Keeping your dogs warm at night

staffiecat

Hi everyone,
Just wondering how you keep your dogs warm at night?

Usually my two flop on the bed and occassionally under the duvet with me and OH. However we have just purchased a new bed and OH has refused to let the dogs back on the bed :eek:

I have two beds for them with bedding and some fleece blankets but one of the dogs is a whippet and she really feels the cold. Even my GSD cross seems to feel the cold at night ! Last night I put OHs dressing gown over the Whippet and she didn't move all night :cool: but the GSD did try to sneak in under the duvet in the early hours.

What do you guys do ? Or am I fussing for nothing !!
thanks

krlyr

A GSD should be warm enough with their double coat. I think I'll have the opposite problem - Casper seems to struggle and get too warm in our current house so often sleeps by the draughty back door, and we don't even have central heating or doubleglazing, so I'm not sure how he'll cope in our new house which has both! I think I'll need to get him a cooling pad instead of a hot water bottle!
Otherwise maybe a round nest-type bed they can curl up into, or a heat-reflecting bed, if you genuinely think they're too cold (rather than trying to push their luck sneaking into bed!)

zaksmum

My whippet/lab cross really feels the cold and I put an old duvet in his basket for him to sleep on, then a couple of fleeces over him, and he usually stays under them all night when it's cold.

My golden retriever cross has loads more meat on her bones and has hot flushes on the coldest night, flinging her blankets out of the basket with a huge dramatic sigh before rolling onto her back, legs akimbo...!

puddy

dogs have fur coats, i think only the little toy ones may have problems

ours has a foam and fabric nest bed and he always seems cosy in there

i wouldnt dream of allowing him on the bed, let alone under the duvet. he's not allowed upstairs anyway

Polmop

I was thinking the same we have a lurcher.
Found these on ebay, couldnt stop laughing though

Caroline_a

That dog looks soooo embarrassed!! Why do people do that to their dogs! For the whippet, try a hooded basket, then his body heat will be more contained. Most other dogs will be fine inside, their thermoregulatory system is a lot better than ours!

gettingready

Zara always looks for a place to keep COOL rather then warm... hmmmmm

DEpends on the dog I guess, the fur on Zara wish I had a coat like that fr the winter

lostinrates

Caroline_a wrote: »

That dog looks soooo embarrassed!! Why do people do that to their dogs! For the whippet, try a hooded basket, then his body heat will be more contained. Most other dogs will be fine inside, their thermoregulatory system is a lot better than ours!

I do it because my greyhound suffers when she's outside for prolongued times and mopes when left inside when I'm working outside in winter.

My othet dog has a traditional padded rug/coat for the extreme weather (wore it for about a week last year outside) but the grey needs added warmth for the prolonged times we spend outdoors to be happy. She wears it alone when its a little cold and under padded rug when its bitter. ATM its mild and she;s still ''naked'' and shorter walks in the cold weather with vigourous runs are fine, its the time when I'm working and they only really walk around or stand still. She likes to be part of things, but not to be cold.


We don't have very much heating in our house (only a woodburner in one room), so they get an infared heat lamp when its cold inside, as they would if they were in our door kennels. The room the sleep in doesn't have a high ceiling so it retains warmth better than elsewhere in the house. When its very cold (e.g. pipes frozen cold) the grey will keep her all in one on most of the day, but I take it off for at least one good run a day because then she is warm enough for a while.

Raksha

We also use an infra red lamp (as used for keeping chicks warm in hatcheries etc.) Barney the doodle has quite a thin coat, and Missy the Springer doesn't have a thick coat. They are also insulated underneath with a memory foam mattress topper cut in half and doubled up. They sleep in an unheated passageway/utility room.

Don't forget, dogs in the wild would find a very small space which would be kept warm with their own body heat, our homes may be draft free, but they are much bigger spaces for the dogs body heat to be lost to.

andthethreebears

I was wondering about this - we have a slim lab who sleeps in the kitchen (plastic dog bed with fluffy 'vet bed' padding) and we haven't started putting the heating on yet, but the kitchen is probably the warmest room, he could lie next to the range cooker!
I don't know what to do - to get a warm/soft bed and risk him chewing up / swallowing it overnight or to let him sleep in our room when it gets realy cold, or leave him as he is?!

zaksmum

gettingready wrote: »

Zara always looks for a place to keep COOL rather then warm... hmmmmm

DEpends on the dog I guess, the fur on Zara wish I had a coat like that fr the winter

Yeah but imagine not being able to take it off on a hot day...!