Dog Vest or No Vest?

Dog Vest or No Vest? If so what brand?


Always! Have to protect the dog. Nothing more terrible than waiting all year for SD and have a dog tear themselves open on some old barb wire.

I use the Cabela's brand. I run the ripstop vest early which is a light vest. In Dec I run the Cableas 5mm neoprene. Both vest in a blaze orange of course for the added safety for the dog.
 
Always! Have to protect the dog. Nothing more terrible than waiting all year for SD and have a dog tear themselves open on some old barb wire.

I use the Cabela's brand. I run the ripstop vest early which is a light vest. In Dec I run the Cableas 5mm neoprene. Both vest in a blaze orange of course for the added safety for the dog.

I too run the cabelas neoprene. But my dog goes through at least one per year. Sometimes two. But they do protect them well.
 
Way too warm yet in SD for anything that holds body heat, but ya, my dogs shred neoprene vests in short order. Last year my male jumped through a sheep fence backed with barbed wire that not only laid the vest open, but the dogs back, from end to end. He never noticed and was happy to keep hunting, but had to stop and clean the wound, then listen to him snivel in his box all day.. Good nutrition makes all the difference in the healing process.
 
Way too warm yet in SD for anything that holds body heat, but ya, my dogs shred neoprene vests in short order. Last year my male jumped through a sheep fence backed with barbed wire that not only laid the vest open, but the dogs back, from end to end. He never noticed and was happy to keep hunting, but had to stop and clean the wound, then listen to him snivel in his box all day.. Good nutrition makes all the difference in the healing process.

Normally the top of the vest wears first from tears and rips from the barbed wire. After looking at the damage to the vest I am sure glad the dog has one on. I like the cabelas brand due to the wide heavy velco for closing the vest. I have had vests with the buckles and straps and never did like them.
 
Agreed. My oldest Vizsla goes through one per year on average. Usually getting her another one toward the end of the year that she can wear till about January of the following year. But yeah the way the vest looks, Im glad I make her wear it. Problem is heat. On hot days I wish I had something lighter to protect her. She is one nipple less than what she was born with because of not having a vest on her on a warmer day. But the light vests with straps over the back just havent worked well.
 
Agreed. My oldest Vizsla goes through one per year on average. Usually getting her another one toward the end of the year that she can wear till about January of the following year. But yeah the way the vest looks, Im glad I make her wear it. Problem is heat. On hot days I wish I had something lighter to protect her. She is one nipple less than what she was born with because of not having a vest on her on a warmer day. But the light vests with straps over the back just havent worked well.

I run the ripstop vests with the buckles in warm weather. My wife yells at me all the time because the occasional dog gets hung up on the fence. Young dogs can make a mess of themselves if they get hung up. I have had to do a few 100 yard dashes to get to a dog hung up. Also the vest provides some protection against the burrs as well. We all know how wonderful it is to remove them and the pain it causes the dogs if not removed.
 
Yeah my setters get the burrs. Vizslas, never. For the setters I have a razor blade comb that does good on the burrs. But my setters have all been medium hair. From the pics it looks like yours are a little longer haired than mine.
 
Definite vest. Safer, less wear, less burrs, cleaner. My springers have the nylon type. Lasts quite a long time. Looks rough, but lasts.
 
I have hunted with Britts for over 30 years.

For upland - rarely if ever to my Brittanys wear a vest. I do own a variety of different jackets, vests, and skid plates to use if the dog has an injury or raw coat.

The Britts wear an older style blaze orange ruffwear "track" jacket when hunting during deer gun season. Hope it lasts as long as I do.

If they are sitting for waterfowl and the temps are cooler I put on camo neoprene vests.

I have hunted in temps down to single digits (actually a few times below zero)for upland birds and my dogs have never needed a vest. My dogs do ride in the cab with me so their bodies are not temperature stressed between walks or when it is not their turn.
 
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I have hunted britts, springers and beagles for phez and never put a vest on any of them. I do uses Cabelas nylon boots from time to time.
 
My dogs have always worn vests - neo when I hunted waterfowl or a protective vest while pursuing upland birds. I would never think of hunting without appropriate protective gear - I wear brush pants & my dog comes first when it comes to priority. My dogs have worn Mendota Skid Plates for the last several years. Hunting dogs receive their share of bumps & scratches while hunting for us; I hate to see them injured & I view it as unforgivable should my dog be injured because I didn't do my part to keep him protected from avoidable injuries.
 
I cannot even imagine putting a neoprene vest on for upland. The heat must unbearable for the dog, plus the trapped debris, and chaffing. I know this will piss some of you off but I think you need to rethink using neoprene for anything other than waterfowl late season.
I also feel that for my dogs the skid plate type vests do more harm than good as far as chaffing and catching on stuff. Maybe if I had a thinner coated dog I MIGHT feel differently.
Yesterday we all ready had our birds so we watched some filming for a Midwest outdoor show in a local pay to play field. They had a handful of nice looking GSPs that they vested up, the vests had 3" "biscycle" type flags attached. By the time the dogs were dressed, and the flags readjusted for the upteanth time we got bored. Seemed like a lot of time fooling around that would have been more fun hunting.
 
I have a couple vest along, in case of injuries or if conditions would be such that it would benefit my setters.
 
Mendota skid plate.

Already this year my pup has found barb wire 3 times, and impaled herself once. The skid plate isn't fool proof, but I think it will help.

Season is too short to have a hobbled dog.
 
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