DW Community Catch-up Thread
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A dog’s fur is like one light layer. Like a fleece for us. And assholes leave their dogs outside all night to freeze.
Our last dog was pretty small and we’d make her wear her jacket on cold days and she haaaaated it. She would have this hysterical betrayed expression. Current dog is much larger so she only needs it a few days a year.
I do enjoy the look some dogs make when they are not happy about wearing an outfit. My new favorite is dogs in life jackets who just fall sideways out of confusion.
I mean, some breeds do better in the cold than others. Like sled dog breeds are bred to withstand colder temperatures. But most aren’t. Mine’s a medium-sized dog. He doesn’t shed, so his hair grows longer and makes him a sponge with snow and rain — so I also like to keep him from getting wet. He doesn’t get cold as quickly as, say, the Italian greyhounds down the street, but he still shivers in the winter. Luckily he’s the most docile dog ever, and sits still for me while we fuss with his accessories. I can tell he doesn’t love his rain coat, though.
I got my little dog a bandana like piece that goes on her back and ties in the front that says “I’m hear for the treats” which is so true for her. She is super food motived. Just yesterday we decided to smoke a meatloaf for company that was coming over. My husband set it on the outside table (that had a chair a little to close to the table) and came in to wash his hands, went back outside and caught her eating up the meatloaf! Sigh…cut off parts of the meatloaf and proceed to smoke it. She didn’t get sick, surprisingly.
But she does give me the evil eye anytime I put any type of clothing on her. Even a sweater if she’s cold. But she deals with it.
On the subject of dogs, has anyone used Wag!, the dog-walking service? When I got my dog a year ago, I had an arrangement with a neighbor that he’d walk my dog midday and I’d take his out at night. It worked well. But alas, he moved. I’d like to still have a walker for my dog, but don’t know how to find someone I trust inside my home and with my dog. Another neighbor walks dogs for Wag! in her spare time as a side hustle, and she made me feel reassured that they hire normal, responsible people (though she’s not someone who could walk my dog because we both have 9-5 schedules). Anyway, my dog has been fine home alone in the interim while I’m figuring out what to do next, but I still think it’d be nice for him to have a break and companionship midday.
We use the Rover app, which I think is similar? Except Wag gives you a lockbox to keep your keys in or something.
Rover is great, and we’ve found good walkers on there after the guy we used for years couldn’t make the schedule work anymore. The thing is, these people aren’t in it for the long haul a lot of the time. Our former guy was a Desert Storm army vet who really just wanted to work with dogs. That was his business and he was serious about it. Whereas we’ve found that people on Rover might suddenly flake out on you, or go back to school, or have conflicting priorities. It’s a temp thing for a lot of them. The woman we have now is dependable, fingers crossed, but she charges a lot more than others.
Yeah, I’m also pricing doggie daycares, and that might be how I go. It’s maybe $10 more but my dog would get to play with other dogs all day.
I use Rover as well, and also my company powers Rover’s texting ability on the back end, so I love to hear of people using Rover! My first experience with Rover was fine but it was temporary for the guy and he ended up going back to school. Last week I found a new dog walker on Rover and he seems really amazing; takes great care of my girl and very dependable. I just couldn’t afford to take her to daycare every day, and I like knowing she’s getting one on one care. My girl is also really little, so the other dogs at daycare overwhelmed her after awhile.
Another vote for Rover!
I will say, the app seems to work great (my husband is primarily responsible for it), and it’s nice to see when they pick up and finish, where they go, how the walk went, and pics each time.
