Life jackets for dogs

Traveling to the water with your dog is always a lot of fun. The animal frolics in the fresh air, swims behind a stick or a ball. However, if you have taken a pet to such a place for the first time, you cannot know if he can swim, if he can stay on the water. In this case, you will need such useful ammunition for your dog as a life jacket.

Some people, seeing a dog in such an “outfit”, are perplexed: how is it? Dogs are natural swimmers! Why do they need such vests? It turns out that there are several situations in which they are simply necessary.

• Swimming training for a puppy. The kid is just starting to get acquainted with the outside world, so he can be frightened by the noise of the waves, depth, etc. And he still doesn’t have enough strength to resist the current.
• If you went rafting on a mountain river, went on a yacht or boat to the open sea, then in this case the vest will serve as a guarantee that, even if suddenly the pet is accidentally overboard, it will not drown, and you can pull it out.
• Standing water can also pose a danger to a dog. An animal can swim to the middle of a lake or swamp and catch on algae or snag there. When you swim or boat to get to the pet, he will panic and drown, while the vest will keep him afloat.

Now let's figure out what size a dog life jacket should be. Different manufacturers produce ammunition, in accordance with different indicators. Someone focuses on the mass of the animal, and then the dimensional grid looks like this:

• 0-5 kg ​​- for small breeds;
• 5-10 kg - for medium;
• 25 or more - for large ones.

Other companies make vests by measuring the dimensions of the dog, such as chest girth, back length, neck girth. There are also letter designations, to which explanations are usually written, for which breeds this size is intended:

• XS - for the smallest breeds (toy, spitz, west highland white terrier, miniature pinscher, dachshund, yorkie, etc.);
• S – for medium breeds (amstaff, border collie, etc.);
• M – for larger dogs (Labrador, Golden Retriever, Husky);
• L - for the largest (Newfoundland, St. Bernard, Alabay).

In order for the purchased ammunition to fit not only in size, but it also brought real benefits, choose it, focusing on such rules.

• Material the vest must be waterproof - neoprene, polyester, cordura. Inside, there must be filling with polyethylene foam - it is he who will not allow your pet to go to the bottom.
• Colors life jacket should be bright - and not because of beauty, but for reasons of practicality. A bright orange or neon green spot in the water is much easier to spot than a gray or blue one. If possible, choose a model equipped with reflective strips or an automatic indicator light that lights up when the animal enters the water.
• Be sure to check safety straps upon purchase. They must be adjustable in length so that you can tighten them harder.There should be a handle on the back of the lifejacket so that you can snatch the dog out of the water.
• It's great if there is a ring for a carbine on the ammunitionso that you can attach a leash to it, for example, while whitewater rafting.

An overview of the life jacket for a dog, see the following video.