About Canelana
Canelana is a Norwegian company that specializes in producing premium wool products for both humans and dogs. Their product range includes wool sweaters, jackets, mittens, and training vests for humans, as well as wool dog coats and beds.
At Canelana, quality is of utmost importance. All of their products are crafted using only the finest wool materials, ensuring durability, comfort, and longevity. Moreover, their commitment to ethical and sustainable wool production makes them a responsible and conscious choice for customers who care about the environment.
Canelana’s dedication to customer satisfaction is evident through their exceptional customer support, which makes working with them a great experience. They ship to many countries so don’t hesitate to contact them for shipping options and costs.
The details of the Canelana Ambassador Wool Coat
The Ambassador Wool coat is made of thick, organic merino wool. While wool is neither wind nor waterproof, it keeps the dog warm and cozy even if it gets wet due to the tiny air pockets that create a thermal barrier. Besides, wool has excellent breathability that helps regulate body temperature. It’s also non-static, which is excellent because that tends to be an issue for us when taking the coat off on the dry winter days.
The coat has two elastic loops that keep the coat in place and multiple adjustment points for the ideal fit.
The edges of the coat are reinforced for durability, but otherwise, this coat is wool inside-out!
There is a large velcro panel to fix the exceptionally wide belly band quickly. The two vertical velcro panels give you some room to adjust how tight this band should wrap around the dog.
Canelana Ambassador Wool Coat Review
This coat was designed to keep the dog warm while waiting between training sessions. This is especially important if you do a sport with short, but high-intensity runs, so your dog has to quickly switch between sleeping in the car for an hour and running around. Keeping the muscles and joints warm can help prevent injuries, although it doesn’t replace the need to stretch and warm up the dog.
We would have skipped many training opportunities over this frigid season if not for having this coat. Mia tends to get cold if she has to wait in the car, and this thick coat kept her warm during many freezing nighttime trainings. When removing the coat to get her out of the car, I usually check how warm she is under it. She was nice and cozy with this wool coat all around - even her back, which sometimes doesn’t warm up much while wearing a coat.
The shape of this coat is very impressive as well. The coats we tested so far either had one section of the neck part that you pull back between the front legs and then fix it with around the chest, OR had a longer piece on one side that you pull under the chest and fix it with a buckle or velcro on the other side. This coat has BOTH! This way, it provides protection on the chest and between the legs and has a wide belly strap that almost goes all the way around on Mia.
The photo below shows the coat “from below”:
This design creates a double layer of insulation around the dog’s chest, where they usually lose most of the heat.
This above-mentioned belly band has a large velcro panel, so it’s super easy to attach. The elastic loop and buckle from the chest piece will still go over this section, so it stays in place nicely even when you already had some dog hair getting stuck in it.
There is another elastic strap that is meant to hold the back of the coat down. On Mia, this wasn’t holding much even when fastened as much as possible because she has a skinny waist, so the loop was still loose. It probably still helps to stabilize it when the dog runs around. It also prevents the wind from flipping up the back - but again, this isn’t meant to be used in freezing wind anyways. I usually just ended up not using that strap to make it easier to take it off when I get her out from the car.
(The elastic strap with the buckle is the one front of her back legs)
One of my favorite thing about the Canelana coats is the elastic loop at the back that lets you tighten the material around the hips. With this, you can make it fit like a glove and keep the cold wind away from the hip area.
Another cool feature of wool coats is that odors don’t seem to stick to them as much. Since we used it between trainings, sometimes Mia was wet when putting on the coat, and after using it many times, it still doesn’t smell at all. When it’s time to clean the coat, you can put it in the washing machine but use only a wool program and wool detergent!
While wool actually insulates better when wet, we still wouldn’t recommend it for hiking/rainy walks because mud and dirt would have an easy time sticking to it. This is just an aesthetic issue, but this is not a material that you have an easy time brushing clean later. Getting caught on something in the woods could also be a concern, although we haven’t tested how durable it is to withstand dense bushes. We did leave it on Mia when we stopped for a quick walk in dry weather or on snow well below freezing point, but this coat wouldn’t be my first pick on muddy days.
