Talking of swimming in colder weather...

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

If you use a coat for your dog after a swim would you recommend it? There is no way our spaniel is going to stay dry on his walks from here on in even if he doesn't get in the river he's like a sponge on legs and absorbs moisture from all around him. He is also very skinny, he has very little meat on his frame and gets cold quickly. Hopefully, as he settles in more and more his weight will come (he's already gone from 9.9kg to 11.1kg but could probably do with another kg) but he had a tough start in life as a stray and fattening him up is going to be an uphill battle.

I am looking at an Equafleece for him but thought I'd ask what others use before I buy.

Thank you

If it wasn't for the white blaze, Hellhas that could be a picture of my boy, people often ask if he's been in the water when he's just wicked it up from the grass; but he does love a good swim too! I will be interested in what people have to say, as I'm not happy with our current coat, for many of the reasons you mention, he's a skinny one, and if I can get one the right length for his back, it is too big around the middle.

We used to pop them in an equifleece when we got home with them wet, it dried them quickly, however my two labs really disliked having them put on. We recently changed to Ruff and Tumble dog coats, which dry them well. My only issue with them is that the rugs themselves take ages to dry compared to the Equifleeces, but the dogs prefer them. Any fleece rug generally should help. This is the Ruffandtumble rug on our strangely long terrier cross, we usually have the same problem of if they're long enough on the back they're too big round the middle with her, but this just about fits. Www.ruffsndtumbledogcoats.co.uk I think is the website.

Honey that looks so lovely and snugly

They are, they're two layers of towelling. That flap behind her basically goes under the belly, so dries that too, difficult to see off that photo. And there's a big collar on them that goes up to the ears if you want, it's folded back there. They're like a doggy bathrobe!

I put mine in Hotter dog fleeces if they are wet. The ones with the arms are a bit of a pain to get on but work really well especially on super skinny dogs. They seem to dry a bit faster but it also minimises the damp on the sofas...

at doggy bathrobe Honey.

Bubble my ddog already has a solution for keeping the sofa dry, he snuggles up to us!

Our dog has a fleece drying coat from rollinhillz gundogs

It works well to keep him warm on the way home