Episode #3 - Getting the Fit Right:
Understanding Dog Chest Shapes for Better Dog Wear

[00:00:00] Have you ever noticed how you can have two dogs with the exact same chest circumference measurement? The coat fits one perfectly and on the other hand, not so much. It rides up awkwardly and they can barely move. Why? It's all about the chest shape. I'm Jill Bartlett, dog wear designer, educator, and the creator behind. Thank Doug. We made it the online hub for dog wear enthusiasts.

[00:00:31] This podcast, it's where I share what really goes into designing for dogs, learning the tech, and turning your creative ideas into patterns people actually want to buy. From digitizing and grading to building your brand and marketing your designs. I've been doing this for over a decade and most of what I've learned came from trial and error and figuring things out the messy way.

[00:00:57] If you're figuring it out too, you're not alone. And this podcast is for you. Today I want to talk about something that's easy to overlook, but makes a huge difference in how your dog wear fits. And that is the shape of the dog's chest. This episode is based on one of my blog posts, Pawsome Fit Guide Decoding Dog's Chest Shapes for Perfect Dog Wear.

[00:01:23] If you've ever followed all the right measurements and still ended up with a coat that just doesn't sit right, this might be the missing piece. Before I really understood how much chest shape affects fit, I struggled to get coats to sit properly on so many of the dogs I was sewing for, I'd take all the usual measurements, the neck and chest circumference, the back length, but something still felt off in the final fit.

[00:01:53] It wasn't until I started looking at how wide the chest was, or how deep it dropped, and how far apart the front legs were that things started to click. So let's take a look at why chest shape really matters. Chest circumference tells you how wide your dog is around the ribcage, but it doesn't tell you how that chest shaped that shape affects how the coat sits, how it moves, and how comfortable it feels on the dog.

[00:02:26] If you've ever seen a dog coat right up under the front legs or bunch around the chest, or sag weirdly at the back, even when the measurements seemed right, it probably because the shape of the chest wasn't accounted for. Let's walk through the three most common chest shapes I see when working with clients and designing dog wear. Number one is barrel chested.

[00:02:54] Barrel chested dogs have wide, square rib cages. Think bulldogs. Frenchies. Pugs. Their chest is broad and fairly deep, and their front legs tend to be set further apart. That can create some tricky fit issues, especially if your coat design wraps around the front of the chest. I remember the first time I made a coat for a male French bulldog.

[00:03:23] I was so focused on getting the coat length right because of those stubby little legs that I completely missed how his body was shaped through the chest. The coat looked great on a hanger, but once I put it on him, it was way too tight behind the front legs. He couldn't move properly and the fabric was rubbing up against the inside of his front armpits.

[00:03:48] I had designed the chest panel too narrow and too shallow, not allowing enough fabric to cover the width or the curve of his chest. So there, just there just wasn't enough room in the underarm area. What I've learned since then is that barrel chested dogs need a broader, fuller shape across the chest to give them space where they need it most.

[00:04:14] And it's not just about the front panel. It's also about where the belly sections sits. If the belly section is placed too far forward, it can dig into that soft area behind the front legs. That's why the neck to withers measurement is so important. It helps you find that key point just behind the front legs on a dog, or the shoulder blades on a dog.

[00:04:40] Where the belly section should wrap around. If you skip that measurement or guess based on length alone, you risk placing that belly section too high. Or perhaps too low, which can lead to rubbing or shifting if it's too far along or restricted movement. Now, when I design for dogs with this shape, I always double check the neck to withers the front height and the chest with measurements to make sure there is enough room across the front chest.

[00:05:15] It makes a huge difference in how the coat fits and how comfortable it is for the dog. Okay, now let's look at the second type of chest that you'll commonly see in dogs. These are deep chested dogs. These dogs are narrower overall, but their chest drops much lower than you'd expect. You'll see this in whippets, Dobermans, and many of the sight hounds.

[00:05:43] Even standard poodles fit into this group. Or any kind of a poodle mix. I'll never forget the coat I made for a Doberman Pinscher. I measured her so carefully. I then measured the neck to tail and I double checked everything. But when I put the finished coat on her, it slid way far past her tail and looked completely off.

[00:06:07] I had no clue. I measured her again. All my measurements were perfect. What the heck did I do wrong? What I didn't realize then is that dogs with deep chests often have a pronounced slope through their spine. Their posture can actually throw off your measurement if you follow the curve of the back. Instead of more stable landmarks like the withers, I had unknowingly measured completely following that curve of their spine, and it ended up making the coat go way past the tail on the dog.

[00:06:45] Now I break that back measurement into two parts from the neck to the withers, and again the withers is just behind the front legs or where the shoulder blades are on a dog. And then I measure from the withers to the tail. And I'm also careful not to cough, not to follow every one of those humps and loops.

