How to get your Dog to wear a coat!

As we are starting to enter the coldest parts of the year you may be concerned about keeping your furry friend warm. When we adopted Pond we got her from a rescue that had brought her all the way up from Texas. Because of this her fur is very thin, she wasn’t really made for the harsh northern winters!

I noticed with the last cold snap that she was quickly getting cold when we took her outside. So cold in fact that she was shivering after just a few moments out. I started looking at dog coats in order to add an additional layer of warmth for the cold months. When we got her coat I tried it on her and she HATED it! From what I’ve heard this is a pretty normal first reaction for dogs to have when they wear coats.

So now I’m sure you’re wondering how to go about getting your fur baby used to their coat to keep the cold at bay. The key I found was getting Pond used to the coat while she was distracted. This kept her from trying too hard to eat the coat when she had it on.

We started out putting the coat on her when she was eating, when we took her for a walk or outside to go potty. When she was done we would take the coat off immediately. This kept her from realizing that she actually had the coat on and got her used to wearing it.

She loves her coat now! Her butt will start wiggling whenever she sees the coat because she knows it means she is going outside. This tactic will also work for getting a dog used to sweaters or boots too.