Years ago at a dog show I bought two shammy cool coats for the hot summer days. The coats stay cold for hours on the dogs and help keep them from overheating. They were expensive and the company stopped carrying them at the shows. Waiting for ringtime in the summer be it conformation, agility or obedience the dogs are definately more willing to work when they are not hot. I was bemoaning the fact the coats were no longer available to Bryn's mom Marie. She immediately said she could buy car shammies at Walmart for a fraction of the cost I spent on the orginal coats. A few other supplies, velcro and ribbon and in a short time she made Echo her own cool coat.
Coming home from work today it was 105 degrees at 5:30PM. Now I have three dogs, three coats and three happy dogs.
Thank you Marie, Bryn and Walmart.
6 comments:
Oh wow! I bet those are pretty easy to make. What a good idea!
What a great idea! I'm sure we can't get any coloured shammy here but basic yellow would serve the purpose:-) It was quite warm today and Beryl wouldn't even walk fast enough to keep up with me down the park, lol. Something like that might help cool her down when it gets hot.
So Jennifer (and gang) how does putting a "coat" on help with the cooling? Do you soak it with water first? We'll be moving someday (soon I hope) to New Mexico...keeping cool will be important there.
Hi Sandy
The coats are soaked in cold water and stay cool by evaporation I guess. The shammies are much cooler than the surrounding air temperature. If you put your hand underneath coat, the fur is as cold as the coat and it stays cold for hours. I am not impressed with the regular cool coats as they seem to quickly get warm and the dogs are warm and wet underneath those coats. Cool neck bands don't seem to help cool them much either.
If I were moving to New Mexico I would get some shammy cool coats ASAP.
Helen
Those are awesome!! I'm going to pursue getting some made for Becca and Shawn. :)
Donna
And its pink! Ha! I figured it would be ugly yellow/brown too. Very cool.... literally!
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