# Is my Dog cold at night?



## trio25 (Jul 1, 2014)

My dog is a bit anxious anyway and we're just back from a couple of days at my sisters he immediately relaxed when he got home, curling up on his sofa having snuggles.

But during the night he woke me up whining when I got up he curled up on my lap and slept. I went back to bed but was woken up again. Once again slept curled up with me on the sofa. I added a blanket to the sofa and he didn't wake me up again.

I was wondering if he was cold as oppose to just being cheeky as he does sleep well at night. His ears felt cold which made me think he was cold. 

Do you think he was cold? If so what should I do to help him stay warm enough overnight now its chilly? Do dogs wear PJ's?


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## Ang2 (Jun 15, 2012)

You can buy a fleece for him to wear in the house. They have some in Home Bargains at the moment for £1.99.


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Yeah if you live in a cold house, if my dogs sleep in the car they wear theirs

https://www.equafleece.co.uk/store/dog_jumpers.html


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## Guest (Dec 30, 2014)

Mine gets cold at night and won't settle. She wears a jumper to bed most nights in the winter - a light one if it's mild or an equafleece if it's colder.


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## trio25 (Jul 1, 2014)

Usually the house isn't cold, thick stone walls, but obviously its colder outside so colder inside at night. How do I know its that he's cold as oppose to being cheeky, what my OH thinks.

Won't have a Home Bargains round here, live rurally and I don't drive, will look at equafleece thanks.


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## Little P (Jun 10, 2014)

smokeybear said:


> Yeah if you live in a cold house, if my dogs sleep in the car they wear theirs
> 
> https://www.equafleece.co.uk/store/dog_jumpers.html


Another vote for equafleece here. My dog is practically living in his at the moment.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Ziggy wears a fleece jumper at night and on very cold days. I think the temperature if the ears and paws is a good indicator of whether the dog is warm enough.


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## Moobli (Feb 20, 2012)

What breed is your dog? And what age?


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

Molly gets very cold and sleeps under a blanket with her Equafleece on, she's a right wuss with this weather (like her human!)


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## shirleystarr (Mar 22, 2009)

Gets cold in the house here at nights too so all my dogs wear knitted jumpers


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## trio25 (Jul 1, 2014)

Moobli said:


> What breed is your dog? And what age?


He is a lab springer x, 5 years old. Been here 6months.

He's our first dog and our friends laugh at his coats but early in we got caught in a rain storm and when we stopped he was shivering uncontrollably, he ended up with our coats wrapped round him so I know he feels the cold.


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

shirleystarr said:


> Gets cold in the house here at nights too so all my dogs wear knitted jumpers


I bought my mum, an avid knitter, the Wooly Woofer book with knitting patterns for doggy jumpers so we can have a more varied wardrobe beyond Equafleece next year. Mum is apparently studying a mardi gras pattern....I'm a bit worried.


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## Leanne77 (Oct 18, 2011)

Two of my dogs wear Hotterdog jumpers at night when it's cold and the heating is off. The third would pant even if it was minus 20 so he doesnt wear one.

I dont think I could sleep in just my PJ's at night without any duvet over me so I would imagine for a dog, an extra layer at night would be welcomed.


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

It does sound as though your dog just happens to be a chilly dog.

My lurcher sleeps in his bed, on the floor next to mine and I sometimes reach down and cover him with a light fleece if his ears feel cold to the touch. Unless it is really cold, he will get up and rearrange himself - so I assume he is not as cold as I think he is  He does create himself a lovely cosy nest though.

But I know lots of lurcher and greyhound owners whose dogs sleep in fleece pj's - I wouldn't use them on Jack as I think he would get too warm.

If you can try him for a few nights with an old t-shirt or jumper of yours, altered to fit and see how he settles it may become easy to see that he is better off with pj's at night.


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## babycham2002 (Oct 18, 2009)

I think the fact that he settled when he had a blanket means he was cold not 'being cheeky'. 
The temperatures have been below freezing last two nights. So that's probably why. 

Another vote for equafleece here


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

The golden I have now is a bit of a hot dog and often pants if we have the heating on. However I thought yesterday that with it being a lot colder that I ought to put something warmer into her bed, so added a vetbed fleece. She seemed quite grateful and has curled up in her bed several times this morning as well.
My last golden definitely did feel the cold. She chose to sleep in our room at night on a rug at the bottom of the bed. I didn't put her bed in our room as I didn't want to encourage her, but every night she would plod up the stairs about an hour or so after we went to bed, curl up on the rug and stay there. Some nights she would try to get on our bed, we would push her off, but it would happen several times. Other nights she was fine. Then I realised she was cold some nights, so give in and put her bed in there. She never tried to climb up onto the bed again.
I think your dog is cold and needs a cosy bed especially at night when the house gets colder. It does vary from dog to dog as demonstrated by my two Goldens.


