Normally I Dislike Dog Clothing

My sister, Megan, is a photographer and took this picture of Miles a couple weeks ago.  I taught him the cue "pose" which tilt the head and prick up the ears while your picture is taken.  Here he is demonstrating a lovely pose for Megan.  Such a good pup!



Miles is my 6 month old English/German Shorthaired Pointer pup.  Jon and I got him when he was 8 weeks old in June.  We got him so I would have a running buddy and he has already proven to be an admirable running companion.  In fact, it is one of his very favorite activities.

His German Shorthair side has given him short hair that is even more fine than usual for the breed.  As a result, he gets cold rather easily.  To combat this problem, I made him a sweater.  I am not a fan of gratuitous dog clothing, but for Miles it is for function not fashion, so I'm okay with it.

I chose a pattern from Ravelry that is more like a strap-on blanket, less like a sweater.  This was my own personal preference to make the piece more obviously for function.  It pulls over his head and straps under his belly.

The sweater is knitted from the neck back and done all in one piece, including the belly strap.  The neck and chest area is knitted in the round and then switched to flat knitting for the back portion.  The only change I made from the original pattern was to use Velcro instead of buttons to fasten the belly strap.  I can definitely see Miles suddenly deciding it's a good idea to chew off buttons.  Velcro solves that problem.

Obviously from the pictures, he doesn't mind it a bit.  When we went camping and it got cold at night, he was quite happy to have it on and even wagged his tail when I got it out the second night.

Miles had a GREAT time camping.  We did a lot of running and playing, leaving a little time for naps in between.  Camping was the first experience that made Miles tired enough not to care about participating in evening activities.  He was so sleepy he didn't even try to share our s'mores at the campfire.  When it was time to go in the tent for the night, he was very eager to get inside and snuggle into my sleeping bag with me.  :)