Durable, Warm, dog jacket?

This is for a German Shorthair Pointer. Super skinny and tends to find herself running through the brush at 40mph. She gets cold, sleeps in the foot of my sleeping bag. I think she'd enjoy the winter more with a good jacket.

So my concern is durability. They are pretty expensive for a dog, $70 to $90, and I'd be fine with that if they last.

My main requirements are the belly area being durable and being made of a material that doesn't pick up burrs or get clogged with snow. I really like the ruffwear stuff with front legs and no back legs. They look a lot warmer than the hunting burr protector type of vests. The puffy looks perfect but I'm worried it'll last a week. Maybe the softshell is durable?

Anyone tried these with a rough and tumble type of dog?

She's asleep on my legs right now, under a blanket. She does like the snow though.

d-fa.com/puff-doggy/

we sell a fair few of those in my clinic during the winter. Well made, but not cheap. They have some other models that aren't as warm but are more durable.

I had a VERY "rough and tumble" shorthair, I had the ruff wear softshell/fleece hybrid jacket. I was underwhelmed. Not a lot of insulation, the fleece constantly wetted out from brushing in the snow, would freeze and pretty much negated the jacket. Fit nice though. Hard to find trim cut costs to fit shorthairs.

Try the powder hound from ruff wear they make great stuff

Yeah Paul, you just confirmed my suspicions.

I'm pretty good with a sewing machine. I wonder if I'd just be better off copying the design but with cordura on the outside.

Justin. S wrote:Try the powder hound from ruff wear they make great stuff

Justin, how does the powderhound hold up to brush, sticks, and extreme velocity?

I know my puffy jacket couldn't take it, fortunately I'm nowhere near as athletic as my dog.

Graham, are there stores with that line in the US? In Colorado? I think I want to touch it first.

It's pretty burly my brother in law has one for his gray hound. It flexed good, thick material, and kept his dog good and warm. I'm about to pick one up for my English Mastiff.

My wife made this for her dog. It's made from her old OR down jacket. The dog actually likes wearing it. He hated his store bought one.

I don't know - I do know they sell in the US but I don't know if it's in shops - you'd have to ask them. We sell a lot of it here in NZ.

hurtta makes different models, some pretty specific stuff

Instead of getting a coat for your dog, get a dog with a coat. :)

All kidding aside, I actually have the Ruffwear Cloud Chaser softshell jacket for my dog. She doesn't need it for insulation (as you can see from the picture), but it acts as her uniform when she's working. Ruffwear is probably the best (and the most expensive) dog gear you can find on the market, but it doesn't mean their stuff is without flaws. Like Paul, I'm also a little underwhelmed with their softshell jacket. It seems like their gear is designed to appeal to the humans instead of for the dog. For example, the softshell jacket has the thick softshell material on the back and a lightweight stretchy material on the belly. Great! Mobility and protection where you need it, right? Except my dog likes to run through bushes and mud and everything, and she has very thick hair on her back but not so much on her belly. So her belly needs just as much protection as her back, if not more. So it really doesn't make any sense to use the stretchy material on the belly except for a nicer looking fit. The lightweight stretchy material is also much easier to damage, I only let her worn her softshell on a hiking trip one time, and she torn a hole in the stretchy material almost right away.

Also, even with all that stretchy material, the jacket does not "seal" very well against the dog's body, meaning that when they're moving, they're constantly pushing warm air out of the jacket. Since a jacket needs to trap a layer of still air in order to provide insulation, I kind of question how much warmth any of the dog jackets on the market can realistically provide for a dog.

I agree with the Rough Wear brand since that's what I've used on my pup. I suit her up with the powder hound for her sleep wear since she doesn't like to snuggle. Then I lay a travel dog bed on the ground for some insulation (when car camping). While she would otherwise shiver at temps in the 30's, she appears comfortable into the low 20's. Anything below that and she will resort to sleeping between me and my girlfriend.

I find it easy to tell that she's more comfortable in it just hanging around camp and at the crag if it's chilly.

We also have the cloud chaser and it's great for winter hikes and/or layering under the powder hound when it's really cold.

I've been impressed with the durability, and I like the reflective trim at night when I want to spot her with my headlamp.

I've had both for more than a year and she's been in each separately for about 20 nights and 20 day hikes.

Buy it at REI because of their return policy. Though I expect that you'll like it and keep it. Use the coupon for 20% off!

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Go to the childrens clothing section of Walmart. I buy T-shirts and fleece that work just fine - often for less than $10.

I can't personally vouch for the warmth, but it's certainly stylish.

These days I only have 1 senior citizen that's slowing down. But when she was younger I had 2 very wild girls! Full speed hunting through forest and brush for hours. I would really recommend 2 separate coats: 1 very warm, fluffy for bed time. I actually put my dog into my own Nano Air at bedtime these days :-) spoiled pup! And then a 2nd coat for outdoors exploring and running. That coat needs to fit and be durable. I sewed my girls their coats. Bought fabric online that's made for horse blankets: very durable, ripstop, waterproof, windproof, fast drying. I made up an entire coat for each dog initially out of muslin so I could get a perfect fit, then patterned and sewed the final coats. I didn't want them bulky where they would become a safety hazard that could catch on things and trap the dogs. My coats had high full necks for warmth, fully gusseted shoulders for freedom of movement, fully enclosed bellies and bodies with zippers hidden under flaps. They were AWESOME coats. Unfortunately they disappeared in a move a few years back :( But I was really happy with the sew it myself result. Lots of thought and research into dog and horse coats produced me fully custom amazing products. If you can sew and have a free fee nights to work on it, I think you can make a wayyyyy better coat than anything available to buy.