So far nothing is perfect. Designers somehow forget that boy dogs have special requirements. 😖
Snarky had an Outward Hound vest that Ive seen marketed as both PupSaver and Granby. It was OK for him in a size large. The belly band cleared his boy bits, but the vest interfered with his hips when he tried to curl up out of the way.
Pogo is between a large and an extra large in most brands. He can fit into Snarky's vest if he's got a short haircut and I tell him to suck his gut in. What really works better for him, though, are a pair of soft neoprene Obrien vests I found in a surf shop. They are flexible and short, so they don't interfere with his hips. The belly band is a wide piece of cloth with two nylon straps for size. I'll probably sew the straps to the belly band at some point to keep everything from shifting. The vest goes under the dog and then zips down the back; kind of anunusual design. The size large only fits Pogo if he is underweight. The size extra large is ok around the middle, but the chest straps are too long. I stitched and shortened the chest straps to make the vest work for him.
My husband bought Galen an Outward Hound Standly. As with most jackets, the belly band went too far back. However, I was able to cut about an inch of the belly band away to ensure the webbing didn't interfere with surfer-boy's skeg. Putting the vest on was a little weird; I had to stick one leg through an opening before fastening the rest of the clips. Outward Hound does not recommend this jacket for beginner swimmers. Indeed, from what I observed it really doesn't offer enough flotation for a dog that has little buoyancy or experience swimming. My husband thought it actually impeded Galen's ability to scramble up onto our dock steps. The belly band is quite wide, and it's only partially mesh. Therefore it drags a bit. The good part about this vest is that it is an excellent harness. The leash clip is sturdy; a normal dog shouldnt break away. The handles are also sturdy; I had no trouble using the vest to lift Galen up over rocks. It would probably have been a good vest for Pogo in his wilder youth, when I was afraid he'd jump overboard after a seagull half a mile from shore.
