collar inadvertently. It's only $7.
Happy walking!
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