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## Moobli (Feb 20, 2012)

trio25 said:


> He is a lab springer x, 5 years old. Been here 6months.
> 
> He's our first dog and our friends laugh at his coats but early in we got caught in a rain storm and when we stopped he was shivering uncontrollably, he ended up with our coats wrapped round him so I know he feels the cold.


Unless he is unwell, he shouldn't necessarily be cold (I know lots of gundogs who live outside in kennels all year round without any issues) but if he seems more comfortable with a cover/coat or whatever, then where's the harm


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## trio25 (Jul 1, 2014)

Yes he does seem to feel the cold. He tried to get in bed with us last night, but that's not unusual, he chooses to sleep on the sofa once evicted.

He doesn't seem to have a double coat so guess that is why he feels the cold?

Told my OH about this thread and apparently we can choose him some fleecy pj's together.


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## rottiepointerhouse (Feb 9, 2014)

I would try a fleece and see if that helps. With my two pointers the english one (Arthur) feels the cold terribly and boy does he let us know if he isn't warm enough whereas the gsp copes with the cold much better and never makes a fuss. They both have equafleeces on at night when its cold as we turn the heating off and my OH has the windows open. I wrap myself up in the quilt and pull it over my head so I figure the dogs need a bit of help too. Indie rottie on the other hand dislikes being too warm and will go and lie on the tiles to cool down.


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## babycham2002 (Oct 18, 2009)

Joey modelling an equafleece


Somedays in my house it's like living with a little herd of sheep


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## cbcdesign (Jul 3, 2014)

Moobli said:


> Unless he is unwell, he shouldn't necessarily be cold (I know lots of gundogs who live outside in kennels all year round without any issues) but if he seems more comfortable with a cover/coat or whatever, then where's the harm


They are used to being outside and have developed a natural resistance to living in cold conditions. Dogs that are used to living indoors in warm centrally heated rooms wont necessarily be anywhere near as hardy.


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## trio25 (Jul 1, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies folks. Last night I put one of my fleeces on him, rolled the arms up and tied up the excess. He gave me kisses straight away so assume he was happy enough. He then slept through apart from waking us up so he could go to the toilet. Seeing as my partners sister is here who he hasn't met before and we went to bed later I would have expected him to be a little unsettled. Guess he was cold.

So today I ordered him an equafleece, had thought about a hotterdog one as a little cheaper but he is slim and I think the equafleece will fit better.

Obviously now the weather will warm up!


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## kare (Sep 8, 2014)

Not really related but
I knew a couple where I worked who rehomed a rottie (only reason they took on an older dog was they didn't want an un docked pup and the ban was a few years old) and the previous owner handed them a blanket saying that he sleeps with this.

They place it in his bed, but this dog will not sleep, they are on the point of passing him back so they can get some sleep when on the third night the woman takes the blanket and tucks it over the dog. Exhausted dog goes out like a light and gets to keep his new home.


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## Jamesgoeswalkies (May 8, 2014)

I suppose like humans, every dog is different in how they manage in ''extreme' conditions ...partly nature (breed and coat) and partly nurture (whether brought up in warm home or used or living outdoors etc). 

Our central heating broke down late on the 23rd December and (of course) our oil engineer wouldn't visit..and so it was very cold over Christmas unless we had the fires going ...I did wonder about the dogs overnight (as the house dropped to freezing) so loaded them up with soft blankets in their beds and made them sleep together. No coats/jumpers though. They seemed happy enough. (Labs/Cavaliers/Beagle).

I, on the other hand, slept almost fully dressed under my duvet 

J


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

kare said:


> Not really related but
> I knew a couple where I worked who rehomed a rottie (only reason they took on an older dog was they didn't want an un docked pup and the ban was a few years old) and the previous owner handed them a blanket saying that he sleeps with this.
> 
> They place it in his bed, but this dog will not sleep, they are on the point of passing him back so they can get some sleep when on the third night the woman takes the blanket and tucks it over the dog. Exhausted dog goes out like a light and gets to keep his new home.


Molly will whimper if she can't burrow under her blanket. We've got some teddy bear blankets from Dunelm which are cheap, soft and washable for her.


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## Moobli (Feb 20, 2012)

I think my dogs must be very hardy as they often seek out the coolest place in the cottage to lie/sleep - but we do spend more time outside than in and they are double coated breeds, so well equipped for colder conditions.


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## kare (Sep 8, 2014)

MollySmith said:


> Molly will whimper if she can't burrow under her blanket. We've got some teddy bear blankets from Dunelm which are cheap, soft and washable for her.


I have those blankets for mine. I had one old fluffy fleece and brought one teddy fleece for the other basket, but they started to both climb into the one basket with the new fleece so had to return for another.

I now have 6 teddy fleeces, 2 in our room, 2 at the office and 2 in wash.


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