Cold dog

We awoke yesterday morning to find the newly shorn Ruthie shivering on a pile of dirty clothes in the corner of our bedroom instead of in her usual spot on the carpet at the foot of the bed.

We invited her to jump up onto the bed, wrapped her in the eiderdown comforter and warmed her with a hot water bottle until she stopped shivering and her eyelids drooped.

Clearly, we picked the wrong time of year to shear away her heavy woolly coat.

So we bought her a Woolrich dog coat at Target while we were out shopping yesterday afternoon, but it turned out that she needs an XL instead of an L. I went back to Target to make an exchange, but found there were no XLs in any style. So I went to Petco where I was sure I’d find a dizzying array of dog coats.

But all they had was a bunch of tiny dog fru-fru stuff designed more for decoration than for warmth.

So it was off to Walmart where I found more of the same. On the way home, I stopped at the premiere hunting store in town, figuring duck hunters surely need something to keep their dogs warm in those frosty duck blinds. But all they had was neoprene flotation vests with handles to let you haul your dog out of the water.

Consequently, we made a warm bed for Ruthie last night and she seemed OK with that. The weather is a bit warmer today and Austin is going to work late, so he’s letting her stay inside with occasional trips to the back yard to do her business.

And the search for a good dog coat now moves to the Internet.