Snow Puppies

Long haired small dogs = A SNOW NIGHTMARE! 

Why? 

The picture speaks a thousand words. We were probably 2/3 through our walk at the dog park when I had to pick her up and carry her back. I had picked her up a few times and broken the snowballs off her belly, but alas, no avail. She had no coat on that day, but her coat wouldn't have prevented the issue. 

Poor little havanese. 

Her poodle brother doesn't have this problem because we cut his coat right down. :) 

he just gets cold now. 

So what did we do? WE WENT TO THE PET STORE!

And found her something more practical. 

A PUPPY TURTLENECK SWEATER

Today we tested it out. 

Verdit --- slightly better option.

But she still got snow up on the bottom half of her legs and on the far end of her belly.

They did have a long underwear style sweater... that might have been better. 

I think she might have to rock her muttlucks! 

Especially if we continue to have this horrible, but beautiful, wet snow. It's been like a foot of snow in the past day or so... such a surprise after spring-like weather for most of January/February

Christmas Puppy Outfits

In October I talked about dressing up my dogs for Halloween. I never did.

Now it's December. I've been looking for the perfect Christmas outfit for my pups.

After much searching, I found them. They are perfect. I found them at Winners. 

This is how I think Caper feels about his Santa Suit. 

It has a matching hat, but you try getting a dog to wear a hat! I think he hates it because it makes him too warm. He's getting his Christmas hair cut soon. It'll be good. 

Daisy is super sweet in her dress. She loves wearing clothes.

Well, I'm not sure if she LOVES IT. But she definitly doesn't mind it. 

Winter Dog Care????

I was going to wait till another day to post this.
But it snowed like a lot last night.
I feel so underprepared. My dogs coats aren't made.
They don't have booties. And they aren't loving the snow at all!

The snow has fallen.

Now, how do I take care of my puppies?

The First Thing I've done in prep is taken them to the groomers.

I had their paws trimmed.

From what I hear, I'm going to have to be careful of their paws getting frost bite and ice clumps, and of the deicing chemicals on the roads when I take them for walk. 

The Second thing I'm working on is dog jackets.

My boarder suggested coats for when it gets REALLY cold and windy. 

At what temperature should my dogs where there coats?

anyone have any advice on winterizing their dogs?

The Third thing I'm thinking about is dog booties.

I've been thinking of making matching ones to their jackets. 

Like this pattern here or this one

Or buying some from Etsy or the Pet Store.

What are your ideas on dog shoes? Do you let your dogs where the shoes?

I'm also seeing some information about balms... 

 Something like this or this one, Mushers Secret

or maybe homemade recipes like this one

The Fourth thing I'm thinking about is house training.

Daisy already has a disadvantage. 

But today, I came home to not one, not two, but 4 puddles on my linoleum. 

This is Capers first winter.

Daisy has already expressed disinterest in snow. 

Puppy Pads? How can I puppy pad train my puppies? 

Check out these Nine Must haves...

And I must remember this post too about small dog care in the winter.