Keep Your Dogs Afloat With One of These Deluxe Doggie Life Jackets

Yes, we're giving you permission to be THAT dog owner.

A dog competes during the 5th annual Loews Coronado bay resort surf dog competition in Imperial Beach, south of San Diego, California on May 22, 2010. AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

Woof you rather: watch your dog die a slow, painful death by drowning in the background of an overly saturated Instagram photo, or let it experience the kind of summer you've been hankering for ever since you remembered sunshine a month ago?

Probably the second, right?

Unfortunately, not all of said friends are built for the water. But this won't stop you, so below we offer our top picks for doggie life jackets that may just save a life.

Ruffwear K-9 Float Coat
Meet your dog at invincible for $79.95.

The Ruffwear K-9 Float Coat is the doggie life jacket that will last your pet its entire lifetime. (After all, twelve years is pretty doable.) It's all science here: closed-cell foam panels assist dogs in maintaining their natural swimming position as they rummage through the water and a telescoping neck closure is adjustable so that it can fit a plethora of dog sizes. There's also a reflective trim and let's not forget: the Float Coat comes in bright colors, which is essential for keeping track of your pet when it floats downstream. There are six sizes and four colors available.

Buy From Amazon

Paws Aboard Doggy Life Jacket
Keep your dog safe at a more reasonable $29.99.

This tight-fitting life jacket will hold your dog for dear life as it pushes through that H20, in search of a mallard, a car, the meaning of life or whatever it is they're looking for in that lake.

The Paws Aboard Doggy Life Jacket focuses on two strategic life jacket properties: buoyancy and high visibility. Bright-colored, the Paws Aboard life jacket includes ultra reflective strips and a top handle, so that you can quickly pull your dog back on the dock. If there's no top handle, you shouldn't be purchasing the vest.

The sizes here are a little particular, so make sure that you accurately measure your pup before investing. Also, the "lifeguard" lettering on the jacket is not for the faint of heart, but this sturdy product is more about accountability than style.

Buy From Amazon

Ripstop Large Dog Floatation Vest
Ensure there's a fin in every family-friendly body of water at $24.99.

The only fin in the body of water you are approaching for a quick swim should belong to your dog. And not because your dog is mutated—but because you purchased the Ripstop Large Dog Floatation Vest, which is distinguished as resembling the most ominous part of a shark. Kitschy but affordable, the Ripstop comes with top-of-the-line polyester padding, nylon straps and an easy grab handle for the overprotective pet owner. But what you're really paying for here is a two-in-one: a doggy life jacket and a makeshift Halloween costume.

It also comes in pink, which enhances your pet's chances of survival. (At least in the water, if not at a BBQ with your most photogenic friends.)

Buy From Amazon

Pawz Pet Doggy Life Jacket
<'Murica for $18.00.

Aesthetically, you can't go wrong with the Pawz Pet Doggy Life Jacket. Your dog will look like he's wrapped in an American flag, and you know how much your dog loves his country. Imagine all the July 4th and Labor Day you can take of your golden retriever chasing a piece of apple pie tossed lazily into Sauvie's open waters. (Just don't actually do that because it's pollution.)

The specifics: the Pawz Pet product comes with all the target amenities. That means reflexive strings, nylon straps and an extra sensitive tightening hook and loop fastener system for the pet's body and waist. Your dog couldn't break free even if he was a manic pixie dream dog.

Buy From Amazon

(Cool Stuff is a new feature at WW that reviews the best gear and stuff. Our reviewers are experts in their field and are asked to provide honest and independent assessments. When readers choose to purchase our editorial picks, we earn affiliate commissions that support our journalism.)

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.