A well-cut piece of dog clothing should sit the way a good coat sits on a person — close without pulling, covered without bulk, free at the shoulder and the hindquarters. None of that happens by guessing. It happens with three measurements and two minutes.
This is how to take them, and how to read them against our sizes.
What you need
A soft tape measure — the kind used for sewing. If you don't have one, run a length of string along the dog, mark it, and lay it flat against a ruler afterwards. Measure with the dog standing squarely on all four legs, not sitting or lying down, and keep the tape snug against the body without compressing the coat.
The three measurements
**Back length.** From the base of the neck — where a collar naturally sits — to the base of the tail. This is the single most important measurement, and the one our sizes are built around. It decides whether a coat ends where it should or leaves the hindquarters bare.
Chest girth. The circumference at the widest point, just behind the front legs. This is usually the deepest part of the ribcage. A sweater that fits the back but not the chest will strain at the buttons or hang loose at the belly — chest is what catches most people out, especially with broad, deep-chested breeds.
Neck. The circumference where the collar rests. Less critical than back and chest, but worth taking for polos and shirts with structured collars.
Write all three down before you compare them to anything. Measure twice if the first numbers surprise you.
Our size chart
These are the measurements our patterns are drawn to. Find the row your dog's **back length** falls into first, then check the chest figure as a cross-reference. The breeds listed are a guide to silhouette, not a rule — measure your own dog rather than trusting the breed name.
**XXS** — back 18–22 cm · chest up to 28 cm
Chihuahua, Toy Poodle, small Yorkshire
**XS** — back 23–28 cm · chest up to 35 cm
Maltese, small Dachshund, Miniature Pinscher
**S** — back 29–35 cm · chest up to 42 cm
Miniature Poodle, Cocker Spaniel puppy, Bichon Frisé
**M** — back 36–44 cm · chest up to 50 cm
Standard Dachshund, French Bulldog, Beagle
**L** — back 45–55 cm · chest up to 60 cm
Border Collie, Standard Poodle, Springer Spaniel
If your dog is between sizes
Size up. A sweater that is fractionally generous can be worn; one that is fractionally tight cannot. Our baby alpaca has a natural give to it, so a piece that sizes up slightly will still read as fitted rather than loose. If you prefer a closer line and your dog sits at the top of a range, you can size down and let the stretch do the work — but when in doubt, the larger size is the safer choice.
The long-bodied exception
Dachshunds and other long-backed dogs rarely fit a standard chart, because their back length and chest girth belong to two different sizes. A teckel may have the chest of an XS and the back of an M. This is why a coat scaled up from a small pattern never sits right on them — the proportions are wrong from the start.
Our raincoats are drafted with dedicated long-teckel cuts for exactly this reason, patterned on a long-bodied frame rather than stretched from a smaller size. If your dog is long through the back, measure both figures and choose by back length, then look to our teckel sizing rather than the standard range.
Still unsure?
If your measurements fall awkwardly between two sizes, or your dog's proportions don't match any single row, write to us with the three numbers and your dog's breed. We would always rather you order once than twice, and we answer within the day.