Short hair, skinny legs, big ears, and small body – Nomii shivers in the cold! This winter, Nomii is experiencing the lowest temperatures he’s ever felt and we are doing our best to dress him right. Reading so many sites, I hope we’re doing it right. But if the dog ain’t shivering, we’re probably close to getting it right I guess! We even have a HOT TIP for getting dogs used to wearing boots!
Nomii has a collection of clothes in his wardrobe. The photos aren’t representative because some are in the wash.
Having gone through fall and now the start of winter, here’s what we’ve learnt.
No clothes needed 12C/55F and above
In fact, Nomii enjoys this temperature very much. It’s cool and comfortable and he’d sometimes lay in the grass and just enjoy being in the chilly air.
Stock up on basic fleece tees
These sleeveless fleece are great for indoors when it’s cold outside. Nomii wears these to daycare where they play indoors if the weather’s nasty but gets some outside time if the sun is out. Between 5C/41F and 12C/55F, he wears his fleece tees on walks too. We get his from Gooby Pets.
They are also great as base layers.
Insulated and water repellent jackets for wet and cold
Nomii has a few insulated parkas in various weights for colder temperatures. Anything below -2C/28F, we start layering especially if there’s wind chill. Our go-to are the Powder Hound Winter Dog Jacket and Furness Dog Jacket from Ruffwear. Insulated jackets should come with leg straps to help the base of the jacket cover the dog’s rump better.
For the ears
Since Nomii has big ears that stand straight, they get cold very quickly when we’re outside. When the temperatures are low, we add a snood to keep those adorable ears warm.
Sweaters for a more polished look and transition weather
Well…a cute pullover or sweater is great for indoors or a visit to someone’s home. They look great but I feel aren’t as functional as the fleece tees. We do layer using sweaters as base layer but it’s not something we do often.
For transition weather, in addition to sweaters, Nomii has a cool looking navy blue trench coat and a merino pullover from Mungo and Maud. They feel soft and comfortable.
Toweling coats for after showers
We typically shower Nomii once a week and continue to do so even in the winter because he plays outdoors, with other dogs (i.e. often covered in drool) and sleeps in bed with us. In winter, it is even more important to keep him warm after showering with warm water and we have this custom red dino onesie with a towel material on the inside that dries him up in no time. He has a non-toweling onesie with legs too and that’s more for looking cute when out and about.
These dino coats are from Barker and Browns. Her workmanship is superb and her order list is long. Be prepared to wait but they’re worth it.
Boots for a pooch – HOT TIP
Nomii’s skinny legs shiver very quickly if he walks in snow. Boots are important for him to enjoy being outside on colder days. Like many dogs, the first time we put boots on him, he was extremely uncomfortable and walked in that weird way we see on many videos. We hated it as much as he did – it wasn’t funny. But we needed to find a way to help him get used to them.
Nomii’s dad had a stroke of brilliance – why not put boots on him and then let him out into the forest immediately where he’ll be so distracted by the smells around him that he forgets about the strangeness on his feet! We did just that and it worked!!!
He got used to boots on his front legs very quickly but oddly, it took a few more minutes for him to walk normally on his hind legs.
By the way, we tried a few pairs of socks with shoes and boots before finding that these Soft Shield Boots from Canada Pooch worked the best for him. The double fasteners – velcro strap just above the ankle and cinching toggle at the top of the boots – keep his boots mostly in place. They do slip a little, but not off his feet, and we don’t need to do more than one adjustment per walk. He even scored points in his disc dog league wearing those boots!
So far, we’ve been taking Nomii out for walks during warmer parts of the day. Looking at the weather forecast for winter, we anticipate there will be days when it would be wiser to stay home. We’re making a list of things to keep Nomii entertained and exercised – both mind and body – on those days. Hopefully, the poor pup won’t suffer too badly from cabin fever.
Life with Nomii 
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