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Q. How do I know if my dog needs a sweater or coat this winter?
A. I feel safe in saying that if you have a healthy, young Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute who's acclimated to the cold and has the glorious coat common in the Northern breeds, you likely won't have to invest in canine clothing for walks in the snow. In general there are three kinds of dogs who benefit from the insulation provided by a sweater or coat, as well as the protection afforded by life as a pampered house pet:
- Small dogs.
- Dogs who are elderly, chronically ill or both.
- Greyhounds, Whippets and dogs of a similar thin body type, especially those with short fur.
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What these dogs have in common is that they have a more difficult time generating and retaining enough body heat on their own. For these dogs, a little help keeping dry and warm is always a good thing. Though protection from the elements is the biggest reason to put clothes on dogs headed outside, it doesn't hurt to leave a sweater on these dogs inside if you're keeping the heat down to save energy and money.
At our house, our two little Heinz 57s, Quixote and Quora, get jackets when they go out in the snow, as do our two thin-coated grand Pugs, Bruce and Willy. Our big dogs, Gracie (Labrador Retriever-Pit Bull mix) and Shakira (Golden Retriever), do just fine without sweaters or coats. In fact, they love the snow.
If you have a dog with arthritis, protective clothing is just one thing you can do to make winters more comfortable. Pet-safe heated orthopedic beds are a great idea; you can also talk to your veterinarian about neutraceuticals, such as glucosamine and Omega-3 oils that are clinically proven to ease joint pain. Other dogs may benefit additionally from the use of pain-control medication, typically nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
SEE ALSO: Beware These Winter Hazards for Your Dog
Even if your dog doesn't need a coat, having one certainly won't hurt him. I know many people who put slickers on their pets before taking a walk in the rain or snow because it saves them the trouble of cleaning a wet dog at the door before coming inside, for example. Boots help keep things neater, too, and where de-icing solutions are used, they can protect your pet from licking toxic chemicals off his paws.
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Source of Original Article: Do Any Dogs Really Need Sweaters or Coats?
- Top 10 Holiday Pet Pics: See Cute Dogs & Cats
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Source of Original Article: Do Any Dogs Really Need Sweaters or Coats?
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anyone who needs to read this article to figure this out....should not have a dog.
This is wrong, As a trained army vet, cold travels through the feet and hands, having a coat on while your paws arent covered wont help keep you warm.
I disagree. I always have a coat on my little poodle and it makes the world of difference. She does have little boots, but haven't used them on her this year yet. A coat DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE regardless of what's on their paws or not.
This is funny to read. This country and this world treats most of its dogs and cats like dirt. Letting them breed indiscriminatley, breeding them in puppy mills, shooting dogs like targets in pounds in SC, poisoning cats, electocuting dogs in Mexico, abandoning animals in foreclosed houses, starving dogs and cats to death, beating them, fighting them. Putting a sweater on a dog is the least of dogs and cats and all animals problems. I would start with just feeding them routinely, getting them neutered and not chaining them up outside . Humans are the most inhumane animal on earth.
Amen sister. Could not have said it better myself. How anyone can treat an animal any different than they treat a loved one is beyond me. On second thought, that type of person would probably beat, starve and torture a loved one. I consider that type of person to be a coward.
uh, actually humans are, by definition, the ONLY 'humane' creatures on earth... and, forgetting the accuracy of language, for the most part animals do not experience human emotions or rationalizations. They kill and eat each other, and participate in all kinds of species behaviors lacking any hint of 'niceness'.
I agree. Well said. If only we could stop the inhumaneness to our animals.
Karen,
It is very right you have good respects for all living beings, but you have forgotten the way Non Veg eaters kill & eat cattle. If you know in USA alone there are enough grains & water that if all Americans eat veg food they would have no food issues but they feed cows to kill them & eat their meat. I think this is too cruel + stupid + inhumanity at their peak. Eating Non Veg you can never preach peace & you cannot be a nice person when you are eating flesh of an innocent animal / bird. This is the reality (this is for everybody not you alone)
I have a Dachshund which has a very deep chest area. I now have two coats for hiim, but one is very tight around the chest area and the other fits the chest area but is too big every where else. Does any one know where I can get coats for these short legs and barrel chested dog. He is so uncomfortable here in Michigan in the winter that often I have to pick him up carry him back to the house. This is getting more difficult as I get older because he weighs in at 20 #. Forget putting on boots,, can't find any to fit the stubby legs, but I do love this little guy, a great snuggler.
