I need Advice.Strike dogs and vests?

Pigrig a strike is the same thing as a bay dog. A running catch dog is a dog that is off lead that will go to a bay and catch. Most catch dogs are lead in. They are taken to the bay on a lead and released.

I put vests on my strike dogs when I started. Then one day there was only supposed small pigs so I ran just a collar. When I got to the bay the boar was at least 300 lbs and I only had the bay dog planning to just go in and grab the pig. When I tried to move around to get the boar he charged my dog and I thought it was over because I did not vest her. But she did some twisting jump and landed on the boars tail to stop him. There is no doubt she could never had done that with a vest on. If she would have been vested she would have been slammed. So I never run a vest on a bay dog now. I also worry about the heat. I want my Dogos to be running catch dogs so I am looking into the Aussie style plates. I don't buy that thest gives any more confidence than they should already have.