Product Review: Hurtta Breezy Pants

Hurtta's Breezy Pants are basically hotpants for dogs. They're specifically intended for females in season, but can also be used for incontinence. They are made from stretchy synthetic material designed to move with the dog. The pants feature a waistband that adjusts with a plastic clip, and a generous gap for the tail. They are intended to be used with a disposable panty liner. They come in seven sizes to fit dogs with waists 11-32" around.

Photo by Erin Koski

Sisci Godzilla is in heat again, and it's about as awesome as living in a mental ward. Ru is absolutely beside himself with desire to make cattlehuahuas, despite being neutered at six months of age and also being about a foot too short to actually accomplish anything. She's currently in the "standing heat" phase where she's happily propositioning anything that moves. Ranger and Annie were here for the weekend, and Sisci spent the entire time mooning over poor uninterested Ranger while he tried unsuccessfully to nap.

In addition to being super-flirty, Sisci was also super drippy. We got away with no pants for her first heat, but this time around we definitely needed something to protect the couch, dog beds, people bed, and other upholstered surfaces. I was prepared though, I ordered her a set of Hurtta Breezy Pants during her last heat.

These seemed like a good idea at the time. They are sized by waist and Sisci's measurements fell into the overlap between the small and medium sizes. She seems really petite to me, so I ordered a small. I know that Brisbane and Ru have very long backs relative to their chest measurements, but I don't normally go around putting pants on dogs so I didn't realize that Sisci has enormous, beefy thighs. The small Breezy pants wouldn't even fit all the way up her legs. Meanwhile, the medium just barely gets small enough for her waist but is still tight around her thighs.

This brings me to another issue: these are step-in pants. I firmly believe that whoever invented step-in products never tried to get a dog or a toddler to step into something on purpose. Between Sisci's beefy thighs and tendency to splay out flat on her back whenever she saw them, the Breezy pants were pretty difficult to get on and off.

Pros: Machine washable. Come in lots of sizes. Form-fitting and comfortable. Unobtrusive, doesn't scream "DIAPER!!!" Black doesn't show...anything.

Cons: Leg openings are not adjustable. Step-in design is difficult to put on a dog that does anything but stand placidly, dogs don't understand the concept of pants.

Bottom Line: I was going to complain about the fitting issue, but after trying a couple more pairs of hotpants I'm pretty sure Sisci just has a super tiny waist and massive dog thighs. Seriously, they are So Big.

Treat Tuesday: Exer-Hides USA Rawhide Curls

I found a package of  Exer-Hides Rawhide Rolls at Walmart that lived up to my incredibly high standards, and now I have to question everything I ever thought I knew. Well not exactly, but I was definitely surprised. Normally I only give my dogs Wholesome Hides because these are made in the USA from domestically-sourced hides, and constructed in a way that makes them very difficult to chew in an unsafe manner.

While visiting my cousins in Idaho, we made a trip to Walmart. The subject of rawhide came up while we were browsing the pet aisle, and my cousin if I ever gave my dogs rawhide. I explained that I only give them Wholesome Hides because they are made out of one big thick sheet of rawhide, while the vast majority of rawhide rolls are made from one small, thin sheet wrapped around a bunch of smaller chunks and scraps. Chewing that one sheet takes a lot more time and effort, while it's much easier to bite off and swallow large chunks of the cheap ones.

I also mentioned my annoyance at the "USA Rawhide" I see at Petco all the time with the small print revealing that the actual product is manufactured in Mexico from USA-sourced hides. Almost all rawhide is made from USA-sourced hides, it's the process of shipping it to Mexico or China or elsewhere that tends to cause problems. A lot of consumers are aware of this, and specifically look for American rawhide, so I believe that packaging to be deliberately deceptive.

At any rate, back to Walmart. Seeking visual aids for my explanation, I grabbed the nearest package of rawhide retriever rolls. "See? It says USA really big on the front but it's probably not...no, actually it's made in the USA from US-only beef hides, wow. And the rolls are made from one thick sheet and not a bunch of little pieces. I guess I need to buy these." I did find a good example of low-quality unsafe rawhides rolls on the shelf right next to these, also under the name Exer-Hides but made in China.

As expected, these things took absolutely forever for the dogs to demolish. We had Brisbane, Sisci, Molly the Power Chewer, the Barbosa the pit bull puppy gnawing on them for a week and still brought home all four rolls with very little hide missing. Brisbane and Sisci took another couple of weeks to finish them off, and basically had to gnaw enough to unroll the hide and nibble off the edge of the sheet. So many hours of chewing! These are smaller rolls than our gigantic Wholesome Hides retriever rolls, but the USA Exer-Hides were fantastically long-lasting rawhides designed for safer chewing with minimal swallowing of hide. At $10 for four rolls, they were also a great value. I'm not sure if my local Walmart here in California carries them, I'll have to check next time I'm feeling brave enough to venture inside it.

We Killed a Rubit

Rubits were my favorite quick-changing tag clips for a long time. I love the design, and for a while I was pretty sure they were indestructible. I did begin to worry about Brisbane's original Rubit Curve because it had thinned over a span of six years, but it's currently holding Sisci's tags and has been used on my various foster dogs almost continuously.

The one we killed had only been in service for two years. It was a large purple heart Rubit. Although it was holding Brisbane's tags, Ranger was wearing it when it failed because I usually put my dogs' tags on visiting dogs.

I don't actually know what happened to this thing. It's bent open so that the wire gate can't reach the other side, and the split ring is also pretty bent. This was on the floor with the tags still on the ring when I got home from work a couple of weeks ago.

The most likely answer is that the tags or the Rubit itself got caught on something and Ranger struggled until the clip bent far enough for him to get free. It apparently wasn't too traumatic an experience for him because he acted fine that evening and didn't seem injured or out of sorts. Once I found the tags I checked him over to see if he had a sore toe or dewclaw that might have gotten hung up, but I didn't find anything. I don't know what else he could have gotten caught on since the tags were just laying in the open and not stuck anywhere obvious.

Whatever happened, I'm taking it as a reason to try a different type of tag holder for Brisbane. I've been using a plastic Links-It to hold Ru's tags for a while now, so I went ahead and ordered one for Brisbane. I'll let you know how it works for us. Have you tried any quick-change tag-holders?