Doggie Tales 

A collection of stories and articles - if you would like to contribute please let us know.

Canine Couture

Top Doggy Model, Kipling, takes to the dogwalk and struts his stuff in a rather fetching  Advantage jacket from the Shark Group’s Togs for Dogs range.

“Listen” said the boss, “Cammo is cool.”
I adopt defence strategy number one – go all floppy. But it doesn’t work – the thing is stretchy and in seconds I am in it and he does up the zip. Then he shoves a hand into each end of the coat, picks me up and swings me by it. Rats! It doesn’t split or burst at the seams.

“Cool dude or what?” he says.
Cool dude or complete prat I am thinking, as I gaze at my reflection in the water and fail to notice a size nine welly aligned with my bum. One shove and I am floundering. Now this is the funny bit. The water’s freezing but I don’t feel it and I seem to float more easily. Then he chucks a dummy and when I run and swim this thing’s quite comfortable. I was thinking of having a good roll or a serious scratch to get rid of it but I’m not so sure now.

And I can see the benefits. When you’ve been picking up all day and then have to squat by some forsaken pond it can be a dog's life for sure. But curled up in a neoprene coat it might not be so bad. Or when you’ve had to swim some icy gutters and then sit in frozen reeds for the evening flight this coat could be better than a pound of sausages.

As the boss said “All hip young dudes wear cammo combat gear.” Do they do Ray Bans for dogs as well?

© Reprinted from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation Magazine, Winter 1999.

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