Combination safety vest/skid plate

[hoof]

As my dog is mostly black I was thinking he might be easier to see with a blaze vest. I figured if I was going to put something on him it might as well be protective as well. Are there any decent safety vest/chest protector-skid plates out there? My dog is a DD as well, and someone on the versatile forum suggested heat might be a problem with a heavy vest? I have never had any heat sensitivity problems with him, but I don't want to create any either.

Thanks,
CHAZ

[helpful_cub]

Depends on what your dog is running in. I know if its 50 degrees or cooler than my dog doesn't really care what I put on him as long as he can move freely. When it gets hotter than that you'll need to look for alternatives. I've been trying out a water soaked dog vest, there have been other threads about it lately. (http://www.gundogsupply.com/ruff-wear-swamp-cooler.html) It seems to work alright. Downside is that I need to carry a lot more water to keep it working because it will trapping heat when it gets dry. Also it wasn't built to eat brush, so I'm sure the bottom of it will tear up eventually.

Does your dog bust brush often? Mine has a habit of just jumping the 3 foot tall stuff.

[perro flaco]

for $12 you can't beat this. http://www.gundogsupply.com/quspresave.html I put it as equally helpful as my $600 astro

I put it on top of this when its cold http://www.gundogsupply.com/dokken-neop ... -vest.html

I looked for a blaze neoprene but the only one I found, cabelas, was $$$ and made for retrievers.

[DonF]

That vest looks pretty good. I haave seldom had problems with my dogs gett beat up but, oncde in a while they do. Been hunting a bunch of heavy cover lastle and especially Bodie is tearing up his chest. And they both have scabs coming off their head and backs where a barb wire cuaght. Friend of mine gave me two very nice ones that theyr're gonna have to get used to in heavy cover. They can't help but to help you keep better track of a bigger running dog.

[greatlawn]

My dog cut his front leg on a fence I put a long sleeve t shirt on him it worked great. I only wish I would have gotten it in orange. I also have the vests from Cableas. I think I might go with more t shirts as no rubbing and no noise in the field. The shirt was tore up but not to bad not a mark on my dog.

[tailcracken]

het lawn how do you keep the shirt from coming off and what size would u need for a 43 pound pointer ? this is only a pointer from the pheasant forum

[SetterNut]

My setter got a really bad cut with stitches across his chest and down a front leg a couple years ago. If I was going to be able to hunt him I had to find a way to cover where all the hair had been shaved off.

Took an Under-Armor type shirt for a flexible base, and stitched on some heavier fabric on the wear spots. This one is a little small for him so I need to loosen it up. But it provides great protection and will not rub the dog raw like some vests. It has worked great

[ZMan079]

WHne it is colder/snowy/wet in the late season, I usually run my Lab with a reversible (Old school camo/Flourescent Orange) 3.5 mm Neoprene on the orange side. for warmer weather I have the LCS Bird Dog Armor Vest. It works really well, and I have not had any issues while the dog was wearing it, and he is a brush buster. Only thing I don't like is that the top of back (like 2") is not completely covered. It looks like the Cabela's vest covers the whole way.

ZMan079

[nhachman]

My setter got a really bad cut with stitches across his chest and down a front leg a couple years ago. If I was going to be able to hunt him I had to find a way to cover where all the hair had been shaved off.

Took an Under-Armor type shirt for a flexible base, and stitched on some heavier fabric on the wear spots. This one is a little small for him so I need to loosen it up. But it provides great protection and will not rub the dog raw like some vests. It has worked great

+1 on some vests rubbing dogs raw. The one I'm currently using from Cabela's rubs the front of my Britt's front leg/shoulder area raw after multiple days of hunting. I'm probably going to be looking for an alternative, but for now the protection it offers is worth it IMO. Especially the way she runs full blast through 4 strand barbwire and off drops, etc.

[crazyboy]

My dog keeps tearing up his entire underside, and turns red after a day hunting. Tried to run him with a skid plate and it made the front of his armpits by his chest raw, still managed to get himself cut up elsewhere. Going to try to "modify" it.