Dog sleeping bag or wrap?

[Nick Smolinske]

I’m planning on making either a sleeping bag or a wrap for my girlfriend’s dog before we hike a section of the CDT in July.  I’m still working on the details so I thought I’d get input from the community – I know a couple of people have done something similar.

Option 1 is a sleeping bag, probably with an integrated sleeve for a pad, and a draw string to cinch it around his neck (not tightly, just enough to keep him in there).  We actually made a test one out of an old kid’s sleeping bag and it works pretty well.  The primary advantage is that it seems to calm him down and remind him that it’s time to go to bed, not sniff around and roll in elk poop.

Option 2 is a sleeping wrap or vest.  This probably wouldn’t be quite as warm as the bag, but would have the advantage of letting him regulate his temperature better, by curling up or not.  It has the disadvantage that if he’s hyper it probably won’t remind him that it’s bed time as well.

The other questions are down versus synthetic, and how much insulation is needed.  I think for synthetic I’d use 2.5oz apex, but for down I have no idea how much a dog needs.  At this small size down might not have a big advantage, although it would be nice to have it pack as small as possible so that he can carry it in his pack (not that it matters who carries what, but it would be adorable if he carried his own sleeping bag).  Fabric will probably be 0.9oz membrane taffetta from RBTR, because it comes in plaid.  :)

[Aaron Sorensen]

I’ve made a few for my dogs and what they like the most is a 1/4″ CCF pad (enclosed by fabric) with the top layer sewn on 3 sides to it.

Not the smallest volume but it’s the best weight for the warmth I’ve found for them.

[J-L]

Here’s my evolution of a dog jacket:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/96358/

I tried something similar to your option 1 and my dog was not pleased with it. If it works for your dog, then that may be the simplest way to go. The MYOG dog jacket is very light and works well though – it lets her circle about, go drink water, sleep how she wants to. She only needs it when sleeping in the tent.

My dog weighs 45 lbs and only seems to need a jacket below 30F (when using a warm sleeping pad). Her down jacket uses 2 or 2.3oz of 850 down, and that seems to be plenty warm, adding probably 20 degrees or more of warmth. The down version packs a lot smaller than the synthetic version I made, so small actually I just stuff it in the same stuff sack as my sleeping bag

Edit: weird, it seems that some text and details are missing from my dog jacket thread…

[Nick Smolinske]

John, looks like you just sewed your inner and outer fabrics together, rather than putting in baffles?  That makes sense given the light amount of insulation, and would make things much easier.  That makes me lean towards down.  That and the fact that I’ve never worked with it, and I’ve developed a strong dislike of dealing with climashield from the few projects I’ve done.

Tago is also about 45 pounds (Australian Cattle Dog mix), and he’s good until near freezing as well.  On colder nights in the desert (almost every night in the desert) he’ll start shivering pretty fast.  The jacket option seems like it might be lighter weight.

[J-L]

Yes, it’s a sewn-thru design. It made construction a lot easier and seems to work fine for the amount of loft I wanted. I figure that when scaled up to human proportions, it’s about equivalent to a 45-50 degree quilt. I actually prefer working with down over synthetic.

The total jacket weight is only 3 oz, so fabric weight is less than 0.7 oz. My dog is also an Australian Cattle Dog mix (supposedly)

[Al F]

A vest/jacket + a small quilt + a pad is pretty flexible. I’m assuming the dog is in the shelter with you. Deploy the quilt over the top after you get in bed. I would tend towards a fairly substantial fabric for the vest, likely foregoing insulation. basically a soft shell .

• 5 panels of a thermarest ~ 5oz
• soft shell vest – myog ~3-5oz
• down quilt – myog or hack one up ~4oz

If that seems like a lot, think about all the weight you’ll be saving in food :) Or, get the dog a pack (heelers generally don’t mind – seems to give them something to think about besides elk poop maybe?)

Your dog’s calorie requirements are already going to go from ~1000kcal/day (assuming typical family dog) to ~1500 with a full day of work. Shivering, that dog will burn an additional 100-150/hour. Decent dry food is about 4000kcal/kg – shivering works out to about .8oz/hr. Ok, I’ve probably taken the math a bit too far, but you get my point.

High five for cattle dogs. Obviously the best trail dogs :)

softshell or windblock: http://www.questoutfitters.com/fleece%20fabs.html#SOFT SHELL

cheap down bags to hack up: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00XE2SKG2

 

[Steve M]

Another Option:

Use an old insulated vest (or jacket with the sleeves cut off)–from thrift store.  This is what I did and it works quite well for a 20# Westie.   To Make:  (1)  Turn it inside-out and sew the arm holes and waist area closed, return to outside-out.  (2) cut a foam pad to fit inside.  Your ‘Doggie bag’ is now complete.

[Lori P]

A friend got a down jacket at a thrift store for four bucks, hemmed then trimmed the sleeves to short-sleeved, and presto, dog sleeping bag for next to nothing.

My dog uses a fleece dog sweater I got on Sierra Trading Post for four bucks, and a piece of a blue ccf pad I cut into a sit pad.  I used to just throw my own jacket over her but I can’t put her in the tent with me. She sleeps outside, tied to a nearby tree but within arm’s reach of the vestibule, on her pad.

[Matthew Perry]

“High five for cattle dogs. Obviously the best trail dogs :)”

hmmmmmmmm…..not so sure about that…….I think my two year old German Shepherd would disagree with you. At 120 pounds, I wouldn’t argue with her, either  :)

 

 

[Nick Smolinske]

Matthew,

That dog looks like a great hiker too!  This is Tago, on a summit in the San Juans of SW Colorado:

Anyway, back to sewing talk!  I decided to go with a dog jacket out of plaid.  Mostly because it seems like it will be really compact and light, and I want to work with down since I’ve never done it before.  Hopefully it doesn’t drive me too crazy, I never liked sewing lightweight fabrics much.  One of these days I’ll buy a used needle feed machine to replace my Pfaff.

[Nick Smolinske]

I finished the jacket this morning.  I went with a single-piece design that wraps all the way around him, with an extra piece going around his chest below his neck.  Everything velcros together with omni-tape.

For the construction I sewed around the perimeter inside-out, leaving an opening at the top.  I then stuffed it full of 2.5oz of 850FP duck down and sewed it closed.  I then fluffed up the down and distributed it as evenly as possible.

Then I sewed the baffles, using the plaid pattern as my guide to keep my lines straight.  As I sewed across I pulled down out from below the baffle line as much as possible (trying to pull equally to each side).  That worked pretty well.  I definitely sewed across some down but I don’t think too much.  And it was *way* faster than stuffing each baffle individually.  Plus, much cleaner.

Here’s Tago modeling the bag: in this photo the bag is pulled a bit too tightly around him – I went back and added a stretchy strap made out of lycra mesh on the bottom and now it fits better and allows the down to loft better than in this photo.

Overall, not a bad project!  I think it took 3 hours start to finish, including measuring him up.

[Daryl and Daryl]

Just a thought.

You might save some time and money by starting with a used human coat.  Puffy’s of various kinds are pretty cheap at the second hand stores in Seattle, for example.

[Nick Smolinske]

Daryl,

For sure – I could definitely have saved some money, and a bit of time.  But this was a fast project overall.  Plus it’s 850 duck down so it packs down really small.  And of course, plaid!  Can’t beat that.

[J-L]

Nice job, Nick! Looks good

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