Snow in dog vest?

reddog

Well-known member
This is a brand new Rivers Edge vest that I sewed ripstop on to protect it. Then I added a Cabelas skid plate over the top. 1 hour later my Breez could barely move and was acting strange. Got her inside and she was packed full of snow. Pretty sure she would've been better off with nothing. Does anybody else's vest pack full like this? (10 inches of fresh last night). Or
How do i stop this?

I had the skid plate cinched up as firm as I could.

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forget the vest, feed the dog well the night before, make shorter field runs and reduce long exposure to the cold.....best way to handle the snow and cold.
 
It's not a matter of keeping the dog warm. I don't use the vest for warmth but to protect the underside of my dog. Snow is going to ball up in the vest at times. Not much you can do but stop and clean it out occasionally.
 
Vests made by K9 Topcoat come up high on the neck with a snug velcro closure, and have short sleeves -- a design that works great to keep snow out. Also has fleece lining, which does help keep the dog warm when it's legs are soaking wet from melting snow or breaking through thin marsh ice. Maybe not an issue with bigger dogs, but at about 30 lbs. my springers don't have a lot of body mass and otherwise can get hypothermic after a couple hours in wet but near freezing conditions.

Sylmar has a vest with sleeves, but the size closest to fitting my small springers wasn't a good enough fit.

Jay

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I rarely use vests for warmth. Most of my walks are an hour to 90 minutes tops - dogs ride inside. They actually seem to prefer weather in the 20s and 30s. My Britt from years ago absolutely loved cold weather (preferred it actually as see aged).

Visibility the key reason and with snow on the ground somewhat unnecessary with my Britts' darker color variations.

I really like the last vest shown. I have had both of my Britts suffer chest or upper leg cuts over the past two years and this would have been good to protect the staples (maybe even prevented the injuries).
Any issue with chaffing or rubbing under the dogs front legs ?

That can be an issue with full protection vests.
 
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I like the upper leg protection too. I have no chafing at all with the K9 Topcoat, with my dogs it's loosely fit in the sleeve area and I think this is probably true with any dog. And the material is softer than typical vests -- plus the thin fleece inner lining is very soft.

My dogs love running in cold weather too, even well below freezing isn't a problem if I can keep them dry. But their coats are soft, flatten when wet and no longer insulate. So with their small body mass, getting wet with melting snow can be a problem. I like keeping snow out of the vest so it doesn't melt against their chests. But I especially need to keep their bodies dry on longer hunts in melting snow with temps in the low 30s. That's when I've had trouble with hypothermia. But no more with these vests.

Jay
 
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We use the K9 top as well. Good protection, no snow issues, doesn't funnel burrs under the and dramatically improves visibility in denser cover.
 
I don't remember which of the small sizes I'm using, but I got a good fit using the measurements routine on their website. Their blaze orange color is a true blaze, don't worry about the kind of off color of the "Fleece Lined Sport Vest" shown on the dog pictured.

Jay
 
I had a k9 topcoat last year. Not sure what model it was but it did not last thru one weekend of hunting. It was a fleece something. Went back and forth with k9 via emails and never really came to a good solution. Now. I'm sure that I did not have the right model that I needed. For what that's worth.

I'm have a custom vest made. One for warm weather cut protection and one for cold weather cut protection. They will have front sleeves down to the wrist made out of ripstop material and the cold weather version will have a turtle neck / snorkel neck to stop the snow from packing in. Zippered and velcro at the top. This will be a combination of all of the good things about what's already on the market, but improved and durable.
 
My 33 pound French Brit wears a size seven. Our French Spaniel...wears a 9.

Both vests have lasted three years of hard hunting. Dogs out an even 50 times this year.
 
Red Dog,

Let hear more about your custom vest. Are they commercial and custom by size? Is it custom by someone near you that is a sewing wizard? Pictures?

Thanks,

PDD
 
Thanks, Jay.

I looked over the web site and using the measurements will be ordering a #3 vest.

I went back into old saved emails and found those I exchanged with Richard and June Lotz a couple years ago -- found that Fleece Lined Sport Vest size 5 is what fits both my 30-32 lb. springers. Sorry for giving you wrong info, I forgot having to exchange size 3s for 5s, which oddly is the next size up. They're a smooth fit when hupped, with just a small bulge of excess material on top of the shoulders when standing.

Jay
 
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Red Dog,

Let hear more about your custom vest. Are they commercial and custom by size? Is it custom by someone near you that is a sewing wizard? Pictures?

Thanks,

PDD

One of my friends wife is a sewing wizard and she is going to make them. She retrofitted my rivers west vest with ripstop material and I think she is going to just add the snorkel and the sleeves to these for me. I know she is making one from scratch for her husband's Briitney.
 
I use the neoprene vest with the velcro on top. Works great to keep the Vizslas warm but they only last one season. The velcro tends to tear and it will eventually give out. Cutting them to size is easy. I buy two a year for my two dogs though. Would pay more money for a better vest with a zipper on it, just havent found one i like yet
 
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