Coat Size

[aussiered]

Well Bonnie needs a new winter coat, her old one just isn't going to be warm enough for our new home! So I've just measured her up and got 70cm from collar to base of tail - does this sound right? I can't remember what her old coat's size is and the tag's worn out so I can't read it neither. 70cm just sounded a little big to me (especially since the manufacturer only make coats up to 75cm) so I just thought I'd check that my measurements are correct by asking you guys what size coat your dogs wear? Any help is much appreciated!

[bcnewe2]

What's wrong with her fur one?

[desertranger]

Thx Kristen I was going to ask that. More I would like to know why people dress their dogs. For the weather?

[JohnLloydJones]

Thx Kristen I was going to ask that. More I would like to know why people dress their dogs. For the weather?

 

Having taken a dog out in -35C in the Arctic, I can vouch for the fact that dogs do not need clothes (excepting the mutant, naked breeds, who have been robbed of nature's protection through generations of breeding by so called dog fanciers). Some care may be needed to acclimatize a dog that has been moved from one extreme of climate to another, but generally dogs really don't need clothes.

[MaggieDog]

Coats can be very helpful in certain circumstances and I think we owe the OP the benefit of the doubt. I use a coat on my SAR dog in training when she has to sit in her crate for hours during practice in temps below about 40 degrees, otherwise she'll shiver.

 

Ziva's measurement is about 40cm to her tail base, but I generally prefer coats a bit shorter than that, so her ideal would be around 30-35cm. Z is 15.75" at the shoulder and 24.4lbs.

 

Maggie's full measurement is 57cm to tail base and I'd prefer a coat about 50cm long. She is 18.75" at the shoulder and 32lbs.

[JohnLloydJones]

I use a coat on my SAR dog in training when she has to sit in her crate for hours during practice in temps below about 40 degrees, otherwise she'll shiver.

That's a good point -- I have never needed to crate a dog out in the cold like that.

[bcnewe2]

I use a coat on my SAR dog in training when she has to sit in her crate for hours during practice in temps below about 40 degrees, otherwise she'll shiver

 

That doesn't seem that cold to me. Guess it depends on where you're located. Some of my dogs will shiver if tied to a fence while working other dogs. THey aren't cold they're excited to get their turn or just excited at what they are seeing.

 

Mick will sometimes tremble when laying at my feet waiting to be sent or again if he's waiting for his turn. I'd say it's excitment but he doesn't leave all excited just ready.

 

I really wasn't making fun of the OP, I was wondering in what way she used a coat. Sorry if it came off that way.

[MaggieDog]

Yea it's not really cold to me either (grew up in Indiana winters), but she *is* shivering due to cold - it looks VERY different than her excitement shivers. Cold shivers are all over, excitement shivers are often restricted to ears and legs for her lol. And of course sitting stationary is very different than moving - 40 is not shivering weather when she's working, but before and after our turns she's completely stationary in the car and that's when you'll see the issue.

 

(I figured no one was making fun, but I didn't want people to dismiss the OP's question either.)

[Beach BCs]

I have winter coats for my two. They’re nothing fancy. Waterproof with a light layer of fleece lining. They also have a breast shield to keep certain dogs from getting too muddy from splashing in puddles. Initially I just had one for TX. He just seems to feel the cold much more so than GA. His fur is also much more absorbent than GA’s. If he gets wet he stays wet for hours. GA has the same style winter coat because I got sick of the neighbors yelling at me for making GA ‘freeze’. Granted I live on the NC coast but cold becomes relative. When you’re used to 80s and it’s suddenly 35, raining and blowing 25 knots, that’s pretty darn cold. GA hates wearing the coat. Cold temps don’t seem to bother her much. TX is very happy to put it on. While DH & I were on a cruise in Jan it snowed here; about 6 inches. TX and GA were staying with friends. I was told that GA had a blast running and rolling around in it and TX was miserable. He went out, did his business and curled up crying at the door waiting to get back in. The boy was cold.

[bcnewe2]

Erin

Does she stop shivering when she' wears her coat?

I guess I can relate. I'll be cold, then go out and work, come back in warm but sit down and get cold again.

You know...a hottub cures this issue with me quickly! But I could spring for a coat for the pups if then really need one.

