Dog life jacket – Tips for testing and buying
But although there are plenty of resources for buying a life jacket for humans (that is mandatory for any boater), this is another story for dogs.
It is strongly recommended that for the first buy at least, that you bring your dog with you. Indeed, since there is no standard as to sizes, every manufacturer has its own guidelines.
A dog life jacket should provide handle and ease.
There are two things that you need to be sure of. First, that the dog life jacket has a handle to enable you to quickly get the dog out of trouble.
Second, it is important that the vest does not get in the way of the dog. This is supposed to help the dog swimming, not to increase its fatigue.
You need to pay special attention if you happen to own those kind of breeds : Doberman pinscher, boxer, and as a general rule dogs with low body fat, since they can have trouble in water. In addition, according to many veterinarian, no matter how we think a dog can swim, when we actually supervise it, a dog can also drown. Period.
Dog life jacket buoyancy.
A little common sense will tell you also that a dog can be tired, can lack of exercise and can momentarily loose sense of orientation. Any dog life jacket has a specific buoyancy, that should even more push you to do some testing before making your decision. Buoyancy should be the second most important parameter to take into account as to this piece of equipment.
The next thing to test for is how easy the jacket is to put on and to take off. Is there sufficient strap length ? If it comes in excess, you will want to cut it so that it does not impede the dog's ability to swim.
The final tip will be easy to implement : talk to other dog owners about the canine life jacket topic ! They are your best advisers as to the dos and the don't regarding handles, straps, buoyancy, ease of dog lifting, and dog comfort.
After that, your mind will have better options for deciding which life jacket to get your best friend. As for humans, clothes for dogs have to be carefully chosen.
Categories: Dog life jacket Tags: buoyancy, Dog life jacket, dog's ability to swim, help the dog swimming
Dog life jacket – Two situations when you are happy the dog has it on.
But still, there are situations where I would be surprised to find dogs not wearing it. Here I would like to explore a little further two of them.
Dog life jacket and cold water.
Situation 1 : I live nearby a lake where I regularly jog around. I see other people doing the same, sometimes with their dogs. All kind of dogs, but mainly middle or big sized ones. So four legs best friend is running around the lake with its owner, as happy as it can be.
Now suppose for a moment this is a young dog. Suppose it likes to play with anything and tends to grow excited very easily. For example when it sees ducks swimming on the cold lake water. Suppose the dog decides it wants to play with the ducks and fancies the idea of joining them in the water.
You would better be sure of different things. One your dog won’t be shocked by the cold water. Second it won’t be surprised by unfriendly fishes or aggressive swans that do not understand the playing mood. Third that you are not afraid of going into cold water to save your dog in case of any problem. See what I mean ? Now think about how a dog life jacket will instantly remove all those kind of annoying perspectives.
Situation 2 : I like to go to the sea whenever I get the occasion. It doesn't matter whether it is summer of winter times, since I enjoy so much the landscape there. When I get there I like to play on the beach with my dog, using a wooden stick or a tennis ball. The tennis ball part is the cool part and the daunting one as well. Imagine for a second the tennis ball has the stupid idea to bounce to the sea while the dog is running after it, trying to catch it.
Dog life jacket and unfriendly water.
And boom the dog without too much thinking jumps into water. Again, water is not necessarily friendly in winter times. And I certainly don’t want to deal with all kind of cold contact in winter because my dog is in danger. So then again, those are the ideal parameters to have me put the dog life jacket on my dog’s back, so I can rest assured and play safely on the beach with my canine friend.
This is not fun to tell, but there are stories each year of owners drowning while attempting to save their in turn drowning dog !
So I definitely would opt in for a very affordable dog life jacket for each situation where water enters the equation !
Categories: Dog life jacket Tags: cold water, dog drowning, Dog life jacket, owners deaths, winter times
Dog life jacket – Can your dog afford not having one ?
That would be a better subject for human summer water play conditions, at first sight. However, everytime the cold season arrives in western world, I see many clothes for dogs on our four legs best friends running alongside their masters, doing their jogging.
So more people have developed the correct awareness about their dog’s comfort in the cold.
What about thinking about all kinds of activities implying water way in advance (or at the right time for those who live in tropical or ever warm countries) ? We will get into that in another article.
For the moment, let’s examine the necessity of a dog life jacket in winter or say, cold weather conditions.
How necessary is a dog life jacket ?
First of all, maybe your job or your duty have you regularly face water, in all kinds of weather. Maybe you just like going fishing on a lake with a small boat. Maybe your dog is always with you and you never thought about the risks of dog drowning. After all, dogs have a built in swimming ability, don’t they ?
Most of them do, many don’t or aren’t as good swimmers as we would like them to be. Besides, there are many factors that could seriously diminish the dog swimming ability. Such as very cold water, unfriendly water conditions (wind, waves, …), a sudden unexpected fall off overboard that triggers anxiety, the presence of other wildlife species or unfriendly fishes, illness, age, too much weight, or not enough body fat… Sadly, there have been reports of owners deaths trying to rescue their drowning dogs.
So if it would not be for helping the swimming, think of a dog life jacket as a piece of cloth with a very handy handle or hook to make it very easy to take the dog off water.
The dog can stay afloat and warm with a dog life jacket.
There are two other factors that cannot be ignored as regard to a dog life jacket. The first one is making sure the dog stays afloat, especially those with diminished swimming abilities. The second and often overlooked is maintaining the body temperature, which in turn can cause problems once the dogs gets back ashore in summer conditions.
Fortunately, there are all kinds of models, sizes and even fashion for a wide range of dog breeds. You can afford it. You dog, well, cannot afford not having one.
Categories: Dog life jacket Tags: body temperature, Clothes for dogs, dog drowning, Dog life jacket, owners deaths
