Back to Pondering Doggie Parkas

I am once again considering getting Larry a coat. I’ve never owned a dog who we put a coat on before, not even our Viszla who slept outside during eastern MT winters. She did fine. But I keep going back to Larry’s size- only 25lbs, and the fact that he was brought up here fromLos Angeles. The snow we had a week ago was likely the first snow he ever experienced. And then we had freezing rain.

We would take the dogs out and then, before the ice had a chance to unfreeze on them, wipe them off with a towel. Still, Larry would do his business and then huddle up against the sliding class door until Junebug (who loves sniffing through the snow) was ready to come it.

It was all made worse by losing our power for almost 36 hours. Night wasn’t that bad because Larry sleeps under the blankets next to me anyway. But during the day/evening, when the house was in the 40s, and he felt the need to be at the window, surveying the neighborhood, I could see him shaking.

He wasn’t shaking all the time, and it may have been excitement/nerves, or it may have been cold. The tips of his little ears were certainly getting cold.

At the same time, it’s not like we lose power all the time. This was a pretty rare occurrence. Still, I hate to see him shiver, and since getting him to calm down and come cuddle under the blanket with me is nearly impossible when it’s light out, it was something I had to deal with.

So, I’m back to pondering a coat for my little guy. I don’t really know if he needs one, but I think I might need for him to have one.