Me either! But, I think Jigsaw is a lot cuter waking up than I am.
DIY: Dog Raincoat From Upcycled Jacket
Are you sensing a theme with another raincoat post? Yes, it’s still raining here in the Pacific NW. I never thought I’d be someone who put a raincoat on a dog, but then I noticed that if it was raining on walks, Saffron would walk next to walls in their rain shadow and she’d linger a looong time under trees. I realized if she were a feral dog left to make her own decisions, she’d be snuggled up under a porch or bush where it was dry. Smart dog! The least I can do is make her more comfortable, but her old coat is too short and doesn’t protect her ears at all.
So now Saffron needs a new coat and:
- I don’t want to spend a lot
- I can’t find a coat I’m satisfied will help keep her ears drier
- I want a coat made from tough, weather-proof fabric not cheap vinyl
I’m going to have to make it myself, so I made a trip to my favorite thrift store and found an awesome women’s stadium coat with a hood for $9.99. With the help of this great tutorial on how to make a dog coat from a recycled jacket, I’m going to turn it into a raincoat for Saffron. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
In the meantime, check out the tutorial which can be used on any type of recycled jacket or with yardage. There’s a printable pattern that’s in real size so you can print out the pieces, tape them together, & adjust the size to fit your dog. And never fear, there are excellent printable instructions, that include tips on how to adjust the pattern to fit your dog.
(The creator of the tutorial is Diana Durkes from the super cool blog, Fine Diving–New Life For the Tossed & Found. If you’re in the Chicago area, check out her sister blog, Garage Sale Warrior.)
Foldable Silicone Dog Bowl
These Aqua-Fur foldable bowls from Tazlab look really neat. Unlike the other collapsible bowls I’ve seen, this one is dishwasher safe. It looks more stable too. I like the fun colors!
Don’t want to spend that much? You can get cheap, foldable bowls at Petco. Or you can make your own nifty collapsible bowl from oilcloth.
Your Dog Can Tweet…Kinda
Mattel is releasing a toy called Puppy Tweets that will randomly tweet one of 500 pre-programmed messages to Twitter. It’s a collar with a motion & sound sensor, so when your dog gets up from a nap or barks at the mailman, the collar will send a tweet along the lines of “I bark because I miss you. There, I said it. Now hurry home.” At $29.99, I’m going to wait until they can make one like the collar on Dug in the movie Up. (via Samuel Axon at Mashable)
Broken Umbrellas Upcycled Into Dog Raincoats
I love this! Taryn Zychal had the great idea to take sad, broken umbrellas and transform them into cute raincoats for dogs. She has an etsy shop where you can get a coat for your dog big or small. Kitties aren’t left out because she even makes cat toys from umbrella scraps. Taryn was a finalist for the prestigious Cooper Hewitt People’s Design Award. She was also asked to make a couple of her coats for Martha Stewart’s French Bulldogs, Francesca and Sharky. Nifty!
