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Bruce's Reflective Dog Vest Page
This is Bruce Crawford's Reflective Dog Vest Page.
A Couple of Pictures
These are worth 2K words.
Materials
The body of the vest is made out of an orange mesh fabric. The stripes are 2 inch wide reflective material. The yellow stuff is fairly reflective and visible during daytime, while the grey stuff is highly reflective in the dark. The strap and catches are 2 inch wide hook and loop material. There should be some edging around the vest.
In the Seattle Area you can buy all this stuff at Seattle Fabrics. That store is oriented to supplying people for outdoors activities, it is a very useful place.
Dimensions
The width of the vest should match the circumference of the rib cage. The length from the back of the vest to the back of the neck cut out should be slightly less than from the tail to your dog's collar. You don't want the vest to reach the base of the tail, lest it rub on the tail and teach your dog to not wag its tail. From the back of the cut out to the front should be cut somewhat more than half the length of the collar. In general I tend to cut the material leaving some extra, and then sucessively fit and trim until I am happy.
Details
Put the hook material along the edge of the vest opposite the belly strap which has the loop material. That way the hook material will face outward and not scrape the dog. Position the belly strap to avoid the front legs, and then position the hook material along the other side to center the strap. Avoid the range of the front leg with the hook material. Arrange the hook and loop material for the front of the vest so that the hook material faces outwards as well.
Trim off the rear corners as they just get messed up anyway. Trim the sides along the front to get them out of the way of the front legs when your dog is trotting.
I sew on some extra reflective strap material to hang flashing bike lights from. I also secure those lights with rubber bands as otherwise they will come flying off when your dog shakes itself. I use two lights because the vest will shift from side to side and you always want at least one light visible.
I put holes along the top of the vest because my dogs often were tracking harnesses when walking. I put reflective material around these holes to keep the leash from snagging on the mesh material. If you use a collar or a x-back harness to clip on to your dog, you don't need the holes along the top.