Features:

  • CANINE LIFE VEST: A life jacket designed just for dogs; Ideal for rafting, kayaking, boating, surfing, paddle boarding and swimming
  • EASY SWIMMING: Strategically placed closed-cell foam panels let your dog swim naturally and support an upright position; Strong, low-profile handle on the back to help dogs out of the water
  • ADJUSTABLE FIT: Telescoping neck closure adjusts to fit different shapes and attaches securely in place; Easy-to-clip buckles firmly hold straps
  • DURABLE WEBBING: Water-compatible webbing maintains stability in wet environments
  • REFLECTIVE TRIM: Low-light visibility for additional safety; Integrated light loop for attaching The Beacon light (sold separately)
Worth every penny! Well made and will keep your pup safe.

Amazing doggy life jacket or as they call it... a float coat. My pitty loves to swim, but isn't the best swimmer and it makes me very uncomfortable to let her go in for that reason. I researched several life jackets and settled on Ruffwear's float coat. I couldn't be more pleased. It's on the pricier side, but worth every penny. The design and construction are both excellent! The neck in telescoping so you can get just the right fit for your specific dog. They've added a bunch of thoughtful details, like the excess straps (for adjusting the buckles) have velcro on the ends so they fold in on themselves and then tuck away neatly with the velcro. If you want a life jacket that is made well, that you'll have for a long time, and that you can comfortably trust to keep your fur baby swimming safely.... this is it! Since this purchase I have gone on to buy 3 other products from Ruffwear (a fleece jacket, a harness, and saddlebags). All of the items are incredibly well designed and constructed. Ruffwear is now my go to for doggy gear. Oh, and size wise... Finn is 60lbs and the Medium fits her perfectly.

Works great...dog is much more confident in water.

Last year 40lb Border Collie Meg had to be coaxed into the water and then would only go in if I did. When she did swim, she was awful and struggled to keep her head up and could not maneuver very well. I began the search for a good life jacket last fall. After much research and reading reviews about cheaper ones that rubbed, were bulky, or had weak fabric or straps, I narrowed it down to the Ruffwear Float Coat or the Kurgo Surf n'Turf. The Ruffwear looked like it would fit her body better and was available locally at REI. Plus, I love yellow! Its a bit pricey, but its very well made and should last a very long time. It took a couple tries to get it adjusted just right, but once its set, you don't have to mess with it unless your dog loses weight with all that swimming. I let her wear it around the house for a while to get used to it. She tried to rub it off a bit, but was ok with it. Then we went to a calm small lake so she could try it out. She was nervous about going in the water with it on, but once she realized she wasn't struggling to keep her head up, she relaxed a bit. The real test was the second time she wore it, when she knew what it was. She had no hesitation going into the river with it on and was having a blast. Not only did she swim out to get her floating toy, but she wanted everyone on the beach to throw it so she could go get it again. When she was done with fetch, she just swam for the pure joy of swimming. The best part is she's now a MUCH better swimmer. She's learned to maneuver and turn and she can keep her head up without a struggle even without the life jacket. She's not afraid of the waves the boats make anymore and she LOVES to swim. With her Float Coat, she can swim for hours. The Float Coat is a bit stiff, especially at first, but its tough and it works great. Meg is very stable in the water when she wears it and can handle being in the wake and still keep her head out of the water. It seems comfortable and does not rub anywhere. Meg even wore it on a hike along the lake. She loves putting it on. The handle on top comes in handy. I did pick Meg up by the handle just to test it. Meg wasn't thrilled, but the handle and straps held and the padding underneath made it tolerable for her. If I needed to haul her into the boat, it would help do the job. Now I need to get another one for my Lab. He can swim great, but tires long before Meg (with her Float Coat). I highly recommend this product! Just an added note on sizing: Both of my dogs are in between sizes. Meg has a 27" girth and Bear (lab mix) has a 32" girth. The Ruffwear website recommends choosing the smaller size, but both my dogs are also a bit long in body. For Meg I went with the Medium and it fits perfect adjusted to nearly the smallest it will go. I tried the Medium on Bear, and while he can wear it (straps are plenty long enough, neck fits), it looks too short in body length. I'll be getting him a large. So if you have a short bodied dog that is between sizes, I'd say got with the smaller. Longer bodied dogs should go with the larger size. The medium is 14 1/2" for the length of the back.

Highly recommend!

Absolutely wonderful! Couldn't ask for anything better. We bought a large for our 90 lbs. male German Shepherd who is just over 1 year, expecting it to be a little lose since we figured our pup is not quite done growing. It fits good, we do have to tighten it all the way but it works great & does not slide around at all. Also the handle on the back is very sturdy & we're able to lift him out of the water by the single handle without a problem or fear of it breaking. Highly recommend.

Perfect fit

I have a little Frenchie named Fat Chance and she is very hard to fit. This jacket fit her little stout body perfect. It was also extremely buoyant and held her up nicely. I had a hunch she would love swimming and this gave her enough float that she was safe. Highly recommend this to all Frenchie. I believe this jacket is the only type that have floatation on the underside as well as the sides.

Love it! Upgrade from Outward Hound.

