Dog hat size guide

Two measurements this time, both in centimetres, and both taken across the head rather than around it. Hats are the harder fit, and they are the reason this shop exists: nothing made for dogs fitted a head shaped like mine, so I had one made properly.

A warning before you start comparing. As far as I can find, almost nobody else cuts a fitted dog cap in five sizes — the usual thing is one size with a strap under the chin. So there is no other chart to check mine against, and I would rather over-explain than let you guess.

How do I measure a dog's head for a hat?

You need one straight edge and a dog who will hold still for about twenty seconds. Nothing goes around the head, so a tape pulled tight round the skull is the wrong reading and will send you a size too small.

• A ruler, or a strip of paper marked with a pen and read off a ruler afterwards. A soft tailor's tape works too, as long as you lay it flat across and do not wrap it.
• Both figures in centimetres, to the nearest half centimetre. Millimetres are more precision than cloth can honour.
• Dog standing or sitting, head level, looking straight ahead. Not looking up at you and not mid-shake.
• Ears where they normally rest. Nothing pinned, held or flattened out of the way.
• Long coat flattened down first. You want the head, not the hairstyle.

Measurement A — between the ears

The width of the head across the top, from the base of one ear to the base of the other. Across, not around. Lay a ruler flat against the skull, or mark a strip of paper and read it off a ruler afterwards. Take it with the ears where they normally rest: not pinned back, not held up to help.

On a dog with a lot of hair, flatten the fur first. You want the head, not the hairstyle.

Measurement B — eyes to the base of the skull

From the line of the eyes, back over the top of the head, to the point where the skull ends and the neck begins. You can find that point with a thumb: a small bump, then the dip behind it. Stop at the dip.

Take both numbers before you order. A decides most of the fit. B tells me how deep the crown has to be, which is what keeps a hat from perching like a saucer on top or sliding down over the eyes.

Across the head, not around it. That one sentence is the difference between a hat that goes on and a hat that does not.

The five sizes

Five sizes are five separate patterns, not one shape photocopied larger. A yorkie's skull is not a labrador's skull reduced — the crown depth and the ear openings move differently from the width — so each size is drafted on its own.

The breeds in the last column are a starting point. The centimetres are the answer.

Navy Dog Cap

The plain one I point people at first: navy hides everything and the stitched words show up on it.

€29,90

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What size hat for my dog? The breed shortlist

Same information as the chart above, sorted the way people actually ask for it. Every row is a place to start, not a size to order blind — two dogs of one breed can sit a whole size apart, and a fluffy head and a flat head measure differently even when they look the same.

Breed not listed? That is not a problem, because the list is not how I cut the hat. Measure A and B, find the nearest row in the size chart, and write to me if the two numbers point in different directions.

Chihuahua: S — 7.5 cm between the ears, 10.5 cm eyes to skull

The bottom of the chart, 3.0 in and 4.1 in. A chihuahua carries a round skull that is large for the body and ears set wide on a narrow head, which is exactly why A is taken at the ear base and not at the tip.

Dachshund: M — 9.5 cm between the ears, 12.5 cm eyes to skull

3.7 in and 4.9 in. The drop ears hang outside the hat and change nothing about the size: what is measured is the skull underneath them. Short in the leg says nothing about the head.

French bulldog: M — 9.5 cm between the ears, 12.5 cm eyes to skull

Same row as the dachshund, for a very different head. The frenchie's skull is wide and short, so B runs out quickly while A is generous — if the two point at different sizes, send me both figures before you order.

Welsh corgi: L — 11.5 cm between the ears, 14.5 cm eyes to skull

4.5 in and 5.7 in, and the middle of the range. Prick ears on a broad skull: A is taken where the ear joins the head, and the ear itself comes out through its own opening.

Labrador and German shepherd: XXL — 15.75 cm between the ears, 18.75 cm eyes to skull

6.2 in and 7.4 in, the top of the chart. Both sit in the same row for different reasons — the labrador for the width of the skull, the shepherd for the length from the eyes back. Above these two figures I have nothing, and I would rather write that down.

Leopard Dog Cap

Pattern instead of plain, same five sizes and the same two measurements behind them.

€29,90

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Between two sizes — which one do I order?

If your measurement sits on a boundary, take the larger size. If A points at one size and B at the next one up, take the larger of the two. None of this is a rigid shell: a hat cut slightly large sits down and stays on, while a hat cut slightly small does not go on at all.

