Raincoats
The Frisco Lightweight Reversible Packable Travel Dog Raincoat was the cheapest raincoat we tested, but the fit was awkward, and it was hard to adjust the hook and loop straps so that the coat was centered on the dog. Also, it has a leash hole near the collar only, so it needs some adjusting to use with a harness. But if you’ll be using a raincoat only occasionally, it does a good job of keeping the dog dry, and it was one of the easiest coats to spot-clean.
The Goldpaw RainPaw II’s outer shell is made of a stretchy, neoprene-like material that makes the coat adaptable to a dog’s body and that handily withstands water. This coat has great coverage, with a similar silhouette to the Hurttas and the Rukka coats, and the soft inner mesh lining is made from recycled polyester. The RainPaw II has a covered leash portal, but it also has an uncovered collar hole near the neck that lets some dampness get through. Still, it’s a great raincoat made in the US, and Goldpaw is the only company we found that offers custom embroidery as well as the option to add a front leash-access point.
The Hurtta Monsoon Coat ECO fits just like the Mudventure coat, and it’s just as adjustable. The Monsoon ECO also comes with an inner mesh lining, and it has plastic toggles on the cinch straps and a burly clip on the fastener strap (the same one that’s on Hurtta’s Expedition Parka). The lining makes this raincoat a bit heavier than the Mudventure coat. But it traps more fur and isn’t as durable as our liner-less raincoat picks: It got a small fabric pull after three rounds in the wash.
The Mile High Life Dog Raincoat is a great budget option, if you don’t mind a raincoat with less coverage (and less potential to get peed on). Depending on your dog’s size, the coat should cover most of the dog’s back, and it has an easy-to-use hook and loop fastener system on the belly panel. It did just as well in our water and durability testing as raincoats more than twice the price, but the leash hole is closer to the collar area, so it takes some finagling to use with a harness.
The materials of the Rukka Hayton Eco Raincoat feel like something you’d find on an upscale human raincoat, which makes sense since this Finnish company has been making rain gear for people since 1950. The coat fits similarly to Hurtta’s options, and likewise features cinch toggles to adjust the length, chest, and neck fit. But the Hayton Eco has a double zipper leash pass through that water can get through in a heavy storm. And even though it has a protective flap that sits underneath the zipper, some moisture penetrated through the bottom when we soaked it with a hose.
The Wilderdog Dog Rain Jacket is attractive and mostly water-resistant, but some moisture got through the seam at the top of the back pocket (which also serves as a carry case). The leash opening was small and placed near the collar, making it difficult to use with a harness. The Wilderdog coat doesn’t have as much coverage as our picks, and it comes in just three sizes. Yet if one of those sizes works for your dog, it’s a good-looking coat at a reasonable price.
Winter Jackets
The WeatherBeeta ComFiTec Reflective Dog Coat Medium is very similar to our pick by the same company, with the same excellent insulation and tailored fit, but it’s only available in one color (silver), and the outer shell wasn’t quite as durable as our pick in our testing. But if having high visibility on night walks is important to you, this model’s exterior shell is almost blindingly reflective.
The WeatherBeeta ComFiTec Reflective Parka 300D Deluxe Dog Coat was our main winter jacket pick in this guide for many years, and it’s still a great coat, but in our latest round of testing, the newer, fitted WeatherBeeta styles performed better. The Reflective Parka 300D Deluxe didn’t clean up as well, and its looser, baggier cut left more surface area exposed, but since dog body types vary, that looser cut might not be an issue for you.
Though the Carhartt Dog Chore Coat looks great, it isn’t a suitable winter coat for most dogs. The coat is thin, yet it’s so stiff that it popped up whenever our dog tester bent down to sniff the ground. It has no rear-leg loops to keep it in place, and it lacks a leash hole to accommodate a harness. It’s easy to get on and off, but it has an attachment system similar to that of the GF Pet Elasto-fit Camplife Dog Puffer, and we found that the chest panel limited the dog’s shoulder mobility.
GF Pet’s Elasto-fit Camplife Dog Puffer is adorable and has an easy hook-and-loop attachment system that doesn’t require you to pull the coat over the dog’s head. But we found that the fit was awkward: The chest panel limited the dog’s forward shoulder movement, despite the elastic in that area, and the end of the coat fell far short of our tester’s rump. The leash hole was positioned out of line with the harnesses we tested, and our meat shredders caused minor but noticeable damage.
Hurtta’s Extreme Overall was by far the hardest winter coat to put on and remove. This coat has four legs, but getting all four paws through their respective leg holes took several long, unhappy minutes before each walk in our tests. Other than that, this coat performed well. It covers more of a dog’s body than any other coat we tested, and it’s as adjustable as the company’s Expedition Parka. If you’re regularly going out in subzero temperatures, this model may be a good choice if your dog will tolerate the dressing and undressing process.
The Kurgo Loft Dog Jacket had decent waterproofing, yet for a winter jacket it didn’t do much to keep most of our dog tester warm. Its sizing, especially compared with that of the company’s North Country Dog Coat, was oddly small and missed covering about half the dog.
The Ruffwear Cloud Chaser Dog Jacket was a much lighter jacket than we anticipated when we picked it for testing in 2018. It can keep a dog warm in cool weather, but we don’t recommend it for very cold temperatures.
The Ruffwear Furness Dog Jacket performed well in nearly all of our winter testing, but it was the second-most difficult model to put on in our test group. Two front neoprene-like leg sleeves help keep more coat material in contact with the dog’s underside, but we found that the task of lifting the dog’s paws and getting them through the stretchy material was a chore. This model is also one of the most expensive winter coats we looked at, but if you don’t mind the high price and think that you and your dog can tolerate the leg work, the Furness coat is an excellent option to keep your dog warm and dry.
The Ruffwear Powder Hound Dog Jacket isn’t a bad coat, but in our 2018 testing it failed to match our picks in insulation and waterproofing prowess.
The Zach & Zoey Nor’easter Blanket Coat offers acceptable insulation, but its design is bad for wet weather. It attaches to a dog via Velcro around both the neck and chest, leaving its fleece-lined interior exposed on the edges to any moisture you’re trying to avoid. Plus, with Velcro in two spots on this coat, our dog testers were able to remove it in seconds.
Rebekah Valentine wrote an earlier version of this guide, first published in 2017. This article was edited by Joshua Lyon and Harry Sawyers.
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