Shih Tzu and Lhasa apso coat and sweater sizes

Shih Tzus and Lhasa apsos get one page because they are built alike for a coat's purposes: a sturdy little body under a floor-length coat, a short muzzle, and a neck that is thicker than the weight suggests. The Lhasa runs a size bigger. Both are dressed the same way, and both have the same trap, which is a sweater with a tight neck going over a flat face.

The numbers

Those are coat makers' charts of measured dogs, not standards, and they disagree by an inch or two. Measure over the coat as it lies: a full coat adds an inch or more around the chest, and a puppy cut takes it away again.

Our sizes for that range

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.

A Shih Tzu at the small end (14 in chest, 11 in neck) is a Fireside L, a Heritage Turtleneck S, a jacket S. A Lhasa at the big end (19 in chest, 15 in neck) is past the Fireside, a Heritage XL (the neck, not the chest, pushes it there), a jacket L and a vest S or M depending on the neck. The two breeds share a page and still land two sizes apart, which is why the chart is per measurement and not per breed.

The flat face and the pullover

Both breeds are brachycephalic, with a short muzzle and a wide skull. A pullover with a neck opening close to the dog's neck measurement has to stretch over a head that is wider than the neck and past eyes that sit forward and large. That is unpleasant for the dog and risky for the eyes. Two rules:

• On any pullover, choose the size whose neck number is clearly above your dog's, even if the chest says smaller. The Heritage Turtleneck stretches; the Fireside has a folded ribbed collar that gives a little.
• Bunch the collar into a ring, open it with both thumbs, and bring it over the muzzle and eyes in one movement with the dog's head tipped down. Then the body.

The jacket avoids the question. It opens flat, the dog stands in it, and the zip runs up the chest, so nothing passes the face at all. The vest fastens with a belly strap and a collar toggle, same idea.

Heat is the bigger risk than cold

A flat-faced dog cools itself badly, and a double layer of its own coat already keeps it warm. On most days a Shih Tzu or Lhasa in a sweater is a dog about to pant. Dress them for cold rain and real winter, not for autumn. A sweater on a dog that is already panting comes off, that minute.

Where the coat is clipped short for the summer, the arithmetic changes: a shaved Shih Tzu in October feels the wind like a Chihuahua, and a knit for the walk is right.

Which to buy

For wet weather, the All-Weather Jacket: chest zip, lined, harness built in so the leash pulls on the chest and never on a throat that is already working hard. For a clipped coat in winter, the Heritage Turtleneck a size up on the neck. For a Shih Tzu under 16 lb who wants something for spring, the Trench Coat in L or XL by neck; a Lhasa is usually past it.

Shipping and returns

Free US shipping; orders ship in 1 to 2 business days and usually arrive 4 to 9 business days after that; 60 days to return the wrong size (Shipping & Returns). The measuring guide shows where the tape goes under all that hair.

Questions

Which size turtleneck for a 13 lb Shih Tzu?

By weight the chart says M (10 to 15 lb). Measure the neck: a Shih Tzu neck of 13 in is past the M's 12.6 in, so L. On this breed the neck decides.

Does the coat get flattened under the jacket?

For a walk, a little, and it brushes out. A full show coat is better left under the trench, which drapes rather than wraps.

Can my Lhasa wear the Fireside?

Only a small one. The Fireside XL stops at a 16.5 in chest, and most Lhasas tape 17 to 19 in over the coat.