Something I really can’t stand is people using the blanket excuse of ‘they’ve got a fur coat, they’ll be fine!’ as an uneducated excuse for not dressing your dog up for winter.
French Bulldogs in particular have incredibly thin coats, especially behind their ears and on their legs and tummy. They get really cold just as easy as they get really hot. Temperature management is essential in all seasons for them.
Fortunately Stella’s pretty vocal when she’s cold, she will shiver and grumble until we do something to help her.
Blankets
In the winter months we make sure Stella has a blanket readily available in her bed, these don’t have to be expensive or even super thick, in fact, we use a pretty standard fleece blanket for her.
Keeping blankets around the house for her allows her to regulate her temperature herself, rather than keeping her in a thick jumper all day and risking her overheating.
Clothing
We get a lot of snarky comments from family for dressing Stella up, but it’s actually really beneficial to her. It’s getting really cold outside and when the temperatures hit the minus levels she’s really reluctant to walk, and if we stop still she will start shaking – not good!
So we do buy clothes for Stella. I love Etsy for this, there’s a lot of really nice custom made hoodies and jumpers on offer.
Etsy can run on the pricier side though, we have a lot of clothes like this hoodie for her. They make a huge difference when walking her in the cold, so I’d highly recommend some form of jumper. You can’t beat a tasteful Christmas jumper either actually, but again, be careful leaving it on indoors as Frenchies get hot really fast too.
I really can’t stand it when Stella gets cold, and it makes me sad to think of the amount of pet owners who think clothing is faddy and unnecessary. Look at your dog, know their signs, take care of them!