I Said I'd Never...

... but little did I know.

I've always been one of those people that balks at the pet owners who find it necessary to dress their dogs and cats in human-like clothing; items that animals aren't suited for wearing like hats, sweaters and scarves.  I mean, if you do that sort of thing it's your own business but I just don't see the point. 

But then we got Rudy; the cutest, sweetest, smartest dog EVER.  And Rudy has an... aversion, we'll call it, to rain.  Not the normal sprinkles and drizzle we normally have- he could care less about that- but when we have a full on RAIN like we've had here the past few days in Oregon, Rudy doesn't even want to be outside to potty.  That's a problem.  When he does go outside it's as quickly as possible to get the job done and he still comes inside soaking wet, trailing drops through the house and wet paw prints as he goes.  We usually keep a towel by the door to dry him off with when he comes back inside, but sometimes it's hard to wrangle him and he just wants to play with the towel and not be dried by it.

My solution was a rain coat, so I started looking online for reviews of pet rain gear.  I quickly dove into the world of pet apparel and was shocked at what I found (do a Google image search and you will find the items that made me laugh 'til I peed). Was I really this crazed pet owner now diligently searching for apparel for my puppy?  Sort of, maybe. 

After work I had to stop at the store to pick up some grocery items, so I figured I would also stop at the pet store and see if they had any of the rain apparel that I had seen online.  And found apparel I did.  Apparently it's not just the beginning of a people apparel season, it's the beginning of the spring and summer pet apparel season.  There were beach hats and doggles and bathing suits galore!  I laughed to myself, feeling a little hypocritical but still letting the internal dialogue continue- really, I wasn't there to buy a non-functional piece of clothing, what I was buying had PURPOSE, FUNCTION, and would also be cute. Gah!

Lucky for me, the Fall and Winter apparel items were being marked down so I found a great yellow rain slicker and an amazing reversible jacket/vest for Rudy to keep the rain at bay.



Rudy in his very Portland reversible vest.  The reverse is a green plaid.

I also found some other awesome gems.  I didn't want to buy him actual doggy rain boots so I found these smart little disposable booties called Nooby's Disposable Booties.  We have yet to use them and I reserving them for when it gets muddy.


It gets even better!  Last night BF and I were sitting on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince while I perused REI.com for camping gear that we may need for this spring and summer.  I was happily adding things to our wish list (FYI, if we get married we are TOTALLY registering at REI) when I noticed a link at the bottom of the page that simply said "Pets".  One click later and I was in hog heaven.  Dog tents, sleeping pads, hiking packs... anything a pet would need for an awesome adventure!  I was giggling with delight.

It's official, I'm that crazy dog owner now.  There will still not be any bathing suits or Ed Hardy shirts for Rudy.