Cooling coats !

[nataliesian]

With mak now able to go off lead on hampstead Heath (I'm sooo proud of him) he's getting a little hot already. I'm concidering getting a cooling coat put I wondered if anyone else uses them and if so which one?

The Towling and reflective ones are much cheaper but I wonder if their as effective as the more expensive ones ?

Being a black fella he does feel the heat.

Any ideas ?

[gazer]

I've never used the reflective type, but have seen hounds with them on and they look to be doing the job (Dogs have not been running tho').  I have used towelling coats but only when the dogs are still and I can keep an eye on them to make sure the coat does not dry out, if it does then it'll have the opposite effect making the dog overheat.

I personally wouldn't use one while offlead, if i felt it was too hot then I wouldn't run them in the first place, a black dog especially can overheat so quickly and cause lasting damage.

[nataliesian]

I take your point but perhaps I gave the wrong impression in my haste to draw on the expertise of the forum, He doesn't do much run as Lollop and is with me all the time so theirs no risk I wouldn't notice if the Towling type dried out. we avoid mid day sun, carry water and sit in the shade. I am very aware of the dangers of overheating and get severe sunstroke myself very easily. i have a gell filled neck thingy which makes me feel better. hence me thinking it's a good idea to get him anything that helps him enjoy life.

Anyone else have one ?

[morsifer]

I have a swampcooler coat for Logan - I got it for when we're queuing at agility shows, as he's black and definitely feels the heat standing around. It has its first outing last weekend, and it did seem to help a lot. I like the swampcooler one as it covers the chest and tummy area too - not just the dogs back. They are very expensive though.

My mum has a light wieght silver reflective style one for her whippet x. That seems to help too - not sure what brand that one is though.

[gazer]

May 9, 2013 9:12:32 GMT -5 nataliesian said:

I take your point but perhaps I gave the wrong impression in my haste to draw on the expertise of the forum, He doesn't do much run as Lollop and is with me all the time so theirs no risk I wouldn't notice if the Towling type dried out. we avoid mid day sun, carry water and sit in the shade. I am very aware of the dangers of overheating and get severe sunstroke myself very easily. i have a gell filled neck thingy which makes me feel better. hence me thinking it's a good idea to get him anything that helps him enjoy life.

Anyone else have one ?

Sorry if I sounded abit scary with my post, it's just that every year someone lets a dog get into trouble with overheating when it could have been prevented, these sighthounds need extra care, glad to hear you are aware of the dangers, I wish everyone was.

I always take a water sprayer out with me on hot days, like that you can get to the underside and help them to keep cool.

[vickyb]

I absolutely swear by these - especially for the 2 black girls who get very hot.

www.keepcool.org.uk/dog%20coats.htm
We've had them for 3 or 4 years now and all 3 girls have one. They keep them amazingly cool, I've put one over the back of a chair and sat in the sun and it's amazing how cool they are without making you wet. We've used them on the beach too.

The downside is the price and the fact that they aren't really greyhound shaped, they're a bit shorter than I'd like but the next size drowns them but the benefits outweigh the negatives. The tummy strap is nice and wide and the velcro is really heavy duty. They're made of the stuff that artificial chamois leathers are but a bit heavier duty or those small sports 'towels' you get. I still wouldn't walk them in them when it's really hot but they do make summer bearable. If it's hot at home I put them on them. They are very strange things, when dry like cardboard but get bigger when wet and become very soft.