cut gear vs raw-dogging

I run a vest on my CD about 80% of the time, if he gets hot I take it off of him. I am convinced that a large vest caused my best catch dogs death. My dad was hunting with some of his buddies the bay broke before the cd arrived and hog ran about 500 yards to the river and the cd drowned before they could get to him. I think the big best was a major factor in his death. I also believe I would have gotten there faster and prevented his death. I don't run vest on my strike or bay dogs. I don't want them catching and if they get cut that will usually back them off. Over all I think it's usually a good idea to run a vest on the cd. If a cd is used to a vest your better keep it on him because his technique of catching is a result of wearing the vest (able to get his body closer w/o being cut) he may not realize that his protection is gone.