A while ago I was asked about winter wear for South African Boerboels.
Actually, more specifically I was asked how they handle the winter here, and I guess this is a related answer: They adapt, but I throw some coats on them when it’s below -10C to ease any discomfort (the picture below was taken on the property here when it was -20C or so (below zero F)). I have an older female who has never seen a Canadian winter before, and a younger male who came here at 14 months and basically learned that the world sucks a few months of the year and adapted to that (he is quite happy to eat snow while walking to keep hydrated, etc. while my female is always waiting for that blessed moment when I turn around and start heading back to the warm house 
.)
Anyway, here are two coats they have that work fairly well, no complaints on either:
The black one is a Columbia Sportswear that I got as a gift from a good friend that is currently on sale here for $30USD:
(I’ve not used Sierra Trading post myself, but know people who have and they are ‘legit’)
I put the legs through first and flip it over and zip it up. I can’t do the one snap up without it being too tight on the neck, but otherwise it’s a perfect fit. Highly recommended, as it doesn’t slip, doesn’t catch on branches, etc. too badly (so far) and seems to do a great job. Sadly I don’t know what size it is as the tag has been nibbled off, but it’s either the XL(27”/34”) or 2XL(30”/42”)
The red one is a bit hard to see in that pic but you can see it better here:
That one is a RuffWear K9 Overcoat, and our fashion diva there is wearing the XL size… It’s just because she’s big boned, of course, not fat!
http://www.ruffwear.com/K-9-Overcoat-2?sc=2&category=12
Note that I’ve seen that coat on sale for $37-ish USD, but shipping it to Canada brings it back up to the $60 mark. It fits well, and can slip to the side a bit, but never anywhere tragically tangled like the dog backpacks can do. They have a newer model that takes the dogs’ legs through sleeves, but I’m not sure how that would work on the fatter legged breeds like a Boerboel. Dogs are so variable it really must be hard for these guys to guess how big is too big to make a sleeve, etc. to capture the most market… Anyway.
One side note is that these guys seem to have a bit of an advantage over my longer haired GSD in that they don’t get those snowballs inside the pads which forms when snow melts then freezes to the fur in between the pads (I keep trimming out the hair on the GSD, but it never seems to be short enough to prevent the inevitable “stop to bite out the balls of snow in my feet” thing… I have heard that spraying the feet with Pam cooking spray helps, but never really plan on going for longer walks, just seem to find myself on them when I realize it’s a good day for it.)
Anyway, enjoy your winter adventures, and if you have any other clothing suggestions, please share ‘em!
Ron
My ridgebacks wear orange neoprene vests for visibility and for warmth if it gets cold AND they’re not running around. Rain, on the other – that’s TORTURE! ;o) Despite the fact that they need coats like they need a hole in the head, I have long lusted after the coats they sell on the first two of the following websites:
http://k9apparel.com/
http://www.chillydogs.ca/index.html
https://www.neopaws.com/catalog/neoprenejackets-c-44.html?osCsid=k06slr3ih1ghgi7g9hvjqpbuq7
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Good links, thanks.
Ya, I wasn’t really a fan of the things until I got into the short haired guys — one of the BEST features I forgot to mention was that they reflect, so if I let them out at night and they go off barking into the woods, a quick look with a flashlight tells me what tree they have the raccoon hiding in.
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Our Corma Buks son has one of the red Ruffewear costs and _loves_ it to no end. We’ve put a little LED red/green blinking keychain light on the clip up on top of the coat (between the shoulder blades) and we turn it on in the evenings when going for a walk. No real reason, but it’s cool to see him blinking along in the woods… and we get to call him “Blinky Boy” as well.
The black jacket mention above, of neoprene material, I call the “ninja suit” as it’s more of a form-fitting cover than the usual bulky winter canine coat. I think it’s an interesting idea – not as heavily insulated, but it’s stretchy and thus can fight tighter without constricting. It was too big for our Boerboel boy – too long, actually, and I’d have needed to do some tailoring to allow him to “water the bushes” without ending up having the spray hit the underside of the coat.
With Danes as part of our canine family, I’ve experimented with just about every kind of winter coat over the years – and try new ones regularly just to keep current. Shedrow – a respected manufacturer of horse blankets – makes some dog versions that are really the bee’s knees. Heavy outer layer, fleece inner layer, full-strength horse style buckles… we had a purple one that our first Boerboel wore from the first cold day of winter until spring arrived – nonstop. He LOVED his purple jacket and could not be parted with it. When he left us, he was cremated in his purple jacket because I couldn’t imagine anyone else wearing it after he had loved it so.
- fausty
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