People are not the only ones who put on a pound or two over the holidays. It happens to our pets, too.
This morning the Captain took Emma, our field cocker spaniel, to a nearby farm to hunt for ducks. This photo is from yesterday, when we were just out for a walk. Ducks were everywhere.
Ruby, the springer spaniel, was upset that she didn’t get to go. Nearly 12 years old, she’s almost completely deaf now, but she still knew she was being left behind. She felt better after I gave her a little treat and pulled her doggie bed right beside me by the laptop.
Last night when the Captain was getting things ready for this morning’s outing, he hauled out the little neoprene vest I made for Emma a couple of years ago.
“You’d better try it on her,” I said. “She’s put on a couple of pounds.” (After all, it’s just after Christmas).
Sure enough, it was VERY snug.
“You can’t have her wear that. She won’t be able to breathe.”
I looked high and low and luckily found a piece of left over neoprene (from the old wet suit that I had used to make the vest).
I cut a 1 1/2 inch strip the length of Emma’s suit. It didn’t take long to cut the suit and sew in the strip. With a zigzag stitch and the piece butted up to the edges it was easy to insert a strip. No need to overlap neoprene to make a seam. Just laying the edges snugly side by side and zigzagging them together works fine.
You can see the post I did about the original vest a couple of years
Here she is in the original vest.
I was going to take a picture of Emma in her expanded vest to put at the end of this post, but I was shocked to learn that she came home without it.
It’s lost! Somewhere out there in the brambles it got hooked up, the velcro parted, and there the vest stayed.
In the next day or so we’ll have to launch a search party for it.
January 2, 2019 at 6:37 pm
On no! After all that work, it’s lost!?
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January 2, 2019 at 7:18 pm
Well, let’s say that it was unretrievable today, but it might be accessible when everything isn’t so flooded.
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January 2, 2019 at 6:40 pm
It is so hard to deny them when they ask for treats or a piece of our food. My Bella looks at me when I try and I can usually not hold back from her sad, suffering eyes more than a few seconds before I get up and take her to the kitchen.
I tell her every time this has to stop and will be the last time that I’ll give in, but she just ignores my stern words, wiggles her tail and is happy for a few hours, until the same routine starts again 🙂
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January 2, 2019 at 7:19 pm
LOL! I know what it’s like. We’re just such softies when it comes to denying our dogs anything.
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January 2, 2019 at 6:51 pm
Awww, I hope you find the vest !
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January 2, 2019 at 7:17 pm
I think we will. The Captain has an idea where it might be hooked up. Thanks, Raili.
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January 2, 2019 at 7:16 pm
☹️ I hope you find it!
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January 2, 2019 at 7:20 pm
I do too. I think it involves some water-filled ditches.
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January 3, 2019 at 3:49 am
Oh no! Good luck with the search party, Anneli.
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January 3, 2019 at 8:54 am
Thanks, Jill. The captain feels sure he can find it.
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January 3, 2019 at 9:36 am
My dogs look like coffee tables, Anneli. Good luck finding the vest. The dogs look like they love the water. 🙂
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January 3, 2019 at 9:40 am
LOL! I love that comparison! And yes, they do love the water. When we went to the beach we didn’t tell them to go for a swim, as it was quite chilly, but they both wanted to get in and paddle around for a bit.
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January 3, 2019 at 2:45 pm
A tough time of year on everyone’s waistline
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January 3, 2019 at 5:46 pm
Yes! I think it’s all the fault of the big guy, Mr. Ho! Ho! Ho! His waistline should be a warning to us.
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January 4, 2019 at 12:14 am
Good luck with the Operation-Vest-Retrieving! We have to lose some pounds too, like almost all of us.
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January 4, 2019 at 4:50 pm
Yes, lose pounds or widen the vests!
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January 4, 2019 at 3:23 am
Well. There you go. Our weight gain has nothing to do with eating too many cookies or drinking too much eggnog. It’s just nature’s way of saying, “fatten up for the long winter’s months to stay warm.” I mean, that must be why the dogs gain weight too, right? I hope you find the vest – I laughed when you said “it’s easy.” I can’t put thread through needle, besides add neoprene to a doggy vest. :-0 Happy New Year my friend.
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January 4, 2019 at 4:49 pm
You need to get a machine like mine. It threads itself. That was one of the main selling features for me. I always have trouble seeing the eye of the needle and threading it. The neoprene was more of a mental challenge than the actual building of the vest was. I expected trouble, but the needle went through it easily and it is a piece of cake to work with. If you weren’t already so busy with your other jobs and hobbies, I’d say “You should try it,” but a person can only do so much, and we have to choose our priorities.
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January 5, 2019 at 6:29 am
I taught a writing session a few years ago in a residential home for the elderly. At the end of the class, one of the residents invited us all (my students) to learn to knit with her. She was so sweet! But after a few weeks of me trying, she just sighed, looked me in the eye, and said, Keep on Writing! :-0 🙂
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January 4, 2019 at 1:35 pm
All that clever tailoring you did, sorry to hear it got lost. I hope the search party finds success, Anneli.
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January 4, 2019 at 4:45 pm
Thanks, Jet. The Captain knows it was a lot of work to build the vest in the first place so he’ll do his best to find it.
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January 4, 2019 at 8:50 pm
I hope you have good luck when you look for the vest! And Emma will have another fun outing too.
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January 4, 2019 at 11:57 pm
I do too, but I’m already eyeing up the last scrap of neoprene with a view to making a new vest.
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January 5, 2019 at 3:39 am
Oh no! I do hope you find it.
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January 5, 2019 at 11:13 am
Thanks, Jennie. The Captain says he’ll do his best.
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January 5, 2019 at 11:19 am
😀
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February 8, 2019 at 10:00 am
What lovely dogs! We have a Sprocker Spaniel called Ruby too…she’s 2 years old and features in my blog. Just discovered your blog Anneli and looking forward to reading more 🙂
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February 8, 2019 at 11:15 am
I saw this comment after I answered yours. Isn’t that so funny! Our Ruby is almost 12 years old now, but she looked so much like yours when she was ten years younger.
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