Ruffwear Swamp Cooler Vest

[sjdavenport]

I recently got a cooling vest for Rhaegar for our walks because he does not handle the heat well. Even with just walking him first thing in the morning, it's unbearably hot. It actually seems to work reasonably well. I don't know how well the evaporative cooling part works since it's ridiculously humid here, but at the very least, it reflects the sun, keeping his black fur from absorbing all the heat from the sun. There's a really big difference in his temperature when I feel his exposed parts vs underneath the vest. It also only takes him five or so minutes to stop panting when we get back to the house vs 30 or so minutes without the vest.

 

[Smokeycat]

I just made a cooling jacket for Kryten. I couldn't find anything that even came close to fitting him.

 

[sjdavenport]

This is the XL, and it's actually too big for Rhaegar (who is only 110lbs). I have both side straps adjusted to as small as they will go and you can see in this pic that the chest part still sags on him. So while it would never fit Kryten in a million years, lol, I think it would fit most CCs and the smaller built BMs and maybe DDBs.

 

[tmricciuto]

That is a really interesting concept. We live in AZ and take our pups for their short walk around 6am and it's already in the high 80's. I can't wait for winter when the weather is cooler so we can walk them twice a day. Even with this vest the sidewalks would be too hot for them to walk I. Past about 10am. If I can't stand my bare foot on the sidewalk I don't take them out.


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[sjdavenport]

My guys are only getting one walk a day right now too. HATE the heat. If we walk in the morning, then I stick with walking in shaded paths in the woods with plenty of streams and ponds along the way for the dogs to cool off. The pavement would be way too hot for them. I will walk them on the sidewalks after dark sometimes when is starts cooling off, usually around 10PM. But the only reason I feel safe enough walking at night is because I always take all three kids if it's after dark:

 

[scorning]

I have the same jacket for my danes, they were 150lb and had room to spare. While it worked, I found that it dried to pretty quickly (less than 1 hour), which wasn't helpful for hiking/backpacking in the summer, if you don't have a body of water around to recharge it. Works great for shorter walks or when you have a lot of water handy to rewet it.

 

[sjdavenport]

Wow, well no wonder the chest part is saggy on Rhaegar! Now that you've said that, I have seen several photos of Danes wearing the XL size.