Hi, I just wondered if you have coats for any of your puppies? With the cold weather in the UK at the moment my 10 week Old does shiver from time to time and doesn’t seem that excited about going out in the cold. That said, I’m not one for ‘dressing animals up’ and I thought Labs would be quite tough in this weather. Am I mean? Is anyone using something to keep their lab puppy warm outside?
My lab doesn't need anything, he loves just sitting out in the freezing drizzle and pondering life. He thinks nothing of the cold whereas I'm dying When he was a wee pup we bought him a little coat but it didn't get used as he didn't need it. He never shivers though. I wouldn't worry about feeling silly about putting a coat on your pup if you feel she/he'd be more comfortable in one.
Little ones can get cold, for sure, so if he's shivering, then you want to warm him up. My lot as puppies have all been happy as Larry bouncing around in -20C with snow, but they were older than your pup and, still, the field-bred ones would feel the cold because their coats just weren't up to the same standard as my show-bred girl. I would restrict their outdoor play when it was this cold to short bursts - not to mention deep snow is hard on growing joints. I know you don't have those sorts of conditions in the UK, and I wouldn't be concerned on your dry cold days, but when it's cold and wet, it feels significantly colder than those days which are actually colder, just without precipitation. I probably wouldn't dress him up but at 10 weeks he won't be going on walks, so just let him go to the loo and then bring him back into the warm.
We got our puppy in January (in Canada) and we did put a sweater on her if we were going outside for any length of time, since she got cold very quickly. We usually carried her, but friends with small breed dogs loaned us sweaters/coats so we had quite a selection (for a few weeks anyway until she was too big).
I bought my girl the Hurtta Torrent coat. I’ve been really pleased with it and she loves wearing it, although she does only wear it on the coldest, dampest of days. It’s expensive so I didn’t buy it until she had stopped growing, so possibly a purchase for the future. If you wanted a knitted jumper, a friend told me today that you can get Christmas dog jumpers from the bargain shops on the high street where everything is a £. If you know what I mean.