If A and B disagree by more than one size, stop and write to me with both figures and the breed. That usually means a deep skull or a long muzzle, and I would rather tell you which size I would cut than post the wrong one.

Will a dog hat fit a puppy?

It will fit the puppy you measure this week. Whether it still fits in two months is a different question, and I will not pretend to know the answer for your dog.

A puppy's skull changes width and depth on its own schedule, and it does not finish at the same age in a chihuahua and in a samoyed. So there is no honest puppy size chart I can put here — a number invented from an average would only tell you what somebody else's puppy measured. What I can tell you is what I would do.

• Measure A and B on the day you order, not from a photograph and not from what the breeder said.
• Do not buy a size up "to grow into". The ear openings and the crown depth move with the size, so a hat that is one size too big does not sit half-right — it slides.
• If the head is clearly still changing, it is worth waiting. The hat is not going anywhere, and neither is the offer to check your figures for you.
• Buying for a grown dog whose head has settled is the easy case. That is the one where the chart just works.

How it sits, and why the ears matter

Over the ears, not on them. The ears come out through their own openings and the hat sits around them; the drawstring then pulls the back in and stays where you put it. Nothing tightens on the head and there is nothing under the chin.

Prick ears — german shepherd, husky, corgi, anything that stands to attention — take measurement A at the base of the ears, where they join the skull, not at the tips. Drop ears — spaniels, dachshunds, most of the retrievers — hang outside the hat and change nothing, so measure the skull underneath them and ignore the ear itself.

Ear holes are part of the size, not an extra

This is the part of the pattern people search for and almost never find: a dog hat with ear holes, cut so the holes land in the right place for that size rather than punched into a shape meant for a human head.

The openings are finished, not cut. Each one is bound so the edge cannot fray open and widen with wearing, and each one moves position between sizes: on an S they sit close together on a narrow skull, on an XXL they sit far apart and slightly further back. That is the honest reason five sizes means five patterns, and it is why a hat one size too large does not merely sit loose — the holes stop lining up with the ears at all.

Underneath, a drawstring gathers the back of the hat and a stopper holds it. It rests under the chin without pulling on it, and it is there to keep the hat on in wind, not to hold a head still. Nothing is elasticated around the skull.

Yellow Dog Cap

The colour that shows the cut best — brim, openings and drawstring all read at a glance.

€29,90

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Do the cap and the bucket hat fit the same?

Same head, same two numbers, same five sizes. A cap and a bucket hat in size L fit the same dog; the difference is entirely in the brim. The cap has one at the front, which shades the eyes and stays out of the way. The bucket hat has a brim all the way round, which puts cloth between the sun and the eyes, the nose and the ear tips — the thinly furred places that catch it first on a white or a pink-skinned dog.

Being plain about that: it works by shade, the way a sun hat works on a person. It is not a UV-rated garment, I have had no UPF testing done, and I am not going to claim a number I cannot show you. Shade helps. It is not sunscreen, and no hat is a reason to keep a dog out in the middle of a July afternoon.

Pick the cap or the bucket hat for the brim you want. The size does not change between them.

Khaki Dog Bucket Hat — Red Lining

All-round brim, which is the one to take if the nose and the ear tips are the thinly furred kind.

€29,90

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Before you order

If you are unsure, send me the two figures first. That costs nothing and takes less time than a parcel going back and forth across Europe.

One thing to know: a hat stitched with your own words is made for you, so there is no fourteen-day change-of-mind return on it. That is set by law rather than by me. Faulty, damaged on the way, or stitched wrong is an entirely different matter, and every right you have stands.

• Two figures, A and B, in centimetres. On a boundary, take the larger size.
• Cap and bucket hat share the chart. Only the brim differs.
• The embroidery costs nothing extra, whatever you have it say.
• Free shipping from €40,00.
• Unsure, or A and B disagreeing by more than one size? Write first, order after.

Hearts Dog Bucket Hat

Same pattern and the same five sizes, for anyone who wants the hat to say something before the words do.

€29,90

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Measured? The caps are here and the bucket hats are here. Bandanas are measured round the neck instead — that guide is separate.

If the hat is meant as a gift, the December list is next door: Christmas gift for your dog, six pieces with their sizes.