Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Because our 21 pound miniature schnauzer got a little scrape on his leg that he wouldn't let heal, we had to make the unpopular decision to cone our little guy. We got him a medium comfy cone and it was a perfect fit to protect him from himself and his impassioned licking. He wore the comfy cone for about a month, had no problems sleeping with it on, and very few issues (addressed below) with it. While our pup has used the inflatable travel pillow-like "cone, but not a cone" in the past, because of the spot where he was licking that the travel pillow wouldn't block, we knew he needed a real cone this time. Our dog LOVES sleeping in very human-like poses - on his back, resting in a pillow, passed out in a seated position in front of the TV - so we knew that a hard cone wouldn't work well for him. While he didn't love it when we put on the comfy cone, he didn't hate it. He had no problems sleeping with it at all and it did the job to protect him. He could kind of eat and drink with it on (the struggle was very real), but the sleeping and protection made it totally worth it for us and him. Our dog occasionally buries his food and water first with his imagination, which was kind of a hilarious dump truck-like disaster sometimes with the cone. It made his cone smell like dog food and he got a questionable amount of food into his mouth because he's not very good at negotiating angles or figuring out alternate routes in general. It's definitely possible to eat with the comfy cone on because he did it many times over the course of the month looking like a possessed and hungry funnel, but your mileage may vary. In dog world, I think of the cone like a medical device. The relative rating is more about the function than anything. For people, if you broke your arm and got a cast, it'd be tough to ever give a cast 5 stars because you're pretty annoyed the whole time, but if it did the job like it was supposed to and did it well in a sucky situation, that's pretty much a 5 star product. That's how we thought of the comfy cone. I think this is a great product overall, but here are some of the key points that I can think of: USAGE - Because we attach our leash to our dog's collar, we didn't weave his collar through the cone. It was a lot faster and more reasonable to velcro it around his head separately from his collar. - We only had our dog wear his comfy cone in the house. Because it's so opaque, it was pretty disorienting for him to wear on walks and made him walk really weird. We gave up on that very quickly. Luckily, it only takes a second to take this off and put it back on. GOOD STUFF - Easy to put on and take off your dog's head using the velcro. It's seriously simple, even if you don't weave it through your dog's collar. - Velcro is a lot more secure than you'd think. Our pup only wriggled himself out of the cone one time in a month, which was probably because we put it on too loosely. - Dogs can really sleep with in it on. Our guy really didn't care. He passed out like a little portable satellite dish . - Material doesn't scratch the dog's neck. - Protects really well as long as your dog doesn't have a really long nose. - Pretty easy to store. We went on a trip and had to bring the comfy cone with us - no big deal. - Outer material on edge is a little reflective. We didn't really have our guy wear his cone outside after the first couple days, but it was kind of cool to see. - If you get a medium size and up, you can wear it on your neck and make some funny jokes. Your dog will appreciate the shared experience. NOT SO GOOD STUFF - Dogs are not big fans of the velcro sound. We went with the band-aid "TEAR IT OFF AS FAST AS YOU CAN" method instead of drawing out the sounds for best results. - Because it's made of similar material to a winter jacket, it will pick up about 25% of smells. Our pup is pretty stinky and the cone didn't get really bad. However, if you have your dog wear the cone on walks, it will probably get stinky because the cone will be all up in the dirt, brushing up on plants with pee on them, etc. - Because it's opaque, your dog has no peripheral vision. There will be some disorientation in the beginning, but our guy calmed down pretty fast. - Like any cone, if you crate your dog, it will be an adventure for them to get in wearing this comfy cone. - If you have a lot of stairs or doggy stairs in your house, there will be some missteps where your dog hits his face on the stairs and gets really discouraged. - Like any cone, eating may be a mess. - It's not a perfect circle. Ours would sometimes end up as a triangle, sometimes a square, but it always did the job!