UKC

Does anyone dress their dogs for the cold weather? Ive never taken my three year old Vizsla before and I'm wondering how he will cope with north wales tomorrow.

In reply to Panick: I never have done, I have a springer, and he seems fine, although he spends every day jumping in and out of river like a tool!

One thing that doesnt prep him for is the wind, ive never been out in too bad wind with him, but i suspect if it picks up and you encounter bad weather, and have to keep the dog on the lead they will start to feel it, although of the lead im sure they maintain their own temperature quite well, although id take more food

In reply to Panick: What kind of fur does he have? Is he short haired? I don't put a coat on my dog because he is a very fluffy long haired dog and he doesn't get bothered by cold. I'm not sure about other breeds.

In reply to Panick:

With our old Weimeraner Dave, god bless him, we used to put ruffwear boots on him and a lined goretex jacket.

We took him up Snowdon one November and he really suffered so bought him this kit and he was toasty. I found that the cold and ice used to really play havoc with his paws so bought him the boots.

Initially I thought it was overkill but on top of the Ben one day, we met some MR guys with their dogs and they had the same sort of set up. He hated having the boots put on but soon learned to love them :0)

I also took him on a few overnighters with me and the jacket had attachments for panniers and he used to carry his own food and water for the day!

In reply to Denni: What jacket was it? Mine has never needed so far, but i suspect as it gets colder and windier he may, also the panniers sound awesome, on short days, he can carry all my stuff! poor dog ....

In reply to happy_c:

Hi mate,
the panniers were the older model of the approach pack:

http://www.ruffwear.com/Approach-Pack

Daves jacket was also an older model that had bergan type clips attached so you could stick the panniers on.

Our neighbour has a Vizsla and they have a goretex lined ruffwear jacket that they had adapted to carry military plce webbing pouches (middle sized ones). They just took it to a tailors and got them to sew the corresponding buckles onto the coat, works really well.

The dog only carries about a half litre of water and a couple of large food pouches and some treats. As soon as he sees the jacket and pouches, he goes nuts because he knows he is going into the hills!

In reply to Panick: My Rhodesian Ridgeback has a similar coat and he wears a coat, fabric over fleece. If he's on lead and walking in the dark, I put it on if the temperature is sub 5 Celsius. If off lead mountain biking, or sunny, I put it on sub zero.
Generally, if I need my gloves, he gets his coat.

Snow and ice do tend to curtail our outings as he starts to tripod after about half an hour so I'm going to look into these boot things.

In reply to Panick: thanks for the advice guys, I'm not going too far tomorrow and all fairly low level so I shall see how he gets on and look into warm weather gear for the future.

In reply to Banj:

Boots were one of the best things we bought our dog, he looked a bit daft but it saved his paws and his feet were toasty. Not my dog, but this is the sort of thing Dave wore:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25436406@N03/2552960848

In reply to Denni:
I've got a lurcher, and he does feel the cold. (Starts bombing round like mad to warm up). We have a rain coat that gets used as a windproof, and a pile lined version, (think Buffalo for dogs) for very cold condition. They roll up easily enough to fit behind compression straps on the rucssck, so no hasle to pack them.