Now that summer is approaching, I’ve put away Mr. N’s sweaters and coats and pulled out his summer gear. These products have proven to be very useful now that we’re spending more time at the beach and hiking.
When the Cascadian Nomads visited us last weekend, they gave us their small H2O4K9 (dog water bottle/travel bowl), saying it was too small for their needs. The 9.5 oz stainless steel bottle fits in my
purse and Mr. N will actually drink out of it (the lid doubles as a bowl). He refuses to drink out of non-bowl shaped objects like the
Gulpy. It’s a little heavier due to the material but I prefer it to plastic.
Mr. N has an older model that just barely fits him with the straps tightened as far as they will go. He wears their smallest size (xxs). It would not fit any dogs smaller than him. Mr. N has so little body fat and gets cold easily so even though he can swim, he wears the life jacket as a backup.
I like the handle on the top so I can lift him if need be. Mr. N doesn’t mind wearing the jacket at all. We’ve only used it a handful of times but it appears to be durable and well-made. My only complaint is that the straps hang loose and drag so I have to tie them up in a knot but I think this was fixed in the latest version.
Even though Mr. N’s heat tolerance has gotten better since last year, he still gets overheated sometimes. His Cool Vest cools him down considerably. Last year, I took him down to the park with it on and he was literally running circles around these bigger dogs who were lying down and panting heavily.
It’s usually good for an hour or two. Basically you just soak it in water and use the velcro straps to put it on your dog. It’s shaped to cover the chest and vital organs.
Even though the liner is laminated, Mr. N does get slightly wet when I put it on him. I get the occasional “you are abusing your poor dog by making him wear clothes in the middle of the summer” speech but once I explain, people usually think it’s quite clever.
*The one we’ve been using is no longer being sold in the USA so we’re exploring other options.
What are your canine summertime essentials?
*I paid for all of these products myself except for the water bottle which was given to me by another blogger. There are affiliate links in this post.
May 23, 2014 10:14 am
Hi Y'all!
I wonder if I could get my Human to get me one and keep it in the fridge…can you imagine a guest opening the fridge and finding my vest in there? BOL!!!
Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
May 23, 2014 6:53 pm
That would not be the weirdest thing a guest would find in our fridge!
May 23, 2014 11:43 am
Those sound very practical. I wonder if the flea repellant works on gnats? Those can be a big pain for the dogs in the summer.
May 23, 2014 1:13 pm
Like the cooling vest. The dogs have a back pack with travel supplies for our summer outings. It is really tough to get them to drink away from home and that is always a big concern.
May 23, 2014 2:12 pm
This is a great list. Helped remind me to get some things ready for the hot summer with my dog. – Petnetio Josephine
May 23, 2014 2:54 pm
I'm glad you like the H20K9. I'd always rather heft around stainless steel than risk the leaching chemicals from plastic water bottles! Be careful with that flea spray- tea tree oil is a neurotoxin to dogs ingested OR absorbed into the skin. I wish companies would stop using it and claiming it is safe. So have vets and animal poison control people I have spoken with!
May 23, 2014 6:53 pm
Ugh. I thought I checked but I must have missed it. Do you have any alternative recommendations?
August 4, 2018 5:08 pm
everyone says it is safe for cats too but it is absolutely not.
May 23, 2014 3:53 pm
I have never seen the small version of that water bottle! It's so cute!!
May 23, 2014 6:27 pm
Love that water bottle – very neat. All of those products look like good things to have around in the summer. Thanks for sharing Mr. N.! And thanks for joining the Hop.
May 23, 2014 8:08 pm
Cute water bottle and jackets! Great review Mr.N!
May 23, 2014 10:40 pm
Nice review, Mr. N! Mom's on the lookout for one of those water bottles.
May 23, 2014 10:40 pm
Nice review, Mr. N! Mom's on the lookout for one of those water bottles.
May 24, 2014 5:03 am
Oooh, very cool. I was just thinking today of a cool vest of some type as we will be doing a lot of hiking and we are in Florida. Ack.
New follower! Nice to meet you!
May 30, 2014 7:52 pm
I first read about the H2O for K9's on Cascadian Nomad's blog. I've got a small one like that and a larger one too, and I love them! Both the dogs and I can drink out of it.
Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets
August 3, 2018 1:02 am
The cooling vest sounds like something even I would love to have for myself. We have a massive heat wave in Europe, it’s unbearable. My cat is not impressed with this heat either 🙂 She would probably enjoy a cooling vest too 😀
August 3, 2018 3:25 am
I meet quite a few people have a cool vest and they say it works wonders. Jack isn’t too fond of wearing coats or vests so I bought him a cooling bandana. He really struggles in the heat but I find it does help him a bit.
August 3, 2018 1:17 pm
What clever products! I can tell that I’ll need to look into cooling vest for Bravo. He has no off switch, not even in Texas triple digit summers!
August 3, 2018 1:38 pm
Those bottles look awesome and I am at the moment looking for a new one for Layla as hers is falling apart LOL – it is 5 years old. I love the cooling products that are out there today as our dogs don’t suffer plus for us humans it is less worrying and stressful.
August 3, 2018 5:10 pm
I have a life jacket for my dog, too. She probably doesn’t need it because she’s a good swimmer, but then again, maybe she does need it because she LOVES swimming and could possibly over do it.
August 4, 2018 6:18 am
Oh, definitely want to try that water bowl! We used a cooling vest with our former dog and it worked really well though it did make him wet, but he didn’t seem to mind much.
P.S.: This is Ruby from The Daily Pip. We have changed our blog name to myrescuedlife.com
August 4, 2018 11:12 am
We have that water bottle and it is great for short walks with our dogs. We can avoid the heat pretty easily, but the cooling vest seems like a great idea.
August 4, 2018 5:10 pm
I love the water bottle. It’s cute, and perfect for smaller animals.
August 5, 2018 2:32 pm
Cooling vests????!!! What a brilliant idea! Such as great way to help dogs who are wearing these!
August 6, 2018 6:35 am
Ah, summer is just arriving there as it is preparing to depart here…enjoy, Mr. N! I do love that water bottle! How great it fits into a purse?! I always have a Mary Poppins bag full of items, and this would be great! I love the idea of cooling vests – I use cooling collars and cooling beds for my Huskies and we don’t do much hiking here as I have autoimmune issues and they have adapted to my lifestyle! LOL! They do have a whole deck and yard all to themselves, though, complete with pool, and when it’s hot, we all go inside into the a/c house! Hope you have a wonderful summer (less humid than ours I hope!) filled with lots of adventures!