When do you put heating on...for dog??

[Leypt1]

Cost of living crisis obviously

We can waddle around in our fleece onesies until kingdom come but our lurcher has relatively low body fat and we're worried about him

The ambient temperature of our house is maybe 16/17 on a cold (4 degree) day like today but his sleeping room is north facing and one of the colder rooms

How are you keeping your dogs warm? Are you taking them into consideration in your decisions on heating? Is it something to worry about?? Do your dogs happily sleep in jumpers?

He is inept at pulling blankets over himself so we tuck him in at bedtime but it only lasts as long as he stays in one position

I have never had my heating set at more than 16 because I hate an overheated and stuffy room. We go out in temperatures of 16 degrees all the time and think them pleasant - it's Britain, not the tropics. I might turn it up temporarily on the bitterest of days, but that's not common (and I live rather high up in the hills in the north). My house is fine and I am too, because I wear clothes. Layering up if cold works fine - a jumper or a cardigan.

My Border Collie is perfectly fine too - in fact he will often seek out the cooler places in the house even at 16 degrees. In common with most cannines he has built in warming, such as a skin with no pores and a double coat. He'd happily play in the snow and ice for hours - and does!

We’ve had custom waterproofs from www.facebook.com/flyingfleeces who also does fleeces and PJs for pointy dogs, they’re fab and custom made so fit odd shaped dogs.

My old greyhound had a made-to-measure knitted cardigan! It was many years ago now so unfortunately I can't remember who made it, but perhaps Etsy or a greyhound/lurcher forum could provide some similar options (I'm sure I first heard of the maker who made ours on a greyhound forum). His cardigan was gorgeous (I got to choose the colours) it had a big roll neck that could either be rolled up right over his ears like a balaclava or rolled down like a smart like a polo neck and it buttoned up at the side with a flap that went under his tummy. He was very big (even for a greyhound) and very long in the body so normal dog coats never fit him, the made to measure was perfect. Kept him lovely and warm on cold days.
My dear old boy is long gone now but I still have his lovey cardigan to treasure. I hope you can find something similar.

If you email them the measurements they will advise on the best one to get. I have a staffy who has a couple of equafleeces and they keep her cosey!

One of my dogs gets very stressed if we try to put a jumper on her, she only tolerates a coat on walks as she loves her walks so much. We’ve had the heating on for a few hours most days for the last couple of weeks and in winter we set the thermostat to 18/19 at night so it doesn’t get to cold for them. They don’t sleep well if they’re cold.

We have a greyhound and haven’t put the heating on yet - just the gas fire in the kitchen and a wood fire on weekend evenings. We’ve tucked a blanket round him at night for a while and put his knitted jumper on for the first time last night.

Quite a few greyhound trusts sell jumpers or fleeces which would be fine for a lurcher and there are a lot of other sellers online.

My outside cat had a reflective heat blanket. They must do them for dogs too?

We haven't put the heating on yet - we have a dog and three cats. We have lots of fleece blankets and they're always welcome to bury under our duvet as well.

We have one of those microfibre drying coats for the dog and he wears that when it's really cold too. He also has a jumper and a coat for winter walks as he has short fur and no real fat to him so he feels the cold very easily.

Everyone saying "they're animals" etc. needs to read what the OP actually said - he's a lurcher! Very different from a wild animal. Hardly any coat and very low body fat! Our old sighthound mix used to shiver in the cold and the weight would literally fall off him if he didn't eat more in winter.

My lab hates being warm, he loves being cold, wet, muddy and he loves the snow. He’ll always uncover himself if you try to put a blanket on him. He’s not a lurcher though. He does love lying on top of a spare duvet with me in the mornings though so maybe a nice, big duvet would help?

My Labrador loves to lounge in front of a fire. For when we are out we have a flat dog bed with a single electrical heated blanket covered with a fleece Sherpa blanket. It’s preferred to the sofa so must be nice. Costs pence to run.

Aww if he’s a lurcher he defo needs a fleecie coat/jammies. My sighthounds (Spanish Podencos) really feel the cold and have jammies, and various coats and onesies when the weather gets cold. They are from Lanzarote so Scotland came as a shock, lol. Some I had made but you also get them off Etsy, etc

My old boy (12) gets the heating on whenever he looks at me with THAT look on his face 😜
but after walkies he is in his dressing gown till he’s dry then all of my babies get tucked up in bed with a blanket at lights out.

yes I am a total mug, no I would not change any of this 😂

I have been known to put the heating on for 15 mins to up the room temperature after a walk when he is wet.

Typically our heating is on anyway when it drops below 18 degrees but the house is well insulated so 15 mins is all it takes to make the house feel much warmer.

My skinnier lurcher wears a fleece indoors from October onwards, and long legged pyjamas when colder. His best ones are from Spuds dog coats as they are lurcher shaped

Up until this year I used to leave underfloor heating in kitchen on for cats. Now I've bought them igloo homes. Dogs stay in lounge in deep baskets with fleecy blanket each. I switch heating off at 11pm and comes on at 6 am. I think they seem fine but when snow comes I will put them to bed in costs.

Our staffie usually spends the nights sleeping headfirst under our duvet so is a big fan of being warm. She has quite the jumper collection. She’s just discovered our eldest’s bed is next to a radiator so she has started spending the first part of the night sleeping with her and then comes to us once the radiator goes cold. Dogs are just ace, aren’t they 😁

Has anyone used the self heating pads?

Posts like this really confuse me. I’ve been home all day and the heating was on for a couple of hours this morning. I’ve just checked the thermostat when I read this thread and I see it’s 14.5 degrees in my house and I’m not cold. I’m wearing trousers, a top and a fleece.

I can understand that you might feel the cold more if you are sick, elderly or disabled. But I’m not and I’m quite comfortable .

it’s 14.5 degrees in my house and I’m not cold

That would be cold to me and I would be miserable. It's fine if that's not a problem to you but my thermostat is accurate and at 17 I feel cold even with a jumper and fingerless gloves on.

Has it really not occurred to you that other people might feel the cold more than you?

Yes it has. I mentioned it my post which you have just quoted. But the person I was quoting actually said that it was too cold for people, and clearly I’m a person .

There’s not one standard temperature that’s right for everyone ( or every dog ).

www.snugglesafe.co.uk/shop/snugglesafe-pet-heatpads/

These are amazing. I had one as emergency measures when I had a small pet that needed to be kept in warm conditions. It's indestructible so great for dogs and cats and the heat lasts for ages!

We have a lurcher who is a funny shape! He has a house coat and onesie and will wear either. He sleeps in his bed with several blankets and a fluffy cushion base. Look up spudsdogcoats on ebay. Got ours there and fit him perfectly.x

My saluki ish lurcher can’t cope at all if he is cold, he loses weight really quickly and struggles to settle at night. As a consequence he has a vast array of fleecy coats (homemade because he is a ridiculous shape and will not tolerate any touching of his feet or lifting of legs so standard pyjama type things won’t work, thankfully I love sewing!). He wears them all day every day from October to April ish depending on how cold/wet it is, and only goes without if we are going on a long run and it is warm ish.