Blue Fur Boxer

We are owned by seven furkids, five of which are rescues. Here is our biggest furbaby, Coco, in her fancy new fur coat. Of historical note, Boxers originated in Germany in the early 1800s as a result of breeding the Brabanter Bullenbeisser ( I think that means a medium bulldog bred for boar-hunting) with the early English Bulldog. Boxers are indoor pets because they cannot tolerate extremes in temperature due to their close-fitting smooth coat. Our dogs love to go for boat rides, but when we went out on the lake on a cool day last fall, the wind was too much for Coco. She started shivering and tried to crawl behind my legs to get warm. I knitted her this furry coat in Lion Brand Wool-Ease and Fun Fur from a free pattern on the Lion Brand website. I had to made adjustments to the pattern which was written with small to medium dogs in mind, and I realized when I had it sewn together that the underpanel should have been attached in reverse - with the wide end at the chest - to fit Coco's svelte stream-lined shape. There is no belly on this girl, so I tightened up the bottom of the underpanel with single crochet.
Coco wore her coat for a test-run on the second-floor deck, a favorite hangout for both dogs. They can see all over the neighborhood from there and bark at any ducks and geese that dare to approach the dock. She jumped and pranced around, and refused to come back inside - ordinarily she dashes out for a quick look-see then runs back in if it's too cold for her. Levi, her faithful Beagle side-kick, decided Coco must have turned into a soft plushy stuffed toy, his prey of choice. He chased her all over the deck, trying to chew up her new coat. Perhaps he's jealous, so another dog coat is on my list of things to knit. For him, a denim jean jacket would be just right, and maybe I can learn how to knit his name into the coat - so he can sport a Levi label.