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Location: Salvador, Br
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 3
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Cold-weather breed in Tropical climate
Hi! We have an 8 month old Akita - obviously a breed meant for generally colder climates - and yet we live in Salvador, Brazil - a city with a considerably tropical, humid climate with no real change in season. We acquired our little buddy during the hotter months, and though he was a much younger puppy at the time and might have just been adjusting in general, he slept a good portion of the daytime and even had rapid, panting breathing for a good chunk of our first few months together. Hes much better now, and we made several adjustments and purchases to help him through those hotter times which we believe we now have a good handle on, but now we are in our winter-months, which, although is not in any way a "cold" season, is indeed considerably cooler, with a significant temperature drop relative to a few months ago. During the day, the heat is still quite prevalent, and he still tends to avoid the hottest areas of our house; however, at night, the temperature (for me, as a foreigner from the US) is quite perfect, while my wife (a local) might as well be living in Alaska. My question is, as an Akita, does he experience this relative temperature drop as the locally-born Brazilian dog he is, and thus need to be warmed accordingly? Or does his genetics and warm fur essentially make the temperature change irrelevant? My wife seems to think the former, and since he generally refuses to sleep in his (or our) bed, instead opting for the colder tile flooring, she is insisting on working in some blankets or pajamas (yes, for an Akita) into his nighttime routine. If im wrong, im wrong, but Id like to get some outside perspective on the matter...
Edit: For fear of not giving my wifes perspective its due diligence, I should elaborate, her concern is not merely with the temperature but, more specifically, with the cold panel flooring, as she believes it can cause problems with his blood-flow