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When I brought my pugs home 7 years ago, I knew they would get older, of course. Yet, I never really thought about the reality that they may someday become incontinent. Frank has been unable to walk for a while because of degenerative myelopathy, which can cause dog incontinence as well. Despite his struggles, he’s still happy and feeling pretty good with meds and other things we do to keep him comfortable, so we’re doing our best to support him in what time he has left. This means I found myself in the market for dog diapers. My dog beans isn’t typically incontinent but she gets UTI’s and will have accidents when she does, so we’ve put her in diapers off and on for years when she’s had UTI’s. We struggled with getting dog diapers to stay on her at first, but eventually came up with a really great solution for getting diapers to stay on female pugs. Male dogs can be a bit harder though, because you need to cover higher up on their belly, and diapers are often not long enough to extend from the tail up high enough on the belly. This is why many with incontinent male dogs will use dog belly bands instead. Dog belly bands are basically male dog diapers that are just there to collect urine, and only go around the belly instead of covering the whole backside. Sometimes dog belly bands are also called male dog wraps, pee band, or diaper wraps. In my home we most frequently just call them ‘diapers’ because, well, that’s the function they serve. So if you see me referencing them as diapers in the rest of this post, please know I mean the belly bands.

Frank in a size L1 Teamoy belly band.

Pugs have unique body proportions compared to many other dog breeds. Most other dogs that are roughly as tall and long as a pug, would be thinner and slimmer. While dogs that have similar chest or waist measurements to pugs, tend to be much taller. Pugs are sort of short and compact compared to most other small dog breeds. This can make it hard to find dog clothing that fits them well, among other things. I’ve written about the best fitting harnesses for pugs because even harnesses can be tough! The ‘short and stocky’ shape of pugs also makes diapers a bit challenging. It took some trial and error to find a male pug diaper size that worked well for Frank. Belly bands are sized based on your dogs waist measurement. So you’ll want to get a cloth measuring tape and measure in front of your dogs back legs. If you don’t have a cloth measuring tape, you could cut a piece of string to the exact length of your dogs waist, and then lay it on a stiff measuring tape.

Frank in the paw legend size large belly band. It’s big and bulky!

Frank weighs about 24 pounds, and his waist measures 19 inches. Most brands of belly bands will stay this size is large. Of course, pugs are not large dogs, so I was a bit worried about this from the get-go, but I knew from his measurements that a smaller belly band wouldn’t work. I ordered paw legend belly bands because their large said it was for 18 to 21 inch waists, which I liked because that put frank’s measurements right in the middle.

However, once they came, they felt really bulky. They went really high up his back, and they were just really thick and had thick elastic as well. Even the width of the diaper seemed larger than really necessary for us. I could tell these were designed for a mid-sized dog that would have a longer back than Frank has. These were so thick and covered so much of his body that it seemed to restrict his movement, which is a real drag because he’s very limited in his mobility already. We still tried to use them, but ran into two main issues. One being, the elastic is so thick that the diaper itself doesn’t lay very flat against frank’s belly. To be blunt, male belly bands need to wrap sort of snug up against the penis so that they can immediately absorb urine when it comes out. These weren’t that snug, and the elastic was hard to get really tight around him even though the velcro was tight. So if he was laying down at a certain angle, his urine could run right out of the diaper! I think part of the problem was also the thick elastic, it made the main portion of the diaper gap like a bubble away from his body, even when the elastic was snug. A couple of times I tried really pulling the band as tight as I could go, to see if that would make the main part of the diaper more snug, but then the elastic left deep red grooves in his legs and belly which I worried may be painful or him, the same way that wearing clothing with too-tight elastic would be for people. The other problem was the diaper wasn’t snug up against him, was with wigglign or movement, the diaper would slide around his midsection, so the incontinence pad that we use inside could get pulled sideways or even up on top of his back, so then if he peed it would be on the diaper itself instead of into the pad. These belly bands are designed to where they can be used on their own without a pad. They are absorbent enough, but I just prefer to use the disposable pads instead. While talking about incontinence pads, I’ll say that I recommend the ones that are styled after Depends Men’s Guard pads. I’ve never bought the actual depends brand. I either buy my local store brand (Meijer) or order from Amazon and buy their Solimo incontinence guards. They seem extremely similar to each other, and the prices are about the same as well, around $12 for a 52 pack. We’ve found that these are nice and trim/not bulky, and are more absorbent than others we tried (like poise womens incontinence pads which are thicker, skinner and longer then the guard shape).

The paw legend (Gray) vs teamoy (blue) belly bands. The height difference doesn’t seem that significant, but it seems like a big difference once on. However, I think the biggest difference is really the thickness/bulkiness.

We’ve found that Teamoy dog belly bands in the size L1 are a good belly band size for pugs. They say they fit a waist size of 16-20 inches. They are shorter, and far more trim. They have elastic, but it’s thinner than the others were. The backside of the belly band tapers, so that the amount of fabric that goes across your dog’s back is narrower than the width of the fabric that goes under their belly. They just overall are sized much more naturally for smaller dogs than the others were. The elastic is slimmer, so the fabric stays closer to Frank’s body and absorbs well without leaking. The elastic doesn’t leave marks on Frank’s skin anywhere. The width of the belly band is still a bit taller than the guards, but a much closer fit, so the pads stays better aligned with his body than the other belly bands did. However, on occasion when they have become misaligned and he has peed on the belly band itself, they have still been absorbant enough to contain the mess.

Paw legend (gray/black) and teamoy (blue/white), trying to show the thickness/bulkiness difference.

We like these so much that we went back and ordered a second set. Most days I can use one belly band for him all day, and just replace the pads about 4 times throughout the day. Of course, if he accidentally pees on the belly band itself then I change the belly band. But most of the time, I can use one belly band per day so having 6 means I don’t have to do laundry at an increased frequency vs my normal twice a week routine. I have no connection to the Teamoy brand, they didn’t send me these or anything. I just know that being a pug owner often means struggling to find the right size to fit pugs. After finding a belly band that fits pugs and really works well for us, I thought it was worth sharing for others who may find themselves in need of a belly band for a pug.

Paw legend belly band (gray, above). Teamoy belly band (Blue, below).

I hope the photos help to show the differences. Even though in terms of measurements, they aren’t dramatically different in size, I think the paw legend diapers are only about 1 inch taller, but the shape/cut and thickness make a big difference in how they fit.

Emily

Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.

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