I had the cheap outward hound pfd and upgraded to the floatcoat when it started ripping. This pfd is really nice compared to the cheap one. The fabric is thick and looks like it will resist tears and snags from the mangroves we often explore. It is lower profile and better shaped than the cheap one. It comes with all the amazing little things Ruffwear does (place for his name, light, id tag holder, even a hook to attach a leash). The sizing seems standard for Ruffwear. My dog is a Boxer/AmStaff mix and has a deep chest and wears a medium in Ruffwear. This fits him very well and is true to size. I highly recommend this pfd over the cheaper ones. The quality is just so much better.

WOW...just WOW !!!!!

I've used a variety of doggy life jackets over the years. Most were either cheaply made and didn't hold up, or were poorly designed. Since my two gold border collies join me on my paddle board regularly, and a paddle board is very easy for a dog to slide off of (even though my dogs are trained to stay on the board until my release command "OK") I decided to bite the bullet and spend the extra money on a Ruffwear Float Coat for each of them. I decided that since my dogs are priceless to me, why not do the best that I can to protect them? Even though they are both very strong swimmers, we are at times way out in the middle of the lake...and any dog can tire in the water. WOW! Is this PFD ever well made and well designed! The quality is obvious as soon as you pull it out of the package. These jackets will last for the lifetime of my dogs and then some! And the beauty of the design lies in it's simplicity...no dangling straps and moving parts. This thing simply slides over their heads and once you get it adjusted to the exact right size, you pop two buckles together and wa-la! You are DONE. It needs no further adjustments. It must be super comfortable, as my dogs don't even know these things are on them. There is no pesky Velcro for their long hair to get caught in. My last life jacket had a huge Velcro panel across the stomach and my dogs' fur got stuck in it and it made the whole thing uncomfortable. Not this one...very simple...VERY effective! The padded part of the jacket gently wraps down over the ribs and on my dogs, those side panels come all the way around to within about one inch of each other at the bottom on the dog's stomach...leaving a one inch gap, perfect for water to drain out the bottom, but closed enough that the straps barely touch the dog if you have to lift him out of the water. My dogs weigh 37 pounds each. Their girths are 24" and 26". I followed the size chart and got the small in Atoll Blue and orange. You can see by my included photos how the colors look. They are beautiful!!! The small fits perfectly, with the concentration of the jacket up in the chest and shoulder area. I don't like too much jacket to cover the further back parts of the dog's back, as those jackets tend to offer too much flotation in the rear, forcing the head down. Let's face it...the most important thing to keep out of the water is the head. And being that this jacket puts emphasis on the chest and shoulder area, it seems to do a nice job of that. IF you have a long bodied dog, you may need to order up a size for a longer jacket. You can see in my images how far the jacket comes on a more square built dog. The handle on the top of the jacket is SUPER strong, and there is another loop to attach a water-light if your dog swims at night. Under the lift handle is a leash attachment...which seems poorly placed to me. This is the ONLY flaw in this design. That attachment should be on the top of the jacket right in front of the lift handle. Reflective piping is sewn into each jacket too for extra safety at night. The fabric dries in minutes, so you don't have a soggy wet thing to haul home in your car. In a nutshell...this thing is worth every single penny. I've never had a dog life jacket that has been even close to the quality and exquisite design as this one. It will be the last dog life jacket you will ever need to buy.

The Only Life Jacket for My Dog!!!

We live on a lake and even though my Service Dog is a "water dog" I wanted a sense of security when we are on and/or around water. I looked at a lot of dog life jackets. After reading reviews and doing some research I decided to purchase the #1 dog life jacket on the market, the Ruffwear - K-9 Float Coat. I could not be happier with the purchase. My dog's float coat arrived ahead of estimated arrival date, I watched a brief but comprehensive video on fitting the float coat to your dog. I followed the very easy instructions in the video and fit my dog with the float coat. Again very easy and very quick. The float coat fits like a glove and it isn't bulky so it does not restrict any of my dogs normal movements. For a test we headed to the pool. Not only was the float coat a great success, my dog did not want to get out of the pool. Immediately I could tell my dog was more confident. At the end I also realized he didn't expend the normal amount of energy swimming, so he had plenty of energy left to want to continue in the pool. The float coat really is awesome. I know it is one of the more expensive dog life jackets, but it is worth every dime. From proper fitting, to buoyancy, to keeping my dogs head elevated above the water in a natural way, to the easily seen color, to the reflective trim, to the integrated heavy duty handle, to the sleek profile, to the light weight, to durability (built to last), etc., etc. Now when I open the pool cover my dog heads straight to the float coat. No coaxing to put on. Can you put a price on your dog or your peace of mind? You get what you pay for. And in this case you get an Awesome life jacket for your dog. I'd recommend to family & friends and I would purchase again.

Awesome sauce

Very well made life vest. The fit is just as described. It actually fit right out of the box without adjustment for my 85 pound German Shepherd (size large). He is a good swimmer and doesn't NEED a life vest but it eases my mind when he has it on. It does not float up higher than the dog like I have seen some vests do. It does not impede any movement. The color is nice and bright which is a plus for a dark colored dog. Highly recommended!

I almost lost my best friend.

My Golden Retriever loves the water but weighs 98 pounds dry. He has a very thick double coat. One day he fell off a long dock into water 12 ft deep. He didn't seem to know which way to swim. With his thick coat being soaked he got tired very fast. I could see he was struggling but I was unable to lift him out. I eventually got a leash on his collar and dragged him over to shallow water. This vest fits him well and is built top notch. Don't think your dog doesn't need one. I almost lost my best friend.

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