Basset hound coat and sweater sizes

A basset is a big dog that has been lowered. The chest is a Labrador's, the neck is a Labrador's, the back is longer than a Labrador's, and the whole arrangement is carried four inches off the pavement on the heaviest bone in the dog world. Every chart that sizes by weight gets the basset wrong; every chart that sizes by chest gets the length wrong. Ours sizes by chest and is honest about the length.

Numbers

AKC standard: up to 15 in at the shoulder (14 is typical), 40 to 65 lb. Breed charts: chest 26 in (Doggie Style Store), 60 to 65 cm, 24 to 26 in (TARIGS); neck 16 to 22 in (Doggie Style Store), 42 to 50 cm, 16.5 to 20 in (TARIGS); back 60 to 75 cm, 24 to 30 in (TARIGS). A heavy male tapes 28 to 30 around. Coat makers' charts of measured dogs, not the standard; the back-length figure in particular depends on where you stop measuring on a dog whose tail starts a long way back.

Our sizes

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.

Jacket XL (26.8 in chest, 17.5 in neck) for most, 2XL (30.7 in, 19.5 in neck) for a big male or anyone whose neck reads over 17.5. Vest L (24 to 31 in chest, 20 to 22 in neck) or M on a smaller female. The Heritage Turtleneck is in the table because a small basset at 24 in is inside its XL by chest; by neck (16.5 in on the XL) it is a squeeze, and most bassets do not need a knit at all. The Fireside and the trench are far too small.

Length: what you are buying and what you are not

The All-Weather Jacket's back on an XL is 15.7 in; on a 2XL, 17.5. A basset's back is 24 to 28. The jacket covers the shoulders, the chest and the front half of the back and stops there, by design, so the hind legs are free. It is a harness jacket that keeps the working end of the dog dry; it is not a blanket for a dog built like a bench. The vest L runs 19 in down the back, a little further. Nothing we make reaches the tail on a basset, and we would rather say so than let the length column surprise you.

The belly and the ears

A basset's belly is a few inches off the ground and its ears drag through what the belly misses. No coat helps with either. The ears come home wet and should be dried first, at the inside, because the breed's ear infections are the most reliable thing about it. The belly gets a towel. The jacket means the back, sides and chest do not.

The neck

Thick, loose-skinned, and the measurement that decides the size. A basset with a 25 in chest is an XL by chest; if the neck reads 18 or 19 in, it is a 2XL, because the XL's opening is 17.5. On the jacket the zip runs up the chest to the neck, so a size with a tight neck will not close at the top. Read the neck column first on this breed.

Rain, and why it matters more than cold

The basset's coat is short, dense and oily, built to shed water in cover, and it does; the dog is not cold in ordinary winter weather. What the coat cannot do is dry quickly once soaked, and a soaked basset in a car is an experience. The All-Weather Jacket keeps the body dry under a rain-shedding shell with a warm lining (more than a basset needs on a mild day; the Quilted Vest is the drizzle piece), opens flat and zips up the chest, and clips the leash to the harness built into the chest. For a basset that walks nicely that is the right leash point; for one that sets its 55 lb against the leash at a scent, the product page's advice: regular harness under the jacket.

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 neck disagreed with (Shipping & Returns). The measuring guide is short; on a basset, the neck is measured where a collar sits, with two fingers of room, and the chest behind the front legs at its deepest.

Questions

Jacket XL or 2XL for a 55 lb basset?

Measure the neck. Over 17.5 in, 2XL whatever the chest says. Under, XL if the chest is under 26.8.

Will the hem drag on the ground?

No. The hem sits mid-back, well clear of the ground, which on this breed is a feature.

Does my basset need a sweater?

Almost never; the coat handles cold. An old basset on a slow walk in deep winter, perhaps, and the Heritage XL fits only the smallest of the breed.