The puppy coat...

Hamilton gets as many compliments on his coat as he does on his 'cute' factor.....

So... here is the deal behind his first (and right now only) coat:

I modified a toy dog pattern for a coat. You know, one of those yippy little 'lint-on-a-string' dogs....that wear dresses and goofy clothes, etc..... I took one of the patterns for a larger version (think a cocker spaniel) and modified it for a baby Great Dane.

(this may also be a time to note that I write Great Dane with caps letters at the beginning, because 'great dane' doesn't look right. Great Dane, to me, is a proper noun.)

The first version is now going thru some 'testing' with Hamilton wearing it out and about. The first thing is, he's growing...FAST.   What was too big on him 3 weeks ago is now snug and borderline too small.  Other new parents will identify with this, and I remember it from my own girls as babies; what was too big on Monday the 8th, will be fitting them on Monday the 15th, and too small by Friday the 20th.  They just grow too doggone fast.

Right now, his solo coat has me doing some odd 'on' and 'off' tactics as he's SO chewy; I have to flip him onto his back to get it on and off him, as that takes pressure off his legs and neck when I'm manuvering him into his coat. That tactic is not going to last, obviously, because I can't flip a 70, 90 or 120 pound dog over onto his back each time I want to put his coat on, never mind "Rover, Roll Over" songs.  Not to mention he does not possess those teensy dog paws that Chi's and such have...he has some seriously huge feet. Hugeish-huge.

I'm going to have to modify the coat to go with his growing size/proportions, and figure out how to make an opening/access point that is easy to do but at the same time doesn't come undone when it isn't supposed to.  I have to wonder if I needed to add 'engineering' to some of the things I studied in school.

The other modification involves, well, his wee-wee.   This modified toy-dog coat hits just at his wee-wee and unless I roll up the 'waist' of it, he squats and gets both the ground and the waistband of his coat. Not cool.   I'm thinking I need to 'scoop' effect with the coat on the underbelly, and taper the top piece and waistband to contour with his flanks....and leave plenty of space for the puppy wanger to do it's thing.

Finally- I'm working on his 'style'.  The first coat was intended to be more practical than anything- he was coming from TN where there was no snow to CO where there was 3 feet of it, and minus single and double-digit temps.  SO- the first coat (the blue gray one) was more cute and heavy than anything else.

Hamilton is a little boy and as he's a little boy, he loves his superheroes.   Batman is a favorite at 'five woofs' on the Dane movie rating scale, but I confess we haven't shown him The Amazing Spiderman yet.  Ham's watched "Hellboy" (three out of five woofs) and "X-men" (three out of five woofs) and "Lord of the Rings" (three out of five woofs) and "007" (two out of five woofs). 

I shopped for comic book themed fabrics this week and found a few options. I do want to hit the fabric stores my next trip to Denver (as I've missed doing that the last 2 trips!) and see what I can find. 

I found some great Batman fabrics online, as well as tons of Spiderman.  I also found black/white fabrics I think will work when he doesn't need to stand out quite so much...... a little 'monster' fabric that I will line with white fleece, and a 'dog speak' fabric I will probably line with orange or red.

I do think this comic book panel piece will be my favorite for him so I am forecasting using that for his nearly-full-grown size jacket, fall/winter of 2010/2011. 

I think something like bright yellow or shock blue for the fleece liner on that. :)  I can't wait.

Stay tuned for more chapters on Hamilton's coats and styles!