dog vest

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ibbowhunting
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dog vest

Post by ibbowhunting » Mon Oct 07, 2013 8:55 pm

i'm thinking of buying a vest for my Brittany, any input on size make and model, just for upland, lately its been a little cool and damp when where out, and a layer of protection when charge thru the woods

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Elkhunter
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Re: dog vest

Post by Elkhunter » Mon Oct 07, 2013 9:01 pm

They dont need vests, and I think they look stupid. :)

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ibbowhunting
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Re: dog vest

Post by ibbowhunting » Mon Oct 07, 2013 9:11 pm

hahahahahahahah

jczv
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Re: dog vest

Post by jczv » Tue Oct 08, 2013 8:10 am

I've had good luck with these from cabelas: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas- ... 748637.uts which when I looked are on sale for $20.00.
Gun dog supply has these that look similar: http://www.gundogsupply.com/sylmar-body ... -vest.html

I use them primarily so they don't look like deer (their brown) and my runt dog generally wears off all the hair on her chest before the season even starts. She's also impaled herself on 2 sticks and pealed back a big flap of skin on a some metal and generally beats the heck out of herself when not wearing it. So once it's cool enough she wears it full time.

Some dogs have an issue with chaffing which does occur but generally mine wear theirs initially for shorter time periods before they have them on for all day hunts (this last weekend we had a kids only gun deer hunting was the first time they wore them since last year). I'll spray with silicon spray or put vaseline on and that helps a little.

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markj
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Re: dog vest

Post by markj » Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:12 am

My dogs tear them off.....

jczv
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Re: dog vest

Post by jczv » Tue Oct 08, 2013 3:37 pm

Wow I never realized dog vests were yet another item for people to pound their chests about on internet forums. My dogs are duly shamed by their ability to wear them and I bow in your presence.

Trekmoor
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Re: dog vest

Post by Trekmoor » Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:00 am

I have only put a vest on one dog in my life. I put one on a young viszla last year. It worked well during wet ,cold days and I cut the neoprene back a little around each foreleg to enable her to use her legs with no rubbing or restriction of movement. The vest was made to measure but I still felt that the leg holes were slightly too small.
She worked all kinds of cover while wearing it and swam in it too and never seemed to look or feel cold . I don't know how well it will stand the test of time, I only put it on her during the very worst of weather. She did fine without it on the majority of days.

Bill T.

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roaniecowpony
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Re: dog vest

Post by roaniecowpony » Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:35 am

I think there are some here that would argue about the color of the sky.

I put vests on my dogs when they are young and have no belly hair for protection. Hunting in certain cover is abrasive and will bloody their belly when young. I use a Cabelas nylon vest that has cordura on the bottom. Seems to work.

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Double Shot Banks
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Re: dog vest

Post by Double Shot Banks » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:15 am

i use dokkens vest on gundogsupply,
my lab doesnt mind it but i wont be using it until it gets colder.
Isaac and Banks

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markj
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Re: dog vest

Post by markj » Wed Oct 09, 2013 9:21 am

There were times when Iwished my dogs had a vest with a chest protector, right after they run into that barbed wire fence and tore a huge rip in their hide. Seems almost every shorthair I have owned has done this. I tried to use a vest, but they tear them off when put back in the dog box. The bright orange sure shows up in the field too.

Some here sure have thin skins...... I dont see any chest pounding.....

buckshot1
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Re: dog vest

Post by buckshot1 » Wed Oct 09, 2013 9:23 am

jczv wrote:Wow I never realized dog vests were yet another item for people to pound their chests about on internet forums. My dogs are duly shamed by their ability to wear them and I bow in your presence.
LOL. Maybe we should all put "my dog is better than yours" in our signature lines so we don't need to pound our chests as often.

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wems2371
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Re: dog vest

Post by wems2371 » Wed Oct 09, 2013 9:39 am

Cabela's style if it's cold out. Not because it's cold out, but because it adds more protection.

Medota skid plate style if it's warm.

People hunt different areas and you can easily see that by the photos folks put up. Different cover, different risks. Hunting trip last year, very first stop and I took the skid plate off, because it was warm out. Dog is a hard charger and we were hunting in a dried cattail marsh, and there was old fencing around. As luck would have it, when she came out of the field I could see she had a belly cut. It was already swollen, with skins flaps stretched apart. I'm not sure what caused it. Just barrelling into a cattail stalk could have been enough. Probably could have used a few stitches, or staples if I could have gotten the skin back together, but nothing too serious and it healed up fine. Thankfully I had the skid plate and used it the rest of the trip to protect the wound. I don't think I would have continued hunting her without it, because all the cover we're in is tall thick stuff. You can find half buried fencing, buried t-posts, beaver stumps, etc. We're not in the wide open spaces either, there are plenty of roadways where a little bit of extra visability goes a long way. If I'm at a place I'm familiar with, like a friends 100 acres, I don't bother. Vest certainly isn't going to save them from everything either, but I don't need to kick myself in the butt anymore than I regularly do. :D

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