Check out Hug-a-Dog Harness online. They also have/make coats. I have one for my doxie.
It will have to custom made. I made a fur coat for one of my dogs, and I had to add more fabric for his length.
Honestly, dogs don't need clothes naturally, they have been provided with both special oils on their skin layers and fur which keeps them warm in winter and cool in summer. It is only the "Man Made" creations that need human attire and help, such as hairless dogs, boney thin dogs, and the newest puppy mill mixes such as puggles, cockerdoodles, etc. Man is playing with nature and it creates deformities,, illnesses and alnormalities. Just for the people who spend hundreds and thousands for the puppy mill mixes - no matter what they "name" the mix it is still a mutt. Your better off going to your neighborhood shelter and rescuing an unloved puppy or dog instead of handing cash to the heartless mill breeders.
Cockadoodles and puggles are just MUTTS. No different than any other mixed breed dog at a shelter. Calling them designer breeds is ridiculous. They may be cute mutts, but they're still mutts. Signed - mom of two furry mutts.
it depends upon how much time your dog spends outside in the cold. House dogs will need a coat. dogs that routinely spend time outdoors will adapt. I have a rat terrier. she does not put on a winter coat, but instead puts on a layer of fat. come summer, the bones will show through again
it depends upon how much time your dog spends outside in the cold. House dogs will need a coat. dogs that routinely spend time outdoors will adapt. I have a rat terrier. she does not put on a winter coat, but instead puts on a layer of fat. come summer, the bones will show through again
My terrior has a sweater and she just chews on it when I try to put it one her. She goes outside in the snow, does her business and back in the house with her, snowy feet and all.
I actually agree with the notion that older dogs can sometimes benefit from a sweater or coat. We had a Shiba Inu--a rescue pup--who was with us until he was just shy of eighteen years old. When the weather got cool, he refused to go outside without a shirt of some sort! He would actually turn around at the door, run to the spot where his clothes were stored, and sit there until someone retrieved his favorite sweater. Without the sweater, he spent a lot of post-walk time shivering, and the cold affected his joints.
" marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals" Websters Dictionary. For you Lefty,naturally they do not experience "human" emotions but they do experience pain, sadness, despair, lonliness, heartbreak etc. Ask the dog who sits by his masters grave what he is feeling. Ask the chimpanzee in the lab cage what he is feeling all alone for 20 years, ask the elephant who encircles her dead calf with her trunk what she is feeling, ask the elephants who go to the caress the bones of long dead elephants what they are feeling, look at dogs who save peoples lives, apes who have rescued children who have fallen into their cages. You are too black and white. Not to mention you know what I meant about how poorly humans treat animals.
And we can stop the inhumaness to our animals by severely punishing those who abuse animals, including the farmers that do not abide by humane ethical treatment of how they should be raised I think neutering those who abuse animals is a good punishment. Then it stops it in the gene pool.
Barry is right on how we treat the "food" we eat. Dr.Temple Grandin, a noted autistic and dr of animal science tours the slaughterhouses and educates oprs as to how to more humanely slaughter an animal. Not only do we torture them when killing them but sawing off their horns, injecting them with all sorts of antibiotics and hormones (causing 7 year old girls to start their periods way too soon), killing the male calves as soon as they are born of within 4 weeks after taking them away from their mothers, killing tons of wildlife out west so cattle can have MY federal land for fattening up, killing bison in Yellowstone, wolves in Wyo, MT and Idaho to save cattle, using what thousands of gallons of fresh water per pound of flesh........I have given up beef, shrimp, never ate veal, shark, scallops, lot of the overfished fish and limit my "animal" intake for their health and for the health of the env and for me. Cage free, hormone free eggs too. We can all help on that but cheap burgers at Mc and Wendys is on everyones list. Now Wendy's is going to serve goose liver pate in China..........ever see an esophagus shredded from having a tube shoved down it.....humans being "inhumane" again.