Leaving a pet out in the extreme cold without food, water or shelter can be a crime, not to mention simply heartless. Seeing a helpless animal tied up, shivering and desolate, with no one to help is quite disturbing.
Kristina Hollie and her coworker were at the bus stop waiting for a ride in Cambridge, Mass., when they spied a precious pup out and about running errands with his hooman mom. She was getting ready to head into the post office, which only allows service dogs.
Since her pupper wasn’t one, she had to tie him up to a tree. The poor guy was shivering in the frigid cold and brisk wind.
People were aghast as they watched her loop his leash around the tree until…
His owner thankfully noticed that her little buddy was chilly, because suddenly, she slipped off her poofy winter coat. She leaned down and unselfishly draped it around her dog’s body.
Then she paused and went a step further, bringing a smile to everyone’s face who was watching.
“Maybe she thought he would kick it off, so she bent down and zipped it up around him.”
Even more endearing than seeing the owner give her dog the very coat off her back was how still he sat while she gingerly placed the coat around him and zipped it up.
She didn’t plan on being in the post office for very long, but knew he’d be quite cold for the short time she would be in there. Hollie just had to let the woman know how sweet her actions were.
Even though he was tied up to a tree in the cold, the sight drew a smile to everyone’s faces when they saw him sporting his mom’s green parka. People were pausing to snap a quick photo of him.
“I saw two or three other people walk past him and comment that he looked very cute and very warm.”
When Hollie’s bus finally arrived, she gave the adorable dog one last glance and saw how thrilled he was to sit and chill in his momma’s winter coat.
While some breeds fare just fine in the cold winter weather like those with thick, double-layered colds such as Huskies and Newfoundlands, other dogs with thin coat such as Greyhounds and Great Danes can get downright chilly in the winter.
Smaller dogs tend to get colder more quickly than larger dogs and leaner dogs get colder more quickly than their larger counterparts.
The average healthy dog tends to be fine until temperatures hit 45 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Pet MD. But when temperatures drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, small breed dogs, dogs with thinner coats and those who are very young or old become quite chilly and can experience health problems.
The best way to gauge whether a dog is too cold is to observe behavior. A dog that shivers, acts anxious, whines or holds up a paw is trying to communicate that it’s too darn cold. That’s exactly what this dog initially did, by shivering in the cold.
But thankfully, his very attune owner discerned how uncomfortable he was and took wonderful care of her best buddy. What a compassionate owner!
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