This Brand Invented the World’s Best Dog Harness. It Almost Never Happened

Designing a dog harness fit for adventure wasn’t originally in the cards. But it didn’t happen by accident, either.

collage with fly fisherman petting a dog wearing an orange harness and two other harnesses

Published February 27, 2025

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Updated March 15, 2025

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Venture out to a snowy dog park in Boston. Pop a tent at a dog-friendly campground outside Seattle. Hit a trail — any trail — in Colorado. Chances are, you’ll see a dog wearing Ruffwear.

Founded in 1994 by Patrick Kruse, Ruffwear has grown to be ubiquitous anywhere dogs and the outdoors intersect, thanks especially to the brand’s legendary adventure harnesses.

woman running by lake with dog wearing Ruffwear Front Range® Dog Harness — Ruffwear has grown to be ubiquitous anywhere dogs and the outdoors intersect.

But in the early days, and by his own admission, Kruse had no intention of building a dog company.

An avid whitewater kayaker, Kruse initially set out to build an outdoor adventure brand for people. But, always bringing his dog along for the ride, he quickly realized: there was a serious lack of well-made outdoor gear for dogs.

“This was never a business in the making, it was a series of products being created to solve problems.”

“This was never a business in the making, it was a series of products being created to solve problems,” Kruse says.

The first Ruffwear product, a collapsible water bowl, was born in the off-season when his friends needed a better way to keep their dogs hydrated on mountain biking trips.

blue bucket — Ruffwear’s first product was a collapsible water bowl.

According to Kruse, “You could almost see the light bulbs go on over their heads.”

Adventure’s Best Friend: This article is part of a series of stories and gear reviews about adventuring with dogs. Want more? Check out the complete collection.

An accidental use case

It wasn’t long before a retailer in Colorado approached him with an idea: dog boots, which puzzled Kruse at the time.

“ Why would I make boots?” he asked them, pointing to six different boots in a catalog. To which she replied, “Yeah, but can you make them stay on?”

“You could almost see the light bulbs go on over their heads.”

After the boots and bowls came an early prototype of the Palisades Dog Backpack, designed with a handle to help owners lift their dogs over obstacles in the backcountry.

But the real game-changer was when an employee’s husband — a ski patroller — started using the pack’s harness, separated from the backpack, to help move his dog around the mountain.

man playing with dog dog wearing the Ruffwear Web Master™ Dog Harness with Handle in snow — The Ruffwear Web Master has become the go-to harness for countless avalanche rescue teams and service dog handlers.

“We thought, how do we take what we’ve learned and just make a standalone harness?” Kruse says.

The result was the Web Master, a robust three-strap style harness still in production. It has since become a go-to for countless avalanche rescue teams, service dog handlers and general adventurists pretty much everywhere.

But Kruse wasn’t satisfied.

man buckling an orange dog harness onto a dog — The Web Master is still in production decades later; newer version feature a neck buckle to avoid an over-the-head on/off experience.

Scaling down to scale up

The year was 1996, and the Ruffwear founder wanted a harness more streamlined than the Web Master — something that fit a dog like a t-shirt.

“If you’re just going out the front door for a quick walk, you might not need a handle to lift your dog over an obstacle,” Kruse explains. “You still want comfort, articulation, mobility. So we took our Web Master Harness and chopped the back third off it.”

That newer, streamlined version became Ruffwear’s now legendary Front Range Dog Harness.

It sold over a million units in just two years.

pug dogs wearing Ruffwear Front Range® Dog Harness walking on a dirt path with their owners — Ruffwear sold over a million Front Range Dog Harnesses in the first two years.

Made to move

When speaking with Kruse, it feels like Ruffwear scaled naturally alongside the adventures he was already on. He still lives life on the move — hang gliding, kayaking, mountain biking, motorcycling — and constantly draws inspiration from different outdoor disciplines.

Today, in a world where dogs have increasingly become our companions across all aspects of life, Patrick is constantly on the lookout for the next challenge.

“The problems we’re solving aren’t just from ten years ago. They’re the ones adventurers are facing today.”

“The problems we’re solving aren’t just from ten years ago,” he says. “They’re the ones adventurers are facing today.”

So, what’s in the hopper at Ruffwear these days? For one, a reimagined sleep system for dogs.

“It’s designed so a dog can hang out by the campfire, walk into the tent, curl up under the cover, get up in the middle of the night if they need to, and still stay warm,” Kruse explains.

dog resting on cot by campfire — Ruffwear now makes all manner of outdoor dog gear. The brand is currently working on a new sleep system.

Kruse own pet, Dazee, is a two-year-old Australian cattle dog. But despite her young age, she’s already visited Canada, the San Juan Islands and Baja; she evene recently towed a fishing boat from Bend, Oregon, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“As people continue to push the envelope and test the boundaries, they need gear that can keep up. “That’s what Ruffwear does,” Kruse says, some three decades after its founding.

“We build products that let you go farther with your dog.”