Rain. All the time. When are we done here again?
We took a trip from the Canadian southwest to the American northwest. Sounds pretty epic, eh? Believe it or not, the two regions are not that far apart. And despite my disappointment with a southwestern region that does not feature cow skulls, alien desert landings, and, most importantly, hot dry weather, we found some pretty fun stuff in the American northwest. But we also found lots of rain.
I’m not a rain fan.
I am also not a fan of how dark things get when it does nothing but rain. There’s no snow to reflect moon and star light, there are no northern lights to provide a helpful silhouette of the trees, and whatever light there is reflects in confusing ways on dark wet streets. It’s not a very safe situation for our canine friends. Geardog is good off leash but I had serious concerns about his safety.
Along came Geardog’s search and rescue sponsor, D-Fa (“D for Dog” in a Kiwi accent, get it?), to save the day! D-Fa provided this incredible rain jacket that is not only good for keeping your dog dry, but is extremely high visibility and reflective for dark and stormy conditions. Now, I’ve NEVER been one for putting clothes on my dog, and yes, I think you are an idiot if you do it, but spending time in the Canadian southwest has taught me that a rain jacket for your dog is not the same as clothes. Even if your dog – like most dogs – doesn’t care if it gets wet, you might potentially get tired of putting your soaking wet dog into your car for the umpteenth time. You might also get a little weary of the wet dog-print your tired pooch leaves in the carpet after he goes out for a long romp in the rain. A rain jacket for your dog can give you and your car a little break from the damp. The huge stripes of super reflective fabric on both sides and the top of this jacket are great touches for low light conditions.
I was concerned that high-energy Geardog would get too warm in a jacket, so while testing out this item I carefully monitored his body heat, putting my hand under the jacket to make sure there was no heat buildup. And there wasn’t! This thing breathes really well, so well that I hope D-Fa makes jackets for people someday. It kept Geardog really nice and dry, and as you can tell from the pic, very highly visible. Even in the daytime it would serve as a great safety tool if you live in an area with a big deer hunting season. If you live in the desert or in a snowy clime, you can get the Moon Walker in neon green as well. I chose the blaze orange, because it seems silly to put a green jacket on your dog for visibility if you’re in the green woods all the time. Incidentally, there is a SAR team in this region that uses green jackets as their official uniform. Does this completely not make sense to anyone else? Don’t you want to be seen if you’re doing search and rescue work?
Anyway, for wintertime in the American northwest/Canadian southwest, this is a vital piece of dog gear. Like I said, I’m not a rain fan, so I give D-Fa credit for perhaps saving my sanity with this jacket.
