Fall is slowly slipping into winter here in Truchas, New Mexico. Don’t get me wrong, we still have predominantly sunny days and clear nights, but the temps are dropping, especially at night. I know I said in the post about making my first fire of the season that I’d have to keep making them once I’d started (see previous post First Home Fire of the Season), but that didn’t turn out to be true this year. Right after I broke down and set that first fire the weather turned very warm again and I hadn’t had a fire since.
You see, my house is built to maximize the sun in the winter and minimize it in the summer. So a little solar gain goes a long way to keeping my place warm. However, once the sun goes down and the temps dip as low as they’ve been dipping overnight, my house is pretty chilly first thing in the morning. I just put on an extra sweater and know it’ll warm up soon.
But one morning when I cuddled Finn in his bed just as the sun was coming up, I realized he was shivering. My Finn has very little fur on his chest and tummy and he didn’t have a sweater. My boy was getting cold in the night! I felt terrible. I dug out a blanket and covered him with it and he snuggled right down into it and stayed there until breakfast, making a sort of soft purring sound.
I called Anna and she immediately went through her things looking for sweaters she could donate (my things are WAY too big for Finn, but Anna is small). She came right over with two sweater vests and a sweater. We put the first one on him (a blend of cashmere and silk no less) and I swear he smiled. He LOVED it. Rather than take that one off, we pulled a V-neck number over top of it and he almost melted he was so happy. He wore this same outfit for several days. I didn’t have the heart to take it off him. He SLEPT in it at night. Finally he rolled in the grass and I simply had to change him into his lovely dark blue sweater.
So I’m going to second hand stores to get him more sweaters. I can tell he’s going to need them for winter. Kate has suggested a horse blanket, custom-made for dogs. I’m looking into that. And he sleeps with a blanket every night now, with a sweater on as well, and is wrapped up in it after breakfast, and even snuggles in it while we watch movies at night. My boy will never be cold again. I promise.
And Anna just brought him a Calvin Klein long sleeved T-shirt—very manly indeed.
Love to you all,
Jeane
Your doggie’s gonna need a closet of his own!
Yeah, he’s a real rags to riches guy. Guess I’ll have to build on.
I LOVE the charcoal long sleeved one in the last photo…it has to be so cozy:)
There is no such thing as an outside dog…some may like it cooler than others I reckon. Our greyhounds were lacking much body fat AND hair so they loved to bundle up, but Kellen and Ethan’s Malamute- when we dog-sat him not long ago – loved to have us leave our french doors to the bedroom open so he could settle down to sleep – and those were some crisp nights for the rest of us – three small dogs and two people in our bed. But we enjoyed the cool night air and snuggled in closer just like Finn:)Happy creatures all.XOXOXGrace
Yes, that’s his Calvin Klein. Nothing but the best for this pooch!
My Kelee definitely prefers it cooler. He loves lying in the snow and rolling in it. When he first came to live with me, having been a total outdoor dog before, he would ask to sleep on the deck outside my bedroom. Some nights I’d wake to find him snoozed under a layer of falling snow! He doesn’t ask to sleep outside anymore and I’ve even caught him napping by the fire on occasion lately.
oh his sweaters are so cute glad his mama is keeping him warm
He just keeps getting cuter and cuter, doesn’t he?
I LOVE people who love their dogs! I enjoy reading your updates about your life very much, thanks for sharing! I am loving your house and the scenery too!
Thank you Lee. I love my life and it’s such a joy to get to share it. So glad you’re coming along on the journey.
The other day I was trying to take Diego, my maltese out for a walk and he just huddled into some blankets on the couch shivering and I finally figured out that he has been getting cold when we go on walks, poor baby. Malteses do not have a coat of dander so they get cold faster, so I am on a mission to find him some sweaters too. I felt so bad for missing that at first but being the sweet dog that he is, he never held it against me. Glad Finn is cozy and warm now. Even if he could talk, he probably would have never complained.
You’re so right that Finn would have never complained. I’ll bet that’s true of Diego too. Our dogs just want to always show us how happy they are. Maybe they don’t realize there are SOLUTIONS to their discomforts. I’m happy you figured out Diego’s problem. It’s an easy one to remedy. AND, like Finn, I’m sure he’ll be adorable in sweaters (send a photo when you have time).
Fin has his forever home. He is precious. You are a good person. I truly enjoyed your story.
Thank you Lynn. Finn is, indeed, precious and he has found his forever home. He’s facing a health crisis right now. I’ll be posting that story tomorrow.