What’s everyone using for their 4 legged family members?

67wayz

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Looking for a life vest for my pup!

Other than the first one that pops up on an Amazon search, what does everyone recommend? Or maybe the Amazon is a good one???
 
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We use an Obrien dog lift vest for our toy poodle. We really like it. Goes on pretty easy, and with him being so tiny, it is easy helping him in and out of the water with the handle on the back of it.

The picks below are a couple of the better ones I have of the actual life vest on him to get a sense of how it looks and fits.
 

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We have two black lab/coon hounds, both are 65-70 lbs. Both are afraid of the water, go figure. We didn't know that when we bought the jackets. We don't have them wear them when we're underway, but we do at the swim hole because we leave the doors open. That way if they fall in (they're very curious about the water) they'll float until we can pull them out. Neither have a problem wearing them.

We were able to get the boy in the water and he enjoyed it. So I can say the velcro and strap held up well lifting a wet 70lb dog out of the water. I can't attest to how they hold up over time because they don't get much use. If you even touch her handle she will drop to the ground. But she doesn't mind wearing it.

 
We have a doggy vest like the ones above, but can’t think of any time we would need to put it on her. She does not like going in the water at all. I think it reminds her too much of a bath. :D
 
We have a dog life vest for our goldendoodle when we go kayaking. But I can easily pull the dog up into my kayak when she falls out or she decides to jump in after the ducks. On the other hand, I'm not sure how dificult it will be on the pontoon. I'm sure she will at some point decide to jump off after the ducks lol. I wonder if she can somehow use the curved step ladder with myself or wife also pulling her up into the boat. Anybody here have a good way to get a 60lb dog into the boat?
 
We have a dog life vest for our goldendoodle when we go kayaking. But I can easily pull the dog up into my kayak when she falls out or she decides to jump in after the ducks. On the other hand, I'm not sure how dificult it will be on the pontoon. I'm sure she will at some point decide to jump off after the ducks lol. I wonder if she can somehow use the curved step ladder with myself or wife also pulling her up into the boat. Anybody here have a good way to get a 60lb dog into the boat?
There have been several threads on here about those topics. Try the search bar and see if you find anything. There are platforms that attach to the ladder (if you aren’t going up and down also), doggy ramps (could make your own if you are handy) https://www.doggydocks.com/doggydocks-ramps/
or many other options. Some bigger dogs have learned how to use the ladder as it is curved and not straight up and down.
 
I would be skeptical of the dog really being able to use the curved step ladder with human support reliably. Steps are narrow, and I don’t think ergonomically suited at all for paws.

I think you will have to rely on lifting them in and out, or having some sort of inflatable ramp. They do make some things that serve this purpose. Search around a bit in the forums with the ”search” function in the upper right hand corner of the web page.

Our dog is a toy poodle, so no worries for us. I always wonder how those of you with bigger dogs do it. It’d probably pull a shoulder out at some point with a larger dog.
 
We have a dog life vest for our goldendoodle when we go kayaking. But I can easily pull the dog up into my kayak when she falls out or she decides to jump in after the ducks. On the other hand, I'm not sure how dificult it will be on the pontoon. I'm sure she will at some point decide to jump off after the ducks lol. I wonder if she can somehow use the curved step ladder with myself or wife also pulling her up into the boat. Anybody here have a good way to get a 60lb dog into the boat?
The life jacket we bought for the dogs has a handle on the top to pull them from the water. Our dogs are around 60-70lbs. It's a pretty far reach down off the boat. A wet 60lb dog feels like 90lbs when pulling them up that high. I've only pulled them up 6 or 7 times. No tearing around the handle though.
 
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