A New Telemetry Jacket for Dogs
Agathe Cambier, Msc, Product and Application Specialist; Clémence Nadjar, Textile Engineer
Why a telemetry jacket for dogs?
Telemetry jackets have been used since the late 2000s in regulatory safety studies on medium-sized animals such as dogs, primates, and minipigs to monitor drug-induced QTc prolongation and respiratory function (Chui et al. JPTM 2009 – DOI: 1016/j.vascn.2009.04.196). More recently, ICH M3(R2) and ICH S6(R1) guidelines have encouraged integrating these safety endpoints directly into toxicology studies, especially for the nonclinical safety assessment of anti-cancer and biotechnology-derived pharmaceuticals. However, existing jackets for large animals are often complex to use, unreliable, or uncomfortable. ECG electrodes placed on shaved skin may detach, respiratory bands can slip during movement, and the equipment in back-pack is rather bulky. As a result, many teams have preferred implanted telemetry or short “snapshot” recordings under restraint — even though jackets could provide far more continuous and meaningful data (Valentin et al. JPTM 2025 – DOI: 10.1016/j.vascn.2025.107765).
Building on its expertise with small animals such as rats and marmosets, Etisense decided to take on the challenge of designing a new telemetry jacket for dogs, with the goal of improving reliability, ease of use, and animal welfare.
What’s new in Etisense’s dog jacket?
The new telemetry jacket was designed to overcome the main weaknesses of existing systems:
Integrated sensors: respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) bands and ECG electrodes are built into the textile and all wires are hidden.
Compact design: the electronics are shared with our small animals solution, reducing cost and avoiding bulky modules.
No shaving required: new pyramid-shaped external electrodes, prepositionned in Lead 2 on the animals, ensure robust ECG signals without adhesives passing through the fur of the animal.
Ergonomic harness: adjustable with Velcro, easy to put on in under two minutes, and adapted to different morphologies.
The result is a single, ready-to-use jacket that provides both respiratory and ECG high-quality signals during at least 24 hours continuous recordings, to be used without the need of adding an overshirt.
Agathe and Clémence refining the design of the telemetry dog jacket at Etisense’s R&D lab.
How was it developed?
Designing jackets for a new species starts with morphological studies and an understanding of growth, mobility, and skin sensitivity. Prototypes are then tested iteratively, with refinements made to improve comfort, durability, and signal quality. For dogs, the main challenge was anatomical variability. The solution: a flexible harness system with adjustable closures, ensuring a snug yet comfortable fit. This innovation guarantees high-quality respiratory measurements and stable electrode placement, even in active animals.
Validation and reliability
The R&D team has putted in place rigorous testing from the prototype up to the final product:
Iterative trials on isolated animals, followed by 24-hour recordings in groups, demonstrated robustness and acceptance.
Collaboration with Beagle dog’s breeder, Marshall Bioresources Europe enabled validation grouped beagles, showing high-quality cardiorespiratory signals and excellent animal tolerance.
Comparative studies with implanted telemetry conducted by the C.R.O ERBC Group (Baugy, FR) confirmed equivalent ECG quality and expected pharmacological responses1.
1Results will be presented at the Safety Pharmacology Society Congress in Utrecht this October.
User experience
The final product consists of two elements:
- A reusable ergonomic harness, adjustable at the neck and chest, easy to clean and maintain.
- A single soft, durable textile jacket, embedding ECG electrodes, RIP bands, and a protected pocket for the transmitter and battery.
Thanks to this design, animals can be equipped in less than two minutes, and signals can be collected reliably in both isolated and group-housed conditions — without over shirts or complex assembly.
Conclusion
The Etisense telemetry jacket for dogs represents a new, simple, and reliable approach to cardiorespiratory monitoring in safety and toxicology studies, but also to follow-up or diagnose cardiac disorders in dogs in veterinary clinics. Whether for short “snapshot” assessments or continuous 24-hour monitoring, in single or group housing, this solution provides researchers with robust, high-quality physiological data while ensuring animal comfort.
The jacket is now available for dogs weighing 7–15 kg and is fully compatible with DECRO hardware and software.