As we move into November, both Savvy and I are feeling the chill of winter. And neither of us are liking it. Our last trip up to the lake was windy and cold, and my puppy refused to stay under the sleeping bag we brought him. The red hoodie I bought is cute and helps warm him a little, but is going to be absolutely useless this winter. My cousin made her doberman a coat out of her old down parka and she says it works wonderfully, so I'm going to be combing the thrift stores for a down jacket. His thin, cropped ears have been completely bare and unprotected in the cold weather and that issue needs to be resolved. Last winter he was small enough to wrap in my jacket, and this year it's a different story altogether. In any case, soon you may be seeing pictures of him all dressed up. For danes in warm climates, I know this sounds silly, but frostbite and hypothermia are a real concern here, and I can't possibly lock my dog inside all winter.
As it gets cooler, I try to take advantage of our time outdoors, by letting Savage run free on our walks and hikes and bike rides. Therefore, he's not getting any on-leash training. Which means as soon as he gets on a leash, he pulls and pulls and completely forgets what "heel" meant. Needless to say, this makes walks less fun for both of us, with him wildly lunging ahead and me stumbling after him on the other end of the leash. So I finally caved and got a prong collar.
Today was our first experience with the "instrument of torture". And it worked. The pull of the collar when he lunged ahead was just enough to calm him down so he would walk a short ways ahead of me at MY pace. And he didn't seem to resent the prong collar as much as I anticipated. It didn't actually hurt him, but acted as a "reminder" that he needed to stay close to me without dragging me all over the trail. When we got back to the house we had a great game of fetch to let him know that it's not all discipline, that his mama wants to have fun with him, too.
We'll begin training with the prong collar, keeping his comfort in mind, but also my sanity. And in looking for a way to maximize our exercise program this winter, I came across some articles about treadmill training for dogs. As I understand, this exercise option is generally used for canine athletes, but I think it could be a great way to keep him in shape on the -20F days I know are approaching. That is, if he'll even get near the thing. In any case, this evening I will be going to pick up our new electric treadmill. At 55" of walking surface, I hope it will accomodate the stride of a growing great dane. And I hope he will slowly learn to walk on it confidently. (My Savage can be a bit stubborn.) If not, I guess I'll have to actually get on it myself, so as not to make it a total waste of money. This should be interesting, so stay tuned!