Does your beagle really need a flannel onesie this winter?

When wintry weather arrives in Canada, certain things happen: buses start running late, sidewalks get slippery, and some dogs head outside as bundled up as their masters.

We've all seen them — golden retrievers in cashmere cable-knits, beagles in flannel onesies and terriers in down jackets nicer than our own, some of them with darling little booties to boot.

But do they really need all that?

CBC Radio's Ontario Morning reached out for a professional opinion from Sharon Bell, a dog lover, veterinarian and owner of Christie Street Animal Hospital in Pembroke, Ont., about 150 kilometres west of downtown Ottawa.

Size matters

In short, yes. Breeds that don't have undercoats need a little human help to stay warm in the cold. And in the city, where roads and sidewalks are treated with salt, booties to protect paws are important.

"The size [of the dog] is really important," too, Bell said.

A 30-kilogram German Shorthaired Pointer has a lot of muscle mass, and therefore generates "a huge amount of heat" on a winter walk," she says. But a Chihuahua​ has very little mass and a short coat.

"Since [jackets] serve different purposes for different dogs, you've really got to look at your dog's needs. If a pointer is going out on a really cold day, it's just going to want to wear a saddle blanket. And a Chihuahua is going to need something that surrounds the torso," Bell said.

Consider also this horror story about Bell's winter walk with a pants-less poodle.

"They turn into snowballs when they go out, when the snow is getting near the freezing point. I have had a dog become completely [cast] in snow on a dog walk. I had to carry it home because it could no longer bend its legs. And it had a raven circling it at that point. The dog had doubled its body weight," she said.

And now — because it's probably all you're here for anyway — we bring you more pictures of dogs in coats.