AIBU to wonder why so many dogs wear coats these days?

[DogCoat]

I am quite old, so in my day, you never saw dogs wearing coats. These days, a high percentage of dogs are dressed in coats to go out. What is this all about? Why did dogs not used to need coats, but now they do?

Washing even a Whippet after a very muddy walk takes a good 15 minutes between getting in through the door and sitting down for a coffee next to a clean, drying-off Whippet. {I have timed it}
A heavier coated breed will hold masses of mud in their undercarriage.

Don't be ridiculous. My spaniel would ROCK some dungos.

Yes! I don’t have a dog but very much enjoy seeing them wearing coats. Extra points for ‘proper’ coats like tweed or Barbour jackets.

Absolutely..Greys and Whippets {and Italian Greyhounds} are probably the only breeds of dog that have ALWAYS historically worn coats in colder, wetter climates.

This shows how wet ''plasters'' down a sighthound's hair to their skin. {Here a shower because of rolling in stinky fox poo}

Edit,I shut her in the {warm} shower cubicle expecting her to shake herself 'dry', but it was a Mexican standoff.

A staring contest through the glass.

In the end I relented, and got soaked as she shook herself , despite a waiting towel!

My parents dogs didn't have coats, but they were happy to have a room off the kitchen that the dogs were confined to after walks until they dried off which was therefore routinely plastered in mud and stuck on dog hair to above knee height and which smelled of wet dog. The dogs baskets were in there too and also smelled of dog.
Even my low housekeeping standards are higher than that tbh. But I have smooth haired lurchers and ddog1 who is greyhound/saluki is very fine coated, no hair on his tummy at all really and has always needed a coat, and indoor pyjamas at night. For the last year hes had a nasty autoimmune skin condition that has left him even more patchy on the scars and on vet recommendation wears t shirt material jumpers all year outside to protect him from UV (imported from Australia, HoundTees for anyone wondering). He runs into his coats with joy.
My other lurcher is whippet/doberman and until this year would only wear a coat if it was really raining or very cold as he is a bit more heavy set but still only has a fine single coat. But at 10 he's feeling his joints more and wants to wear one when its colder. If I put one on and he's not needing it he will take it off anyway

Because my dog takes forever to dry, so it's more convenient for me to pop a coat on him when it's raining.

I'm actually eyeing up an equafleece, which is basically a puddlesuit for a dog.

There are more breeds nowadays (poo crosses etc) that need shaving to stop their fur getting matted, so people get coats to compensate for the hair loss.

My sprinter doesn't need a coat for warmth reasons but his love of rolling in fox shit often makes me wish he'd had a coat on!!

Because I’m nearly 14 (so 98 in doggy terms) and I feel the cold and my mum and dad love me.
woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.

Older, smaller dog does in cold or wet weather because well she's old and small and feels it more now, she moves slower than she did so gets colder faster and she doesn't grow as thick a coat as she used to.
The spaniel has one, but she very rarely wears it because she never stops moving, only on a lead walk around the village when it's tipping down or really snowy etc, and it's more of a waterproof cover and means she's not as wet when we get home, and it's fluorescent and reflective so good for around roads.
Wouldn't bother with one just to keep her clean, just towel off and on her bed when we get back until she's dry, she's in all the undergrowth and mud and so it'd get soaked through anyway and it's easier to clean the dog than have loads of coats always needing washing!

Same for me. I've got a saluki (long haired) and a thin waterproof is a big help. I have had some "hot dogs" and some "cold dogs" (same with horses). Some have really felt the cold, others not at all. Current dog is more than happy without, despite being a skinny old noodle.

Equafleece are WONDERFUL.

As a ''polo neck coat'' they really do keep the dog dry even in heavy rain..

BUT....
The jumpers with legs can and do get saturated on the underneath parts.

Yes, it keeps the mud off, but can mean if on a long pub walk that the dog can be sitting around in a wet jumper.

Because animal welfare standards are higher now, and it's more practical as many have said. It's probably also fair to say that like so many things, dog products and dog services have become a huge mahoosive industry and therefore there are masses of products to buy because companies know masses of people will buy them. Hence the huge range of options for doggy coats, doggy toys, doggy groomers, doggy daycare and the list goes on.

Fundamentally though the use of dog coats is about practicality (for the humans who have to clean the dogs) and kindness and consideration (for the dogs who are probably far more comfortable with a coat than without one).

@oakleaffy thank you, that's really helpful.

Depends on the dog, the single coated ones need one.

But border collies and German shepherds and such like don't give a shit and will happily lay down in frosty ground.

Dogs we have you would never have got one on them, they thought it was a game and wriggled away.

3 year old springer only ever had one chucked on if we were on a early morning on lead toilet walk & it was tipping down raining, as I'd be going to work & not have the time to dry him. Them off lead he'd be naked & tearing round not caring. Then towel robe thing for in the car. But he's had plates & screws in his foot this year & vets/hydro have advised to keep him warmer. So he now has jumpers for night sleeping in the winter (which he actually seems to love- pops head in while body wriggling!) he's never buried under blankets so maybe he was feeling cold before? & I've bought another coat for lead walks that completely covers him- this hasn't been so well received so that may get donated 😂

Better standards of animal care and welfare means more senior dogs. Seniors feel the cold more, but they still need their walks (some continue to enjoy them) so wrapping them up is the obvious thing to do, just as you would yourself before a trip out. I'm 60 and when I was little, it was common to see Yorkies, Dachshunds and Westies in little jackets, but not so much Labradors and German Shepherds. You'd see these poor dogs trudging around in the cold, even when they'd white on their muzzles. . .I'm glad things have changed.

It depends, surely?

Single-coated skinny dogs like sighthounds, yes, makes sense.
Keeping the mud off a very furry undercarriage, makes sense in some circumstances (our JRT was broken-coated and the mud would dry and just drop off, so we never bothered. Also she would have destroyed any coat on brambles and thorns)
Protecting a very small or infirm dog from terrible weather, makes sense
Protecting a dog who will be standing around in the cold and wet, makes sense

Otherwise... If your dog is active, it really doesn't need a coat. If ours come in soaked, they have drying coats, and we have a waterproof coat like a horse's rug which I have used a couple of times on long training days with lots of hanging about in horizontal rain or a howling gale.

i have a spaniel, he gets far far too hot in anything as he is 100mph everywhere!
He doesnt get chance to get cold. when he gets in the car to go home, we pop on a drying towel robe if he's wet (he's always wet, always, even if its not raining!)

The terriers only wear a coat for actual walking, if they are doing any running around the coat is taken off, and only put back on for the walk back to the car.

Springer body wiggles are just the best 😍

Mine absolutely hates the rain, and we can only get her to go out in it if she's got her waterproof coat on. That's the only time we use a coat though. She had a jumper last winter because she'd just been rescued and she was skin and bone with a very thin coat, but she won't need it this year.

I have sight hounds they get very cold especially in Scotland!
She even has a doggy onesie that she wears if it's particularly chilly at night (she sleeps downstairs and the heating doesnt kick in) or we are camping. She absolutely hates being cold and often point blank refuses a walk especially in the rain

My dog wears a coat when it’s 5C and below. He’s single coated so gets chilly. If I know he’ll be running the whole time, I don’t always. But if he’s on lead a good amount of time, or we’re training in a chilly barn I put one on him as he lives in a warm house, not outside in a kennel or shed/outhouse as dogs would years ago.
The only benefit to cold weather, in my eyes, is being able to dress him like this!

Do you own all those breeds?!

They're being domesticated to be like humans. They don't need it, their humans want them to have it/believe they do/have gotten them so used to it they've 'evolved' to do so.