This story triggers all sorts of emotions in us, everything from pride, to immense gratitude. For founder and owner of red Dog Dezign Charmaine, all the years of hard work, research, dezign and finding the best suited materials for the job, all paid off in this one review we received.
Client Anthea Hughes, as a responsible and caring pet owner purchased an Advanced Life Jacket from DogOnline for her new 9 week old puppy, Cooper. As we all know the larger breed puppies can be clumsier than their smaller counterparts. Their young muscles have a large skeleton to cope with, different growth patterns and body weight can all have a huge impact on their safety, especially around areas such as swimming pools.
On this morning, Anthea’s worst fear came true, Cooper fell in the swimming pool. Thanks to her life jacket, she was kept afloat until Anthea could grab her by the safety handles and lift her out.
![](https://dogonline.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Anthea-Hughes-Review-2.png)
In Anthea’s own words, “I purchased my 9-week old puppy’s life jacket on Tuesday morning, and it was delivered at my door the next morning. Being in a so called “outlying area” this is no mean feat, and i would like to thank the team at DogOnline and The Courier Guy for their efficiency. More importantly, Cooper was wearing her life jacket when she fell into the swimming pool this morning and i am happy to report that she floated comfortably (albeit very frightened) until i could help her out. The jacket is comfortable, easy to put on, and impossible to get out of. And it’s buoyancy is top notch, even with a hysterical puppy inside. Thank you, DogOnline.”
Dog Safety around water:
- Make sure your dog can swim, not all are great swimmers. Do not throw them in or force them to swim, this can set up a fear response. Take time to ensure that they are comfortable and proficient swimmers.
- Never leave your dog unattended around water. Swimming pools are always a contentious issue, but bodies of water like farm dams, ponds, rivers and the ocean all hold their own dangers.
- Use high visibility, flotation devices such as our Life Jacket, it can keep your dog afloat while you get to them.
- If you have a pool or pond, teach your dog where and how to get out. Provide safe and easy exit points, not only your dog, but local wildlife will thank you.
RDD Advanced Life Jacket – Editor’s opinion
We love giving detailed, honest feedback on our products, even if it means highlighting weaknesses as well as strengths.
The Advanced Life Jacket, is made with 100% focus on safety, balanced and sustained flotation and visibility, all materials are sourced with this in mind. At first glance, it may appear a little cumbersome, that is until you pick it up and realize how light it really is.
Flotation Material
![](https://dogonline.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_2399-666x999.jpg)
Designed to keep your pet afloat, anatomically shaped panels run down the length of the body, individually paneled to prevent shift and to ensure balanced floating. A double layer of flotation material supports the sternum and across the chest. This design is incredibly well thought out, as too little support in the chest and sternum area could result in a poor swimmer being tipped onto their head and possibly drowning. The sternal support closure is fully covered in velcro, for 100% adhesion and to allow for adjustability, as well as the two belly straps which buckle securely over it.
![](https://dogonline.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_2475-999x666.jpg)
Life Jacket Weight
I could not get my bathroom scale to register the weight of a medium size Life Jacket (as i stated above it is designed to be as lightweight as possible), even soaking wet. I will update this post when i get a more sensitive kitchen scale, and will add the dry and wet weights then.
Life Jacket Fabric
![](https://dogonline.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG_7951-999x749.jpg)
The Life Jacket fabric is a specially coated lightweight, incredibly water resistant and highly durable fabric. It is snugly stitched around each flotation panel to prevent movement of the panels and subsequent unbalanced support for the dog. The fabric colours provided sometimes vary due to supplier availability, but are always selected for highest visibility, quality of fabric, lightness of weight, durability and water resistance.
The high visibility taping is provided along anatomical lines, to provide as much opportunity as possible for light to shine off it and catch your eye.
The only “negative” which i could find, is that I would advise that you do spend time getting your dog comfortable in it, particularly if they are not used to wearing jackets at all.