Winter clothes for dogs: who needs them and who just poses

A husky in a jumper looks roughly like me in a sauna: putting on a brave face while counting the minutes until it ends. A chihuahua with no winter clothes in January, on the other hand, looks like a shivering keyring. So whether your dog needs winter clothes depends mostly on who will be wearing them. Let's sort it out by coat, not by Instagram.

Which dogs actually need winter clothes

Winter clothes for dogs make sense where the dog's own insulation is missing. Typically that means:

• small short-haired breeds such as chihuahuas, pinschers or smooth dachshunds,
• slim dogs with thin skin and little fat, like greyhounds and whippets,
• hairless breeds and freshly clipped dogs,
• puppies, seniors and dogs recovering from illness, who hold heat less well (with a sick dog, ask your vet first),
• short-legged dogs whose bellies practically drag in the snow.

Dogs with a thick undercoat, on the other hand, are perfectly fine without a coat: huskies, malamutes, Bernese mountain dogs, most shepherds and plenty of mixed breeds with a proper fur coat. Their coat keeps them warm on its own, and clothing tends to flatten it and add heat they don't need.

Signs your dog is cold

Dogs don't complain in words, they complain with their bodies. Watch for:

• shivering, even while standing still,
• lifting paws off the ground as if standing on a hot plate,
• a hunched posture and tail tucked under,
• slowing down, stopping and pulling towards home,
• heading straight for the warmest spot once back inside, ideally under your blanket.

If the shivering doesn't stop even in the warm, or your dog seems lethargic, confused or unusually sleepy (and I say that as a professional napper), call the vet. Hypothermia is not something to wait out. One more small thing: wipe road salt off the paws after a walk and dry well between the pads.

How to measure your dog so a dog jumper fits

Grab a tailor's tape measure, a treat and ideally a second person. The dog should be standing, not sitting.

1. Chest girth: the widest point just behind the front legs. This is the most important measurement.
2. Back length: from the neck, where the collar sits, to the base of the tail.
3. Neck girth: where your dog wears its collar.
4. Compare with the size chart for that particular item. If your dog falls between two sizes, go for the larger one.

At the first try-on, check that:

• two fingers slide under the fabric at the chest,
• the front legs move freely and nothing rubs in the armpits,
• nothing presses on the neck and your dog breathes and swallows normally,
• if the garment has a belly part, it should be shorter for male dogs so it doesn't get wet when they pee.

If your dog freezes like a statue in the new outfit, don't force it. Get them used to it gradually: a few minutes and a treat. Clothes are for outdoors: take them off at home, wet ones too, and never leave your dog in them unsupervised. An overheated dog is as much of a problem as a frozen one, people just talk about it less.

Christmas clothes for dogs: when it's mainly for fun

At FreshPaw we have the Christmas reindeer jumper for dogs. It's a knitted grey acrylic jumper with an embroidered reindeer head on the back and a red trim. It pulls on over the head, has openings for the front legs, comes in seven sizes from XXS to XXL, and the product page has a size chart. For a short-haired little one it works on a winter walk in dry weather. Knitwear isn't a raincoat, though: in rain or wet snow it soaks through, and then it's better to take it off. For a husky it's purely a costume for a photo by the tree. Go ahead, just for a few minutes.

After a winter bath, when your dog is shivering and you're hunting for a towel, the Coral fleece dog bathrobe comes in handy. It's not for outdoors, it's for drying: it wraps around the whole body and you choose the size by back length. And since winter also means New Year's Eve, for dogs bothered by fireworks we have Ouška, a neoprene band over the ears. It's for muffling noise, not for warmth. It won't remove noise completely, and your dog still needs supervision while wearing it.

If your dog looks offended in the jumper, don't take it personally. A cat would look exactly the same, except the jumper would mysteriously vanish by morning.