Canine Cooler

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

When Cooper was little she had to be put in her crate to calm down and nap. As she got bigger,she moved into her ex-pen which is attached to her crate. Now she is 10 months old, she sometimes sleeps with us at night. She has no interest in sleeping on her bed (a thin mat) or on the bed. I decided it was perhaps too hot for her so pulled out the plastic tray from her crate. She is very happy sleeping there! When sleeping in her pen/crate she is usually in the pen on the tiles (she moves into her crate in the early hours of the morning, I assume she likes the warmth of her mat then)

So... I have been thinking of buying a Canine Cooler - a specially designed mat to keep dogs cool. She looks so uncomfortable on the tray (though she obviously doesnt mind hanging over the edge, or sleeping in her crate without the tray). 

Its quite expensive, though I can buy it at cost as I work in a pet store. 

I was wondering if anyone had tried it, or had any other suggestions.

http://www.caninecooler.ca/

[Dan, Judi, & Timbow]

I haven't tried it, but Timbow also likes sleeping on the tile and wood floor in the summer. I would think that if you feel your dog is uncomfortable that the cooling mat would be a great idea. :-)

[Lynn D.]

Wow! It's really expensive on that site!

Here it is for 1/3rd of the price. HTH

http://cgi.ebay.com/SOOTHSOFT-CANNINE-COOLER-LARGE-DOG-BED-36-X-48-...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Go to Bev and Willy's page. She had one for Willy. Ask her if she liked it or if he used it.

[DeeDee and Sheila]

Hmmm. I think Cooper is like we humans. Starts off warmer (lays on tiles) and then gets cooler as night goes on. I'd hate to see you spend alot of money and not have Cooper use it. But I agree it would be disconcerting to see her laying on the tray. My labs would start off on the bed and then go lay on wood floor or 1/2 on bedspread on the floor if they got too hot. Kind of reverse.

And my new mini ALD ( 14 wks) gets herself all woun d up even after we play/exercise. I've wondered if she has needed to go to the crate even with her whining for a few minutes when I put her in. I think she actually gets cranky kind of, biting more, acting agitated if she goes too long w/o a break. I don't work, so I haven't been having her nap on a schedule. I should prob do that. Just like a human baby, do you think? Did the time outs/naps help?

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

The naps really did help. even now at 10 months she needs a nap if we are home all day - but generally we have to put her to bed (in her pen) - she cant just lay down and sleep if we arent sleeping too (I think shes done it twice!). She gets major zoomies when she gets really tired so we know its time for a nap. Sometimes she will cry for a minute or two before she goes to sleep.

[laurie lehr]

Jasper is always hot , even in the middle of winter . HE doesn't seem to be as hot since he no longer sleeps in the crate . We also use ceiling fans .

[Christina and Cooper plus Benny]

Coop is always hot! He sleeps on the slate floor in the bathroom for the first few hours every night (often curled around the cool toilet) and then at some point comes back in and hops up on my bed. I keep the heat at 60 degrees at night, and even that is too hot! One thing I did do last summer was get his belly shaved. He really enjoyed that! He looked a little funny, but you could only see it if he rolled over - when he was upright, nobody could tell he had a built in belly cooler! :)
Also keeping his hair cut shorter really seems to help too.