The Little Bear Dog Blog

Little Bear hates dog coats. I can’t say I’m particularly fond of them either. In my view if you want something to dress up in outfits buy a Barbie doll or have kids, but don’t make a fool of your poor dog. But, even I have to admit that when the weather is really bad, a coat to keep your best friend warm and dry feels like the kind thing to do.

Struggling with a cruciate injury that seems to be worse in cold weather, Annie needs a coat and always seems delighted to have it put on. She’s such a poppet I’m sure she’d stand happily and let you wrap her in tin foil if you wanted to. Little Bear however runs a mile at the mere sight of his coat. Not a problem, except that he hates the rain and shivers in the cold.

I’ve coaxed, I’ve bribed, I’ve ignored and he’s won paws down every time.  Once wrapped in the offending coat, he turns into statue Bear. I timed him the other day – he didn’t move an inch for over 35 minutes!

His first coat is a little on the chunky side so I even resorted to hand sewing him a lightweight fleece in the hopes that he’d at least get some benefit on the coldest days and we’d at least get out the door in the rain.

Its first outing was not so much of a walk as it was a drag and he eventually showed his utter contempt for it by throwing himself onto someones front lawn sideways, sticking his bum in the air and basically looking like he’d slipped a disc in a yoga class!

Admitting defeat the padded coat was destined for the rescue centre and the hand made thing I kept for posterity – that is until we hit -6 and saw him shivering BEFORE we set off for a walk!

Out came the fleece coat and we set off for our nightly walk. Sick of ‘statue Bear’ I gave up after 15 minutes and took it off him. He sprang to life was suddenly hopping around like a Spring lamb. Annie on the other hand, unable to join him in the bouncing about stakes looked freezing, so I took the little fleece and tucked it around her shoulders – a feeble act really as she’s three times his size but she wagged happily and it saved me from carrying it.

Suddenly interested in the offending garment, Little Bear spent the rest of the walk nuzzling at Annie’s shoulders. She of course completely ignored him and trotted home happily in her new shoulder throw.

Coats? I love them!

Annie got a coat of her own the next day when it became clear that the weather wasn’t going to improve any time soon. As the mercury hit a new low, I decided to try Little Bear ‘one last time’ and guess what? He wore the fleece for the whole walk without stopping once! I was utterly amazed.

So today, as we prepared to venture out into the fresh snow that descended overnight, I put on his heavier weight coat and guess what? Not only does he now seem perfectly able to walk in it (without stopping) but he can run around the field like a mad thing and catch tennis balls wearing it!

I’m at a loss to explain the change of heart. We’ve had bitterly cold weather and deeper snow in the past few years and nothing has persuaded him to even walk in his coat – let alone charge about like he did today.  We’ve kicked around a few theories; maybe he saw Annie in hers and thought ‘what the heck’; maybe he’s not been really cold before; but whatever it is, I’m just glad that my shivering, ‘I don’t walk in the rain mamma’ dog are perhaps over for good.