How to Measure a Dog for a Jumper (Before You Buy a Christmas One)

Every January the same parcel comes back to me. A jumper, worn once on Christmas Eve, photographed once, too tight across the ribs. It simply never fitted.

Almost all of that is one mistake made before the tape comes out: the owner starts from the wrong number. So, in order — which measurement decides the size, where the tape goes, how it should look on the dog, and how to do it when the jumper is a surprise.

The chest decides it. Not the weight, not the breed

Weight tells you nothing useful. A twelve-kilo beagle and a twelve-kilo whippet are two different jumpers: one is a barrel, the other a deep chest on a long spine. Breed is a better start, but only a start — two labradors out of the same litter can sit a size apart.

What decides it is chest girth: the tape round the widest point of the ribcage, immediately behind the front legs. Back length and neck are cross-checks on that choice. They are not the choice.

One thing before the chart. Every figure I publish is a measurement of the dog, not of the garment. The room to move is already cut into the pattern, so do not add two centimetres for comfort — that has been done for you, and adding it twice is how a jumper ends up hanging under the belly.

Where the tape goes

Three figures, one soft tape, a minute with the dog standing. Easier with two people and a biscuit.

1. Chest girth

Round the widest point of the ribcage, immediately behind the front legs. Keep the tape level and let it lie flat — snug, not hauled tight. Take this one twice and believe the second reading. It is the only figure that decides anything.

2. Back length

From the withers — the bump you can feel between the shoulder blades — along the spine to the base of the tail, with the dog standing rather than sitting. A sitting dog reads short every time.

3. Neck

Low down, where the collar already sits, not up under the jaw.

On a long coat, press the fur flat under the tape: you are measuring the dog, not the winter. No tape measure in the house? A bootlace does the same job — wrap, pinch where it meets, lay it flat against a ruler.

Reading it off the chart

Eight sizes, S to 5XL, a chest from 36 to 96 cm, each drafted as its own pattern rather than one shape scaled up and down.

The centimetre is the figure the pattern is cut to; the inch is that same figure converted, not a second size.

If the chest falls between two sizes, take the larger one. The chest carries about 1.5 cm of give either way, and a dog a centimetre under the next size up sits far more comfortably than one squeezed into the smaller. If the chest says one size and the back says the next, the chest wins — and the back is the thing to write to me about. The same chart, step by step, lives on the dog hoodie size guide.

How a dog jumper should fit

Neither tight nor loose, because the fit is already drafted into the pattern. You order the measurement and nothing on top of it.

Front on, it should close across the ribs without being stretched to get there. One that has to be pulled to meet stops the dog putting its front legs properly forward, and you will see that in the first fifty metres. One that hangs loose turns under the belly at the first stile.

Then make the dog sit down, the test most people skip. The front of mine is cut shorter than the back on purpose: covered to the ribs, open behind, and the back carries on past it over the croup. Sitting is where you find out whether the back length was right, because a back that looked borderline standing is plainly short sitting.

Long-backed dogs: dachshunds, whippets and corgis

This is the case I know best, because I am one. A corgi, a dachshund or a whippet sized correctly by the chest ends up in a jumper that stops halfway along the dog. They are ordinary dogs with an extra hand-span of spine, and a garment cut to the chest knows nothing about that.

Four sizes can be cut with extra back length without touching the chest: M takes +7 cm, L takes +10 cm, XL takes +7 cm and 2XL takes +7 cm. On my chart a miniature dachshund starts at M, a standard dachshund at L, a whippet at XL and a corgi at 2XL — so all four fall inside the band where the longer cut exists. Write before you order and say which size and how much back you are missing. Afterwards is too late: the cloth is cut to the order.

Breed starting points

A breed is where you start; the tape is where you finish. Each row gives the size I would start from and the chest it is cut to, so you can hold the figure against your own reading.

Not on the list? That is not a snub — I would rather you measured than guessed.

When the breed and the centimetres disagree, the centimetres win.