I'll have to notice the next time we're out. Come to think of it. Heck, we'll be out walking and they go jump in the snow melt creek. When they come in they're not cold, but that might be the key...we come inside after.

 

Kate

I have a TX like dog. He doesn't like to get his feet wet at all. He tiptoes through everything. BUt the rest just love to be muddy,cold, or wet. Or so it seems!

[desertranger]

If it's below 65F it's cold.

[aussiered]

Bonnie and I have moved from a Tropical region where the minimum temps in winter are never below 10C (which I think is about 50F for you guys?) and even if it gets to 10 we all think we're freezing. Now it's only autumn down here and the nightly temps have been around 3 (37F), and I've been told it often gets to about minus 4C in winter (25F - if I've converted those temps right?).

 

This is the coldest I have ever been and Bonnie lives outside (that's a condition of my lease, I'm lucky enough to be able to keep her here so I won't even try to sneak her inside). She sleeps in her crate in the shed, her crate has a sheepskin blanket and I've lined the sides with warm blankets, and it has a new canvas cover. She is visibly cold when outside at night, she shivers and her ears feel freezing. When I put her coat on she stops shivering and seems warmer to the touch. But her old coat is a lightweight waterproof one that I use up home during the wet season when I don't want her to be soaking wet all of the time.

 

I don't put her coat on during the day, she warms up enough just running around. But as I'll be sleeping inside in central heating all winter I just don't feel right not rugging Bon up as well. I'm hoping next winter she won't need the coat as much, and then the next she'll need it even less and so on...

[Lewie'sMom]

If it's below 65F it's cold.

 

 

 

Here in Michigan when it gets up to 60F we bring out the shorts and drive with the windows down.

[MaggieDog]

Aussie - If I were you I'd also be looking into a good insulated doghouse for Bonnie - a good dog house will retain heat and make her own body mechanisms for keeping her warm more efficient. There are also special plastic disks that can be heated in the microwave (heat lasts up to 8 hours) you might want to look into for those very cold nights.

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

Seems to me a coat worn all the time would not allow a dogs natural under coat to devolep right for the climate they are in. In Montana my BC are swiming in 30 degree weather and loving it. When they are done they shake off and go about their busniess of sniffing and discovering intresting things. Given the chance they will jump into the water again and again without me even asking them to. When they are guarding sheep moving them from one place to another they run into cold temps and water all the time. I am sure the shepard does not say Oh you poor boy come here I will put a coat on you. I find nature does a better job of helping my dogs than I do.

[aussiered]

Aussie - If I were you I'd also be looking into a good insulated doghouse for Bonnie - a good dog house will retain heat and make her own body mechanisms for keeping her warm more efficient. There are also special plastic disks that can be heated in the microwave (heat lasts up to 8 hours) you might want to look into for those very cold nights.

 

Snuggledisks!! Well that's what they're called over here, we use them at work. I didn't even think of putting something like that in with her (shows how much I know about cold winters...), I'll look into getting her one. I'll also look into insulated dog houses, thanks for the tip

[mcburniefarm]

Just a farm girl addition: Hay/straw bales have excellent insulating properties and are pretty cheap. You can create a nice cozy hay hut, or even a wall just to block wind. We line the house foundation with them in the winters, upstate NY 20 to -25 winters, but I'm a westward farm and get the howling wind, so we added a few bales for perches and a wind brake for Pirate this past winter. He loved them. He was 16 weeks in December and had a waterproof roomy coat just to keep him warm while I did night chores in the barn with the cold concrete floors. And it was reflective so I could spot him. So not so much for him but it made me feel better. Make sure a coat has ample room to allow for his own body heat to circulate and fluff his fur. A tight fit won't allow for that and will compress his fur preventing the insulation..

[border_collie_crazy]

3C is cold? teehee. seriously I would just make sure she has a nice cozy insilated doghouse and she should be fine, she appears to have a farley thick coat on her own, and it will get thicker when it needs too, a nicley insitlated doghouse will protect her from the wind better then any coat will.

[Dogperson]

It's kind of lame that when someone asks a genuine question to a community, they first get made fun of, then people spend the rest of the thread bouncing between justifying and bragging. No one cares how cold your dog can handle, they're asking about sizing for a coat for their dog. Answer the question and don't be a judgey jerk. Other people have similar questions and want actually relevant information or advice.