While the coat is soft, it can be a little weird for the dog to have that thick layer on them for the first time. Mia is used to wearing different coats, but she still needed a little time to get used to this coat and move the same way as she would without wearing it.
Sizing Tips
As a sizing reference, Mia’s coat is M/L, recommended for back lengths of 48 cm measured by Canelana’s guide. As a note to help you pick the right size: in this case, 48 cm is not the full length of the coat – it is from the closing around the neck to THE MIDDLE of the incision back. The end of the coat is 10 cm longer, so do measure the back lengths based on their graphics! Mia’s back is around 55-56 cm, so I almost went with the bigger size. Luckily the Canelana Team helped me out with sizing, and the coat fits Mia perfectly!
Another note on sizing: since it has a broad belly band, if your MALE dog is between sizes, you might want to consider going with the smaller size to make sure it fits well all around ;) For females, it’s better to be a little too long than too short.
Checking Dog Coats with a Thermal Camera
We wrote an article checking 12 coats (including this one) with a thermal camera to see the insulation capabilities of different materials and coat designs. If you want to learn more about our findings, click here to read the article!
Thoughts on Wool
As we tested Canelana’s wool products, we also took the time to research the benefits and concerns associated with using wool in clothing. Wool is a renewable and biodegradable material, making it a great option for reducing waste from synthetic materials in the fashion industry.
When purchasing wool products, it is important to consider how the wool is sourced and the treatment of the animals. Canelana produces all of its products in Poland, sourcing wool from various countries, including Germany, Poland, Estonia, New Zealand, and South America. These countries adhere to the EU’s strict regulations on all aspects of production, including animal welfare.
It’s worth noting that mulesing, a controversial practice in which skin is removed from a sheep’s hindquarters to prevent flystrike, is only prevalent in Australia, and Canelana does not source wool from such a place.
While we acknowledge that the reality of animal farms may not align with the idealized image of happy sheep, using synthetic materials and contributing to microplastic pollution is not an optimal solution either. Ultimately, making ethical and environmentally responsible purchasing decisions requires taking all aspects of a product into account.
We aim to provide you with all the relevant information on Canelana’s products so that you can make an informed decision based on the facts at hand.
Here is some additional information about the dyeing process from Canelana’s supplier:
“We buy wool after washing or sweating, which we further wash and dye in the process. The company that performs these services has certificates and also uses appropriate agents and dyes that are friendly to the environment and to humans because of the direct contact of woolen products with human skin, but also in contact with animals. Production takes place at two carding departments where the woolen tape is prepared and knitting where the material is produced. These processes are mechanical, and no chemicals are used. Only the stabilization process in the final stage requires gluing the fabric “stiffening” with textile glue. The dyeing process is absolutely non-toxic, and the dyes used by the service provider do not contain harmful substances.”
Review Summary
We were very impressed with this coat’s quality, and as I mentioned already, it saved many of our training sessions. This is a coat for a particular use case, so if you are looking for a versatile coat that would be ideal for hiking and as a raincoat as well, this might not be your top choice. At the same time, if your dog needs to wait in the cold regularly, we recommend investing in this coat for the colder months so they can comfortably wait for their turn on trainings or competitions.
If you like the design, but this coat isn’t exactly what you are looking for, Canelana has two other versions of the exact same design. The Lana Wool Coat is made from a thinner layer of wool, while the Thermo Coat has the same thick wool under a soft-shell outer layer to make it wind and waterproof for outdoor adventures.
Where to buy
You can buy all their products on their website. The coat comes in many sizes, and they even have special sizing for Dachshunds and terriers(with an opening for the tail)!
Mia’s measurements
Many of you asked Mia’s measurements to understand the different products’ fit better. Your best chance of finding an excellent fitting gear is always to measure (and remeasure) your dog. Even we grab the measuring tape before getting a new product - even though we tested a lot of them and have a good feeling of her size by now.
I share her measurements below, but don’t go ahead and order the same size just because your dog is similar to Mia ;)
Shoulder height: 19.5 inches (50 cm)
Weight: 37-44 pounds (17-20 kg)
Widest chest circumference (where the most harness would have the chest strap): 25-26 inches (63-65 cm)
Neck circumference for collars: 15-16 inches (38-40 cm)
Back lengths: 22 inches (56 cm)