Measuring for a Christmas present without spoiling it

The awkward version is the one where the jumper is a surprise. Three ways round it. Measure the dog while it sleeps — chest girth, softly, behind the front legs; dogs mind this far less than owners expect. Measure a harness done up to its usual holes, laid flat and read round the loop. Ask whoever walks it — less romantic, entirely reliable.

What I would avoid, having seen what comes back: bells, antlers and trim that dangles, because a dog gets its teeth into that before the pudding — nothing I make has hardware on it for that reason. Pale colours, if your winter walks have mud in them: charcoal, forest and brown come back from a wet field much as they went out, and sky, pink and lime do not. And designs that expire — a red jumper is festive on the 24th and a red jumper on 6 January, whereas a reindeer face is a reindeer face in March.

All eleven colours, each with a second colour inside the hood, are in the dog hoodies collection.

The name is the part that makes it a gift

The jumper is the carrier; the line on it is the gift. Names are embroidered — stitched with thread rather than printed or ironed on — and included in the price rather than added to it. What is typed into the field is what gets stitched: the spelling is not corrected and the capitals are kept as typed, because a household nickname spelled a household way is the entire point.

One rule decides whether anyone can read it: dark grounds take cream and yellow, pale grounds want navy or black. Black on charcoal is legible in your hand and nowhere else. Which thread suits which colour is set out on the personalised dog jumper page.

When to order

Nothing sits here finished on a shelf. The pattern is cut after the order arrives and the name goes in during the same run — which is why the line can say anything, and why it takes longer than a box out of a warehouse. Processing runs one to three working days, then the parcel leaves Prague.

I do not promise a delivery date: the post is not mine, and my December queue is longer than my October one. If you want it calm, order in November or the first week of December. One thing that belongs with a present: a piece without embroidery can go back within 14 days, a piece with your dog's name on it cannot, because nobody else can wear it. If the mistake is mine, I put it right.

Questions people ask

How do I measure a dog for a jumper?

Three measurements with a soft tape, dog standing. Chest girth round the widest point of the ribs immediately behind the front legs — this is the one that decides the size. Back length from the withers to the base of the tail. Neck low down where the collar already sits. Add nothing to your readings: the room to move is already cut into the pattern.

Is a dog jumper sized by weight?

No. A deep-chested whippet and a barrel-chested beagle can weigh the same and need different sizes. Chest girth is what the pattern is cut to; back length and neck are cross-checks on it.

How should a dog jumper fit?

It should close across the ribs without being stretched, and still cover the back when the dog sits down. Too tight and the dog cannot put its front legs properly forward; too loose and it turns under the belly on the first walk.

What size jumper does a dachshund need?

A miniature dachshund starts at M, cut to a 44 cm chest; a standard dachshund starts at L, cut to 52 cm. Both are the case for the longer back — M carries +7 cm and L carries +10 cm without changing the chest. Measure round the ribs and ignore how low the dog stands: a dachshund is short in the leg, not small in the chest.

What size jumper does a whippet need?

Start at XL, cut to a 60 cm chest, and ask about the longer back — XL can be cut with +7 cm. Whippets read deeper in the chest than owners expect and longer in the spine than a standard cut allows.

My dog is between two sizes — which do I order?

The larger. The chest figure carries about 1.5 cm of give either way, and a dog a centimetre under the next size up is far more comfortable than one squeezed into the smaller.

Is a dog jumper the same as a dog sweater?

Same garment, different word. British listings say jumper, American ones say sweater, and both are sold by the same chest measurement.

How do I measure for a Christmas present without the dog noticing?

Measure the chest while the dog is asleep, or measure a harness done up to its usual holes and read the loop flat. Either gets you inside a centimetre, which is close enough when the rule is to round up.

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Eleven colours, eight sizes, each one cut in Prague after you order and embroidered with whatever you want written on it. See the dog hoodies · full size guide · ask me a question

If it is the neckwear rather than the jumper you are after, the pieces I would wear myself at Christmas are in Christmas Gift for Your Dog, and the neck measurements behind them are in Dog Bandana Size by Breed.