Winter Gear guide
Jen L.
Well, winter smacked us in the face.
We were woefully unprepared for winter suddenly deciding to get real in Toronto. It was a scramble to dig out our winter gear or freeze our butts off. I forgot to put a snow brush in the car and had to resort to shoveling the car out of snow with a spare life jacket in the trunk and scrape off the ice with an empty water bottle. Great start to winter.
Having gone through a few winters with a Horton, we wanted to share our favorite gear for humans and doggos to help get you through those cold winter walkies.
Gear for Doggos
Harness
We love using the X harness or Easy Harness from SpottedByHumphrey all year round, but especially during winter for two reasons. These harnesses are super easy to put on and take off, and it’s not too chunky to wear under their winter jackets. The adjustable X-harness also means you can wear it on top of chunkier winter jackets as well! Because there’s not much undercarriage fabric to the harness, if it does get wet in the snow it also dries very quickly. But also, can an we appreciate how sleek the design is?
Use code HORTONHAZEL for 10% off your order at SpottedByHumphrey
Outerwear
For coats, we primarily wear Canada Pooch parkas and sweaters. Canada pooch always comes out with great quality stuff in amazing designs. We’ve had the same hoodie for 4 years now and it still looks great! We’ve been loving the maroon Alaskan Army Parka and leopard print Northern Knit sweater for Hazel this year. The Northern Knit is a great option for warmer winter walks. The zipper harness opening really makes it easy for us to get ready and go! The heavier Alaskan parka really provides that added warmth with it’s fleece lining when it’s super cold. And of course, both look absolutely great!
Horton wears size 14+ and Hazel wears size 14. The plus size is perfect for barrel chested frenchies as its the same length as size 14 but has extra room around the chest.
To Bootie or Not to Bootie?
Imagine this: You’re finished your winter walk and you finally get home to warm up. When you get around to the feeties you realize he/she only has 3 of 4 of those fancy booties you bought still on. How mad would you be? Cause that’s happened to us. You might as well throw out the three you have left out, unless you want to buy another set. Now some brands of dog booties are sold in packs of two, so it might be easier to replace. BUT STILL. We also find the fancier, structured booties all come in the same size but typically the front paws are larger than the back ones so you end up with two booties that don’t fit very well. Those are two reasons why we use the plastic balloon booties from Pawz. With the plastic booties, they can stretch and still protect their feet from all the sidewalk salt which is our main concern. These are a little tricky to figure out how to get on, but once you have they’re a breeze! These come in a pack of 12 which lasts us all winter!
Gear for Hoomans
Gloves
Gloves are pretty essential when you’re taking walks in the winter. Having to hold a cold leash in the chill of winter is really not fun. Especially in Canada where the wind chill can make it feel like -15 or more.
We cycle between two pairs of gloves depending on the weather We use the Canada Pooch Dog Walking Gloves for quick, warmer winter walks. These gloves are thin, have touch screen capability and have a grippy palm to ensure you have a solid hold on your leash. For colder, longer walks we use the Best Friend Apparel Walkease gloves. These are thicker and are super heavy duty. There’s a felt thumb so you can wipe off any snot off your face (admit it, it happens), and a secret pocket on the back of the glove to hold a poop bag, how clever!
Headgear! With a light if you’re extra ;)
It’s really hard to find those hidden poops in the snow under bushes on winter nights. Hort loves to hide his poop wayyy under the bushes. It’s like he’s ashamed of his poops and doesn’t want me to watch him. Fine, I don’t watch but that also means I dunno where the poop is most of the time. Its like a little hide and go poop game that Horton and I play. I’m quite an expert at the game now but I do need some help. So this might seem extra, but I have a toque with a LED light on it when I really have to get up under the bushes to find his poop. I’ve knocked snow down the back of my neck into my jacket so many times trying to get under those bushes, I sub-concsiously brace myself for a chill down my spine every time.
We got ours from Amazon!
Leash
We LOVE our Litto Howler Kubo multi leash. It’s such a versatile, heavy duty leash made of mountain climber rope and auto-locking carabiners for extra security. The most amazing feature which has been a game changer for us with two dogs, is that it will never tangle even if the pups criss-cross each other (watch the video to see what I mean)! The leashes are attached to a swivel head so even if they cross each other, it means it will untangle automatically. We bought an extra connector so that we can add it to the handle to convert it into a cross body. My hands are always in my pocket now unless I’m filming the pups during their walkies or trying to dig sticks out of Hazels mouth.
Let me know if you’ve used any of the products we’ve mentioned. We’d love to know your experiences with trying to cope with winter!
