Pet Products Editing and Proofreading Services

A harness arrives and does not fit. It is a medium, the dog is a medium sort of dog, and the size chart said medium suits 15–25kg. The dog is 19kg with a chest like a barrel, and the measurement that mattered was never asked for. It goes back, the customer buys elsewhere, and the return costs more than the margin on two more harnesses.

We edit what pet product retailers and brands produce — sizing and fit guides, measurement instructions, product descriptions for equipment and enrichment items, safety and supervision information, materials and durability claims, feeding and usage instructions where they are not veterinary, and the guidance given to first-time owners. Our editors work on products fitted to an animal that cannot say it hurts.

The sizing guide is where pet equipment is bought correctly or returned, and its failure is a weight range standing in for a measurement. Weight tells you almost nothing about the shape of a dog. We work through these so the size is determined by the measurement that actually governs fit — chest girth behind the front legs, neck circumference, back length — rather than by weight, since two 19kg dogs can be entirely different shapes and one of them is a whippet; so the instruction says where to put the tape, how tight, and with the animal standing rather than sitting, given that the same dog measures three centimetres differently sitting down; so the two-fingers rule or its equivalent is given as the check, because a customer with no reference cannot judge tightness from a number; so breeds that fall outside the chart are named, as deep-chested and short-nosed animals are the recurring exceptions and the customer usually knows their dog is one; so the overlap between sizes is addressed with which to choose and why, since every chart has a boundary and "if you are between sizes, size up" is the guidance that prevents most returns; so growth is addressed for puppies with when to re-measure; so what an incorrect fit does is stated — where it rubs, where it slips, what a dog can back out of; and so a video or diagram shows the measurement being taken. Guides written this way fit first time.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including product data, returns information and supplier material. We are editors rather than veterinarians, trainers or product specialists, and we offer no view on animal welfare, products or fit. What we can do is ask the customer for the measurement that matters.