Okay, it's not really cold but it is cold for California standards. Yesterday was a high of 60 with blustery winds, it was glorious and I enjoyed every moment. We are suppose to stay in the 60s except for Wed which will reach the low 70s. I'm loving it, since moving from Canada to California it has been tough doing Holiday shopping in shorts and flip flops so I'm stoked. For all of you who live where it actually gets cold and you get snow, this blog is for you.
I lived in Ottawa, Canada most of my life, I know cold. While in Canada we had several dogs, an Airedale Terrier, Jack Russell and Standard Poodles. Both the Airedale and poodles suffered from snowballitis. The only one who did not suffer from snowballs was Jessie our Jack Russell. We actually had a melting area in our home at our back door. A big gated in area with a side heater and carpet where the dogs would come in and drip dry. I was fine with them coming in once their snowballs melted but hated if they distributed their snowballs around the house. Do you know how many times I had to change my socks? So they would come in, melt and then come in the rest of the house.
Seen here is a Dachshund in a full suit, I know my little Jessie would have been happy to wear this in the deep snow as she literally disappeared from sight hopping into the deep snowbanks.
I stumbled upon this wonderful site the other day, Poodleit . I surely don't need them for snow now but could most definitely use them for burrs and other things that like to stick onto poodle coats. Of course it would have to be cooler weather for them to sport the full coats but for sure nice to keep the burrs off the fur. My standard poodles are much like giant pieces of walking velcro so anything that keeps the burrs and sticky things off is great. For those of you with furry legged dogs; these are amazing for the snow.
And even if you aren't into the full on snowsuit look, the Splash guards would be excellent to save the hardest hit area. Snowballitis targets the bottom of the leg first then depending on the amount of time spent playing outdoors and how small the dog is or how deep the snow is will factor in how far it spreads. I remember many times; pulling apart baseball sized snowballs from my Airedale and poodle.
Just a few breeds that might benefit from this type of weather protection would be:
Bouvier
Doodle
Afghan
Spaniels
Portuguese Water Dogs
Wire haired terriers
Big and small fuzzy mixes
Schnauzers and anyone else with furry legs
Grab a blanket and snuggle up with your favorite pooch, it's cold outside.