Ruff Wear Swamp Cooler Vest

[Cam & Oski]

We ended up getting this for Oski this summer due to the 100+F days. He's more of a cold weather doodle & doesn't tolerate heat well. The vest actually works pretty well. It's a triple layer vest that allows him to cool by evaporation, the caveat is that on really hot days, you'll have to carry a pack of water to keep the vest damp. We ended up having an entire CamelBak hydration pack just for his vest & would squeeze the mouthpiece so it would spray down his vest. When we took the vest off at the end of a hike, his fur was dry & cool underneath! It is on the spendy side ~$50 but we couldn't keep him cooped up inside for days at a time & I suspect it'll come in handy again this summer. Here's a link to the product info site at Ruff Wear, an innovative, eco-minded company based out of Bend, OR:

[Richard Crowe]

Thanks for posting. We intend to get a cooling vest for Holly. Holly also doesn't do well in the heat!

We are thinking about the Coolmedic Models and could not decide between the 4500 and 4501 models (We think that the 4501 would look cool on a Southern California Doodle). We have just been waiting for Holly to attain her full growth. We will need the jacket by May which will make Holly 17 months old. That should be her full growth.

http://www.coolmedics.com/caninecooling.html

However, the vest on your post looks interesting also. I will research that model too! BTW, I found it for $39.99 at:

http://www.oldworldlimited.com/ruffwear-swamp-cooler-cooling-vest-l...

[Richard Crowe]

Holly has finally attained her full size and I will be buying her a cooling vest shortly. In addition to the Ruff Wear vest that Oski uses and the Coolmedics vest I mentioned in the earlier post; I found this collection of links from a recent Google search.

The first two seem to cool primarily from above:

http://www.lucysdoghouse.net/coolvest.html

http://www.equestriancollections.com/itemmatrix.asp?groupcode=CM000...

These two seem like they will cool the dog from its chest. I know that a dog’s chest and feet need to be kept cool and I am leaning toward either of these two vests.

http://www.50degree.com/custom/index.cfm?ID=42464

http://www.helpingudders.com/CoolingVests.htm

[Jeremy]

Kaiya demoed the Swamp Cooler this past weekend at the Dominion River Rock festival in Richmond, VA. The temperature wasn't too bad, but the sun was hot! On Friday, Kaiya didn't wear the swamp cooler and we could tell that she wasn't having a good time. Since she's a black doodle, she soaks up the heat and gets hot very quickly.

On Saturday, we walked around from 2 - 8 pm with the swamp cooler on and it made a substantial difference. Towards the end of the night, the sun went down, a cold front came in, and we had to take it off of her because she started shivering.

We're planning on buying one shortly.