Clothing & Dogs

One of the fun parts of having a small dog is dressing them up. In many locations, clothing may be essential due to seasonal temperatures. A wide variety of clothing exists on the market today. However, it is important to understand that your dog is going to have clothing preferences based on how those clothes interact with his or her body and the activities associated with each article. 
A winter parka for example indicates that they are going outside. Dogs that love going out will be ecstatic to have this coat put on, dogs that don’t may cower or slink towards you when that article of clothing is produced. 
However, sometimes that cowering, slinking behaviour is because they don’t like how that article of clothing feels when it is on. If you notice this behaviour try a more careful, thoughtful introduction to the activity, but first check that the clothing is not ill fitting or uncomfortable.
This can be easily accomplished by putting your hand in the article and assessing whether the seams and appliqués are raised or rough. Turning the article inside out will usually solve this problem.

Then get the dog to walk around in it to see if it is too big or cumbersome. If they are walking out of it, stepping on the sleeves, dragging the body on the ground, or it is so long underneath that they will pee on it, it simply doesn’t fit. Clothes should be well fit to the body, not tight but not loose. Sleeves should be no longer than the knee, necks should not let you see their bare chest or shoulder points in front. Some easy solutions are if the shirt fits everywhere but the neck, sew the neck smaller or use cloth adhesive Velcro to close it up until they are a little bigger.