[00:07:06] If you think about it, the coat isn't necessarily going to follow every hump and loop. It's going to kind of lie flat. So you want to you want to make sure that you're not really adding a lot of extra inches or centimeters measurements into this length. When you're measuring their back spine, the withers. I just it is. I can't stress enough how important the neck to withers point is, and figuring out where that is on the dog, because it helps anchor the measurement so it doesn't get distorted by the posture.

[00:07:40] And I always take a step back and I take a look at the full shape of the dog, how far that chest drops, how it affects the curve of the back, and where the back actually needs to end. Finally, let's look at round chested, or sometimes referred to as balanced dog shapes. Round chested dogs have kind of more even proportions.

[00:08:05] You'll see this in some of the mixed breeds, but some of the common pets like labs and goldens and bisons, their chests aren't especially wide or deep, and standard coats tend to fit them fairly well. Sometimes you have to do a few tweaks, but in general, a lot of the patterns are built to fit these round chested or balanced shaped dogs.

[00:08:31] But that doesn't mean you should skip the extra measurements. Every dog is different, especially with all the mixed breeds we see today. And when you think about it, I mean, look at humans, every human. We may have somebody that is 5 or 7, but they might be quite wide or large chested or really narrow. They're all different sized.

[00:08:56] So it's really important to think about these things when you're making dog wear. I once made a coat for a dog that looked at first glance like a typical golden retriever. Everything about her shape suggested a balanced chest or a round chest dog. But once I started measuring it, it was clear. Her chest dropped deeper than I expected.

[00:09:19] I suspect she probably had a little poodle in that mix, and and it made her have a little bit deeper. So even though it felt like she was going to be one of my standard dogs, and she was just going to fit my off the shelf pattern, didn't quite work out that way. But I did actually, this time, take all the right measurements.

[00:09:38] But if I hadn't taken her chest width and front height into account, I would have assumed the coat would have fit and I would have been completely wrong. So you might be asking the question, how do you actually measure for these chest shapes? Most people measure chest circumference and that's great. It is actually one of the key measurements I suggest for determining which size pattern you want to work with, but for better fit, especially across the front chest.

[00:10:09] I recommend taking these three extra measurements. Chest width that's the space between the front legs, front height from the base of the neck or round where the collar sits down to the bottom of the chest, just behind the front legs. And finally, one of my favorite most important measurements is that neck to withers. And this will help you place the belly section just behind the front legs and in that right place.

[00:10:39] So you're not getting a lot of rub and friction. That's where the dog's legs moves. And you really want to have a lot of space in that area, because that's if you imagine when they're running or they're stretching or they're lying down that area there is where a lot of the friction can happen within a coat. So these measurements will give you a clearer picture of the dog's structure.

[00:11:04] And they really help prevent common issues with rubbing or shifting. So what do you do with this information. How are you going to put this into practice. If you're using one of my patterns like the cozy coat, here's how to start adjusting your pattern to suit your dog's chest shape. One quick tip. Look at your dog from the front and imagine a shape.

[00:11:29] If you see a rectangle, you're probably working with a barrel chest. If you see an oval, that's likely a deep chest and if it looks more like a circle, you're probably working with the round chest. Use that visual as a guide when shaping your front chest panel and placing your belly section. Here's how I adjust for each of the dog shapes for barrel chested dogs.

[00:11:56] Widen and deepen the chest area. Make sure the belly section sits far enough back to avoid rubbing behind the front legs. For deep chested dogs. Break the back a measurement into neck to withers and withers to tail. Add vertical length from the neck to belly and be careful not to overextend the coat past the tail. And for round chested dogs, these often fit the base pattern quite well, but still, you can benefit from taking those extra measurements just to fine tune the movement and overall fit and comfort for the dog.

[00:12:36] If you're planning to sell your patterns, including notes like these in your instructions can really help your customers succeed and encourage them to come back for more. Understanding chest shape can be the difference between a coat that fits okay, and one that truly looks and feels like it was custom made for the dog. If you want a quick visual reference for these chest shapes and how to adjust patterns, check out the full blog post that pairs nicely with this episode.

[00:13:10] I'll put the link in the show notes below, and you can also download a free workbook to jot down your measurements in. This has both photographs and illustrations of the key measurement areas on your dog, and if you want to see how these measurements are done, you can actually watch the video of me measuring my dog sculpt. The video and the workbook are both linked below as well.

[00:13:35] If you have had any experiences like these or questions about how to get the fit right, I would love to hear from you. You can add a comment below or DM me over on Instagram at Thank Dog. We made it! Or send me a note through my website. And if you enjoyed today's episode, I would so appreciate it.

[00:13:53] If you haven't already done so, please follow the podcast and feel free to share this episode with anyone else that you know that could benefit from it. Or leave me a quick review. Doing any of these things really helps others to discover the show as well. And you never know, you might really help somebody out. All right, that's a wrap.

[00:14:14] Talk soon.