How to Measure & Make a Dog Diaper

Male dogs sometimes have problems with marking territory or urinating where they aren't supposed to. This can especially be a problem with unaltered male dogs. Measuring and making a dog diaper will help you control the amount of urine in your home, and prevent dogs from urinating on the furniture, floor or walls. Dog diapers are usually meant for male dogs. A variation can be made for a female dog, using another piece of fabric.

Things You'll Need

• Thick fabric such as corduroy
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Sticky-back Velcro
• Baby diapers
• Elastic strips

Instructions

1. Buy two yards of a thick fabric such as corduroy. It can be any pattern and any fabric, but it should be thick enough so you can't see through it.

2. Measure the length around your dog's midsection. This is the length around his belly and lower back. You want to measure around the area where his penis is.

3. Mark your fabric for the length of your measurement. The width should be four inches for dogs that weigh less than five pounds, five inches for dogs between five and 10 pounds, six inches for dogs that weigh up to 20 pounds and seven inches for larger dogs.

4. Cut out two pieces of fabric that fit your measurements.

5. Place elastic strips along the length-wise edges of one piece of fabric. Place the second piece of fabric directly on top and secure with pins.

6. Use a sewing machine to sew all the way around the fabric. This should create two elastic sides and two regular sides.

7. Place sticky-back Velcro on the flat sides so that when the diaper is pulled into a loop, the Velcro will match each other.

8. Line your diaper with a baby diaper and fasten it around your dog's belly, covering his penis.

9. Change the disposable diaper inside of your cloth diaper each time you take your dog outside or more often if needed

Female Dog Diaper

1. Make a diaper following the same method as the one for a male dog.

2. Put the diaper on your female dog. Measure the distance between the place where the diaper covers her belly and the place where the diaper covers her lower back. You will have to guess the measurement, in part, as it is hard to measure over or around a tail.

3. Cut a strip of fabric in your estimated length measurement. It should be 3 inches wide for dogs under 10 pounds, 4 inches wide for dogs between 10-20 pounds, and 5 inches wide for bigger dogs,

4. Cut a circle in the center of this fabric. Eyeball the size for the circle as compared to your dog's tail.

5. Sew the fabric to the bottom of the diaper, the side without Velcro.

6. Add a strip of sticky-back Velcro to the other end of the fabric. Stick the matching Velcro strips onto both sides of the diaper so that when the diaper is closed around the dog's belly, you will be able to thread her tail through the hole and fasten the diaper on the top of her back.

7. Line the diaper with a baby diaper or a woman's sanitary napkin.

Tips & Warnings

• For a dog that urinates a lot, having two or more cloth diapers will help as you can wash one while he wears the other.

References

• The author is a dog breeder and has been making cloth diapers for her dogs for four years.