Almost everything sold for small dogs is cut for a shih tzu shape: short back, deep chest, square through the shoulders. Put it on a dachshund and it stops halfway down, leaving a gap over the loins with a strip of bare back showing between garment and tail. Anything cut deliberately longer through the body is worth knowing about, and this vest is made specifically for the sausage dog shape rather than adapted to it as an afterthought.

It is cotton, with four leg openings so it stays put when the dog is moving rather than rotating round the ribcage, and a row of dinosaur spines along the back that makes it read as an outfit rather than as clothing. Cotton is a deliberate choice here: it breathes, it washes at a normal temperature and comes out the same shape, and it does not build up static against a smooth coat the way fleece can. Two colourways are made, green and blue.

• Cotton throughout
• Four-legged cut, made long in the body
• Dinosaur spine detail along the back
• Green or blue
• Sizes S, M and L
• Supplied as one vest

On sizing and on warmth. The manufacturer states plainly that these sizes run one to two smaller than British and European expectations, and allows 2-3cm of hand-measuring variance, so size up rather than down and do not order on the word dachshund alone. Measure back length and chest and tell us the figures. Second, this is cotton and unlined, whatever the category calls it: a light layer for a dry spring day, for keeping a clipped belly off wet grass and for photographs, not a January coat.

Who it's for: dachshunds standard and miniature, long-bodied crossbreeds and small lurcher types, and owners who want a fun outfit their dog can actually walk in rather than stand still in.