Summer Puppy Dog Life Jacket

Let me start with this: my dog is oddly shaped. I know she is oddly shaped. Off the rack items rarely fit her perfectly. She is GSP/Lab: deep chest, high waist, but long and tall.

That being said, I am happy with this life jacket for her. She is 11 years old and doesn't necessarily "need" it yet, but I am getting her ready in advance. We compete in dock diving and I noticed my older, 14 year old, full lab gained a ton of confidence back in a life jacket. So I started getting this dog used to one. She doesn't even seem to realize she's wearing it on both our home deck and a competition rig. We will be trying it in the ocean as well in August 2024.

So, I tried 2 sizes on her and there is a BIG difference when you size up. When the jacket is too long, the dog can't bend its middle correctly. I kept the smaller size and made some slight alterations to make it just a little bit better for her. I added velcro to the soft side of the belly band so there is a larger velcro on velcro area. I also replaced the strapping on the chest piece with a bit that is slightly longer.

The only change that wasn't due to her weird build was this: I added bias tape around the edges of the belly band where the hard velcro is. The edges of the velcro are very hard.... sewing on a bit of bias tape does not affect the functionality of the velcro, but covers the very uncomfortable edges. This is why I dropped a star.

I hope this jacket holds up! My dog seems confident in it and I don't foresee a problem when the time comes that she needs a little support in both competition and leisure swimming.

I have a 1yo golden retreiver. 75-80lbs roughly. He is a great swimmer without this lift jacket, but he loves to swim with his humans and is often over his head, this helps him tremendously with not having to paddle as hard to keep him afloat, and helps us hold him in our arms when he needs a break.

Small trick. With longer hair dogs, get them wet first before putting it on. The velcro won't stick if their hair is in the way.

I got him the large. I will be ordering the XL as well because he will still grow a little bit by the time he gets to age 2.

So far it's easy to use, durable, the color (orange) is bright and can be seen easily in and out of the water. Not very easy to adjust but once you're fit you shouldn't need to adjust.

Seems like it will work well for my 40 pound heeler. She can swim great but is also blind so I wanted added protection just in case. Only reason for the 4 stars is it arrived with a very thin plastic package around it that was ripped and got the jacket dirty. Would have been nice if it was shipped in better protective packaging. Luckily it went into a mailbox so it didn’t get wet as well.

I got this life jacket during a lightening deal sale! Love the color and fit! Half the price of the one we used to own, but unfortunately he outgrew it. Even though the other jacket was great, I just didn't want to spend that kind of money this time around. The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of five is because under the belly where the velcro connects, the edges of the velcro are coarse and irritating to the skin. Only time will tell if there will be skin breakdown or a wound. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it though.
Also, not sure how long that velcro will hold up, the neck collar cover velcro piece already came undone once and was reattached without an issue. But, we have only used this one time, so not impressed with the velcro quality. Breed: Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Weight: 75 pounds, Chest measurement: 33 inches, Color Jacket: Purple, Size: XL