How to Measure the Height of a Dog - All You Need To Know

Have you ever wondered about how to measure the height of a dog? In many cases, knowing how to take dog measurements can prove incredibly helpful as a dog owner – and fortunately, learning how to measure a dog’s height for their harness often isn’t all that tricky. With this thought in mind, today, we’ve summarised some of the key things you need to know about dog measurements and taking dog height calculations to help you fit your dog’s harness or gear accurately.

Why Is Learning How to Measure the Height of a Dog Important?

First of all, we need to briefly consider why it’s so important to learn how to measure the height of a dog. Dog height can vary significantly between breeds and individual animals based on age, genetics, and environmental factors. In line with this, it’s not enough to simply buy a harness, dog collar, dog bed, and the like based on your dog’s breed alone; knowing your dog’s measurements will prove incredibly helpful in this regard.

However, knowing where to begin can be a little tricky; don’t worry, though. Once you know how to measure a dog’s height for harness and equipment fitting, this is really straightforward!

How to Measure a Dog’s Height

So, you’re now ready to measure your dog’s height. Ideally, you’ll want to make sure your dog is well-trained to the “stay” command to make this a little easier, as a wriggly or fidgety dog is pretty tricky to measure! However, if they won’t stay still, a few treats with the assistance of a helper may be enough to get a pretty accurate measurement.

The first thing you need to know when taking dog height measurements is that this is measured to the height of the withers – not the height of the head. Your dog’s withers are found at the very highest point of your pet’s shoulders. As such, the height of your dog’s back, tail, head, and the like are largely not counted when taking dog height measurements.

Measuring With a Tailor’s Tape

One of the first options you could try to measure your dog’s height is to use a tailor’s measuring tape. Measuring the distance between the floor and your dog’s withers freely can be tricky due to your dog wriggling, but this method requires the least equipment and (if your pet cooperates) should be the quickest to pull off.

Measuring Against a Wall

If your dog is too wriggly to stand still while you measure against its withers freely, you may want to try a different method instead. Take a panel, card, or piece of paper stuck loosely to a solid surface and line your pet up against this. Then, using a ruler to ensure an accurate level, mark on the card or paper the height of your pet’s withers with a pen or pencil. Make sure you can see this clearly.

Then, allow your pet to move away from the wall. Using a tape measure or tailor’s measuring tape, you can then measure the distance between the floor and the marked height to work out your dog’s height at the withers.

Use a Height Measurement Tool

For the most accurate possible method, you’ll want to use a height measuring tool – although most pet owners won’t necessarily own one of these. If you do happen to have one, simply lower the measuring stick so that it’s in line with your pet’s withers, and then read off the height from there. Make sure the height measuring tool is on flat ground before starting, though!

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been looking to measure a dog’s height, there’s a lot you’ll need to consider to do so accurately. Taking dog measurements can seem pretty simple on the surface, but in reality, there’s a lot more to it than this. Indeed, knowing where to measure is actually harder than it might seem, this is why all our dog harnesses & collars are available in a wide range of sizes and are adjustable for the perfect fit. Make sure to explore them all.

Know any other tips? Let other pawrents know. Drop a comment below.