Will my new dog Gus need a sweater? I think he won’t.
Several Boston Terrier owners have e-mailed me photos of their dogs wearing sweaters, and I have to be honest, the one thing that held me back from getting Gus was the dread thought that I might have to buy him a sweater.
Robin Gibbons, the very conscientious breeder of Gus, showed me a sweater she got for her dog Jeeter. Perhaps it is the dormant alpha male in me – much of this has died in me or been beaten out – but I just don’t like the idea of dogs in sweaters unless it is absolutely essential for their survival.
I have had working dogs, and most recently farm working dogs for some years and I would never have put a sweater on a dog like Rose or Red or Fate. I understand that some people want to do it, and I checked with some vet friends about it.
“In extreme weather,” one vet told me, ” you might want to consider a sweater for a small dog, but as a rule, no, there is no need for it in this breed. It’s a choice, not an obligation. These dogs shiver often, sometimes when they meet people, sometimes when they go outside. A sweater wouldn’t do much to keep most dogs warm anyway, the cold passes into their body through the feet as a rule, not their back or shoulders. If it’s really cold, let them out briefly, and bring them in.”
I talked to three different vets and all three said pretty much the same thing. The people need for the dogs to have sweaters, the dogs not so much. Boston Terriers have short snouts, and they can’t warm up the air they breathe, as some dogs do, so sweaters might help them hold their body heat.
Some BT owners insist their dogs they need sweaters.
As with everything else in the animal world, there are many different opinions about this. It sometimes depends on the dog, and of course, the owner and the environment. I know that people love to dress up small dogs, and I find the idea uncomfortable for me.
I ran into my friend Jamie Snyder recently, he is a much respected organic farmer from Eagle Bridge, N.Y., he comes to our farmer’s market every weekend. He got a Boston Terrier puppy last year, and he is long-time border collie owner and lover, just like me.
He is one of those big and strong men I write about who love dogs, and Jamie just lights up when he talks about his Boston Terrier, “you will love him, they are the most loving and wonderful dogs.”
I asked him if his dog wears a sweater in the cold upstate winters: “sweater, no? He loves to run around in the cold, and if he does get cold, we just bring him in. He shivers a bit, then he often shivers when he’s excited. I won’t want him to wear a sweater.”
I’ve gotten a lot of e-mail lately from farmers who have Boston Terriers – they kill rats and mice in barns – and they all love these dogs, but like Jamie, said they never put sweaters on them and they are fine. “If it’s really cold I don’t leave them out for too long,” said Ed, a long-time dairy farmer. “If they are cold, they’ll let me know and I’ll let them inside.”
Some use dog doors so that the BT’s can come in and when they wish and others keep dry and sheltered rooms in the barn ready.
But none of them have ever used sweaters. I can’t imagine farmers putting sweaters on their dogs and I am not a farmer, but a writer with a farm, and I don’t like the idea either. I was relieved to hear Jamie say he just didn’t think his dog need it.
Jamie is much like me in our view of dogs that work, and my instinct after considering all of this, is to not use sweaters unless it becomes absolutely necessary or some vet tells me to.