Australian shepherd rain jacket sizes

An Australian shepherd carries a medium-length double coat with a ruff, feathering and a thick undercoat that handles cold and wind on its own. Like every double coat it fails at one thing: a long soaking rain loads the undercoat with water and the dog stays damp, and smelly, for hours. The piece is a shell, sized over the coat, and the mini version of the breed gets the same page because it is the same dog at two thirds scale.

Numbers

• Australian shepherd: 18 to 23 in at the shoulder, 40 to 65 lb (AKC standard). TARIGS gives a chest of 70 to 75 cm (27.5 to 29.5 in), a neck of 37 to 47 cm (14.5 to 18.5 in) and a back of 50 to 60 cm (20 to 23.5 in); the Doggie Style Store chart lists a 16 to 22 in neck. Over a full coat most adults tape 26 to 31 in around.
• Miniature American shepherd: 13 to 18 in, 20 to 40 lb (AKC standard); chest 22 to 26 in over the coat, neck 13 to 16, back 16 to 19.

Coat makers' charts of measured dogs, and the coat is in every figure. Measure over it as it lies, in the season.

Standard Aussie

Worked out from the size charts on the product pages for the measurement range above. Your dog's own tape measurement is what decides it.

Vest L (24 to 31 in) on nearly all; XL on a big male in full coat. Jacket XL (26.8) at the small end, 2XL (30.7) on most, 3XL at 31 and over. The knits are not Aussie sizes.

Mini American shepherd

Worked out from the size charts on the product pages for the measurement range above. Your dog's own tape measurement is what decides it.

Vest M (20 to 27 in) on most, L at the top. Jacket L (22.8) or XL (26.8). The Heritage Turtleneck XL is inside the range by chest for the smallest minis and is left off because a double-coated dog does not need it.

Why the vest, mostly

The Quilted Vest sheds drizzle and a shower, blocks wind, has no lining to overheat a dog that is already insulated, and fastens with a wide belly strap and a collar toggle, so nothing goes over the head and one size holds the difference between the coat in July and the coat in January. For a herding dog that works, reflective trim at dusk is worth having.

The All-Weather Jacket is lined. On an Aussie that makes it a freezing-rain coat only; in ordinary cold rain the vest is enough and the jacket is too warm. It zips up the chest and clips the leash to a harness built into the chest; for an Aussie that walks nicely, fine; for one that herds the leash, the product page's advice: regular harness under it.

Over the coat

Both pieces press the top coat flat on the back for a walk and it springs back; a brush after a wet walk prevents mats in the undercoat, which is true with or without a shell. The hem of each sits ahead of the tail (or where the tail would be), so the feathered trousers come home wet regardless. The ruff sits under the collar; size by chest and the collar closes over it.

Shipping and returns

Free US shipping; ships in 1 to 2 business days and usually arrives 4 to 9 business days after that; 60 days to return a size the coat changed (Shipping & Returns). The measuring guide shows the three measurements; on an Aussie, over the coat, at the widest point of the ribcage.

Questions

50 lb Aussie: vest L or XL?

Chest over the coat. Up to 31 in, L; past it, XL. In full winter coat a big male can be XL.

Does the dog need a coat at all?

In cold, no. In long rain, a shell keeps the undercoat dry and the drying short. That is the whole case.

Mini Aussie in the jacket L or XL?

Chest. Under 22.8 in, L; under 26.8, XL. Most minis over the coat are XL.