Measure your dog for me! (please?)

I am adapting a couple of patterns for dog coats to be customizable to a wide range of dog shapes, and I need to figure out what measurements I will need from people and which are fairly consistent. So if you have 1) a dog, 2) a measuring tape and 3) a few minutes, please give me the following measurements. It's for SCIENCE! Well, ok, no, it's for profit, but I promise to spend some tiny part of the profit on science. (or at least legos )

All measurements should be comfortably close - not hanging loose or squeezing the dog.



1. Neck. Right where the collar goes.
2. Length. Collar line, down the back to the base of the tail.
3. Chest around. Measure around the dog right behind the front legs. On the picture this is also at the collar line, but don't worry about that.
4. Chest down. From the collar line to a point right between the dog's front legs.
5. "Waist". Around the dog just in front of the back legs.
6. Belly length. From the same point between the front legs used in 'chest down', to the point on the belly used in 'waist'. (note, if it is a male dog, also measure from the front leg point to the penis.)
7. Leg around. At the point where the front leg meets the body.
8. Leg spacing. Inner distance between front legs.

Is that all you want? No breed, sex, or weight? No length of coat, no depth vs. breadth of chest? Nothing about the dog's build, or whether it's overweight? There are so many different sizes and shapes of dogs that I'd be astonished if you could design a one-shape-fits most pattern for the species. Imagine putting the same pattern on a bulldog and a greyhound, and you'll see what I mean.

Are you planning to tailor your design to certain breeds of dog? For example, if this is a floatation device, then information about breeds that like the water might be more useful to you than information about my mixed-breed shepherd who couldn't care less about the water. Or if this is a sweater, then you don't need information about huskies, but you might really want to learn about dachshunds and chihuahuas.

Lewis526 said:

Is that all you want? No breed, sex, or weight? No length of coat, no depth vs. breadth of chest? Nothing about the dog's build, or whether it's overweight? There are so many different sizes and shapes of dogs that I'd be astonished if you could design a one-shape-fits most pattern for the species. Imagine putting the same pattern on a bulldog and a greyhound, and you'll see what I mean.

Are you planning to tailor your design to certain breeds of dog? For example, if this is a floatation device, then information about breeds that like the water might be more useful to you than information about my mixed-breed shepherd who couldn't care less about the water. Or if this is a sweater, then you don't need information about huskies, but you might really want to learn about dachshunds and chihuahuas.

Click to expand...

Um, apparently I wasn't as clear as I thought I was in my request...

Yes, I know bulldogs and greyhounds have different shapes, that's the entire point of the exercise. I am not trying to make a one size fits all pattern, I am making an adjustable pattern from which to make custom coats for individual dogs. The point of asking for these measurements is not to figure out some sort of average size for all dogs* but to figure out if there are consistent ratios within the measurements - if there is a standard ratio between chest to belly length and neck to tail length, and all male dogs have 'placements' 2/3 of the way down their bellies, I don't need to ask for extra measurements to do a all around jacket instead of a horse blanket style. If not then I do. Similarly if distance between legs is a consistent percentage of chest measurement, I only need to ask for one.

I'd rather not ask every potential buyer to make all 8 listed measurements of their dog, so the idea was to find out the minimum number I need to make a custom coat.

*An idea so mindbogglingly stupid to anyone who has met the smallest sampling of dogs that it was a consious decision not to be insulted by the assumption I was trying.