Surf n' Turf Life Jacket

We really like this life jacket. It’s easy to put on and take off and we love the handle on top. It’s easy to adjust the size. It makes it easy to grab a hold of the puppy when we are in the boat. We looked at a lot of life jackets and this is the one we are sold on. Very good quality and the puppy doesn’t mind wearing it at all.

My dog who doesn’t like to wear anything happily wears this! She feels much more secure in the water, I can tell!

I've only had my dog take it for a "ride" once, so I'll update this review at a later point. So far, though, I really like the quality of the life jacket. The construction looks sturdy and I love the colors (reminiscent of Scooby Doo, actually). My dog is small (~15 lbs), girth under the armpits is about 20 in but she has a fairly narrow waist. The fit is okay; the collar portion is well constructed and one side will slide into a sleeve. Although there's a limit to the length of that sleeve, you can still scrunch it up a bit if you need the collar to be narrower. Because of my dog's dimensions, the rearmost buckle needed to be adjusted tighter than the one that goes right under the armpits.

I reviewed a lot of dog life vests. I wanted to avoid those with a lot of Velcro which would entrap my dog’s hair. This vest is well constructed. I like the two handles on the back (one vertical and one horizontal) which gives you options to grab and pull your dog out of the water. The underside of the vest consists of foam padding on each side which are secured by 2 straps and buckles. On my dog, the two foam sides don’t meet in the center under her belly, but there’s still plenty of buoyant support. The best part is no Velcro, and it’s easy to put on with the two buckles. There’s a band that goes over the head and supports the front of the neck/chest. It is adjustable too. Check out my pictures to get a better idea of how it works. A good choice for a dog life vest! Finally, I just wanted to add that the highly rated Ruffwear life vest is VERY similar but it's double the price, and it has a very small piece of velcro that is used to secure the underside straps, which could irritate your dog (not likely though). I personally think that the Kurgo is a much better value.

For such a long time I've been a fan of the 20$ ones on Amazon that do the job. My dog is a great swimmer so this just for safety and to help keep head above water because of her shape. She's lightning in the water now. The construction of this is top tier. We have harnesses and other accessories from Kurgo. Finally converted after 2 other replacements to vests which tear at the seam and just fall apart.When you use Kurgo your never worried about quality issues.

My dog could swim, but she kept scratching me when she got near me.We got her this vest and she stopped scratching me and spent more time swimming.She doesn’t mind wearing it at all.Super happy with this purchase.

My puppy loved it and was less afraid of the water. Very comfortable fit.

Choose a Size up for Male Labs / The handle is not secure enough to lift the dog out of the water.I have VERY fit, low fat, young male labs ( 72# and 105#). The recommended measurements were one size too small in the neck and chest. All other attachments fit, if let out to the maximum length. For the 72# dog I got a medium based on sizing recommendations, he is really a size large in the neck and chest. For the 105# dog I ordered a Large, based on sizing recommendations, but he is really is an X-large. The issue of sizing is in the neck and upper chest (for male Labs). Fit Labs have big neck and chest areas, and a narrow waist.There is no way that you can lift a 70# + dog by the supplied handles without destroying the outer nylon material. The handles are sewn to the outer rip stop material and rips immediately. Basically, you can MAYBE free-lift a dog into a boat, one time, to save the dog, but the vest will then be torn up and unusable. Probably doable for lifting smaller dogs around 10#'s or less.If you need to lift your dog out of the water more than once, go with the Ruffwear jackets. They are much more bulky, but much more sturdy and durable. All of our boating dog owner friends use Ruffwear jackets for their dogs so that they can pull the dogs onto the boat by the handle. I was thinking that with Lab water dogs, we just needed a jacket for safety, but we really need to be able to pull / lift them into the boat as well.Btw... the vests come with a rear attachment that serves as a handy bottle opener!!!! Great gimmick idea, except that boaters should know that glass bottles around water is not a good idea (Illegal at our AZ lakes). :)