We all love our dogs immensely and want the best for their health. So we do everything we can to provide them with good food, sufficient physical exercise, and mental stimulation to help keep your dog in good shape.
However, that might not be enough for some dogs to stay healthy, and this is where weighted vests for dogs come in. They are used to keep your dog’s body healthy by helping it strengthen its muscles, avoid obesity, reduce anxiety, etc.
What Are Weighted Vests for Dogs?
A dog weight vest is a vest that is fastened around a dog’s chest and abdomen with straps that makes it seem like a backpack. It’s also been designed in a way that doesn’t restrict your dog’s movements and has pockets on both sides in which you can add weight bags.
Make sure not to add too much weight to the vest’s pockets; otherwise, it might affect your dog’s health and safety. For example, the cost of a dog weight vest ranges from $34-$45, and it comes in different sizes for all breeds.
Another critical thing to keep in mind is that, despite knowing that weighted vests come in different sizes for dogs, you should still measure your dog’s chest, neck, length, and weight before choosing a weighted vest.
Benefits And Uses
1. Helps Your Dog Remain Calm
Most of the time, a dog has too much energy despite performing many physical exercises; this is dangerous because it can cause your dog to develop a hyperactive disorder.
A weighted vest can help keep your dog calm and grounded because its weight could tire your dog out, resulting in your dog having lesser energy. Weighted vests for dogs are also commonly used during training sessions.
2. Helps Your Dog Lose Weight
Another benefit that weighted vests have to offer is that they can help dogs burn calories during physical exercises that help them lose weight. This is also very beneficial for dogs that are overweight and suffering from obesity which can cause more concerning health issues to their body, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or respiratory disease.
By using a weighted vest, an owner can help bring their obese dog’s weight down to a more acceptable weight that doesn’t cause harm to its body.
3. Reduce Anxiety
There are many dogs that suffer from anxiety during pet visits, car rides, and even thunderstorms. A weighted vest helps a dog feel safe while suffering an anxiety attack because of how it fits the dog’s frame securely and adds comfortable pressure to the dog’s midsection or chest.
Although there are specific types of vests for dogs that are suffering from anxiety called Anti-Anxiety vests, an ordinary weighted dog vest can also work well in calming down a dog with anxiety.
4. Can Be Used for Training
The weighted vest can come in handy when it comes to training dogs, whether it’s due to behavioral problems or just general training.
It helps to keep your dog calm and helps get rid of aggressive actions such as biting and growling while improving its tolerance, speed, and muscle strength during training.
5. To Carry Items for You On A Hike Or A Walk
As there are pockets in the dog weight vest, as mentioned before, they’re not only used for just adding weights to them. They can also be used to put other things in the pockets of the vest during walks to the park with your dog, such as your belongings like keys, phone, poop bags, etc.
However, make sure to remove weight bags from the pockets before putting in your things, or put fewer things in the pockets while the weight bags are there. By doing this, you can avoid adding strain on your dog’s body and its bones and joints.
6. Build Strong Muscles
Most people make their dogs perform a lot of physical exercises in order to build strong muscles and improve their cardio. Using a weighted vest, can help increase the impact of these exercises by making these exercises a bit more intense, which will make your dog work harder and faster and helps its body to pump blood faster.
This will result in improving your dog’s muscle growth. Dogs wearing weighted vests are equal to people working out in the gym or at home.
FAQ’s
Here is a list of frequently asked questions about weighted dog vests and their answers.
1. Are weighted dog vests safe to use?
Yes, they are safe to use. However, it’s still good to double-check the size of your dog before choosing a weighted vest and whether your dog can handle wearing one. If your dog has any health complications such as joint issues, then it would be best to seek help from your veterinarian and what they advise.
2. How much weight should be put in the vest pockets?
Before you do anything else, it’s important that you know your dog’s weight. 10-20% of your dog’s weight must be added to your dog’s weighted vest. Any more weight can cause strain on your dog’s joints and muscles.
3. What do I fill the weighted bags with?
Normally when you buy a weighted dog vest from any store, you’re provided with weights to add to the weighted dog vest pockets. However, if you don’t have any weights, then you can use sand and copper BBs according to the weight of your dog.
4. At what age can dogs wear weighted vests?
The ideal age for a dog to wear a weighted vest is 2 years old or above, and even then, you need to introduce your dog to it slowly. If you make your dog wear a weighted vest from an early age, then the weight of the vest can cause damage to your dog’s joints and muscles.
Conclusion for Weighted Vests for Dogs: What are they, Uses, Benefits, and FAQs
With the help of this guide, you have enough knowledge about what weighted dog vests are and how they benefit your dog’s body and health. You will also know what to do when looking for a weighted dog vest for your dog.