Coldest You'll Walk Your Dogs/Let Them Out?

bi-blacks said:
Totally agree. All you could see of me this a.m. was my eyes. Shelties were originally bred for harsh conditions, they weren't inside dogs like all of ours are now. If you go out with them you will see when they are ready to go in. Mine always let me know when they've had enough. Keep warm everyone.
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Yep, that's the key you go out WITH them, lol
That way they don't just stand around but get to move etc

Indeed KEEP warm, I am moving further inland, so I assume I will get a heck of a lot colder soon than I already am here lol
 
I agree Irene. The only time I set up potty pads is when there was a hurricane and blizzard. Both times, she just held it in and wouldn't use the pads.

this weekend was the first time since my dog was a puppy that she actually seemed cold. She loves the snow and had no issue playing in it during the day on Friday, but on Friday night when the temp dropped to under 10 degrees and was windy, she would stop and lift her paws. I picked her up and she was shaking. This has never happened before. After that I put a jacket on her for quick potty breaks. She was still shaking with the jacket.

For her paws, I've been uses musher's wax. I tried booties this morning, but she wouldn't make with them and kept running her body in the snow.
 
I always hear varying things about how well shelties/dogs in general tolerate the cold. With two layers of fur, Fasb has never shivered or acted particularly cold and we've been out in some cold weather. My big worry is his paws and frostbite.

Why do some of you let your dogs out in the yard when it's cold, but not the street? Salt? I almost think it'd be better to walk on the street which is usually plowed) than get his feet and fur wet in the snowy yard.

One thing I should mention is that mine doesn't like to go bathroom in his own yard and has almost never used the bathroom on our property. We usually walk to the other side of the block.

What's a reasonable amount of time to be out in this sort of weather? I'd say 10-15 minutes is about what we're outside in the cold. We're never more than a few minutes away from our home, so, if worse comes to worse, I could pick him up and cut through the yards to get back quickly.

Eagle said:
How did you teach your dog to use a pad in the basement? A previous dog of mine, when he was elderly, needed to go out in the middle of the night every night for a while (fortunately it was temporary). I tried and tried, but he would not use a puppy pad. I would have loved to have just been able to leave a pad out for him at night, but he wanted no part of it.
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It just sort of happened. When we got him, we noticed he would have "accidents" in the basement. His original owner (my sister-in-law) trained him, but was generally pretty lax, so I think maybe he did this in her house and thought it was normal. At first, we tried to break him of the habit, but we're not good disciplinarians either (mostly me), and we decided it might be ok for him to have an option when we're not home, bad weather, illness, etc. We just started putting pads or newspapers where he was going anyway, then trained him to go wherever we put the pad (then we moved it to a less visible corner).

It's not really something I'd recommend - or something I would have imagined we would tolerate - but it works for us. He doesn't go indoors very often, but we feel better knowing he has the option and it tends to eliminate "accidents" upstairs (where we don't want him to go).
 
We had quite a lot of wet snow today - Hanna's underside was just hanging with snow balls. The little rat did not want to come inside and did not appear at all bothered with the excess baggage. She was not happy I made her lie down while I pulled most of it off.
 
Fasb's Owner said:
Why do some of you let your dogs out in the yard when it's cold, but not the street? Salt? I almost think it'd be better to walk on the street which is usually plowed) than get his feet and fur wet in the snowy yard.
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By the time my three have moved around the yard, it is packed down. If necessary, I shovel a path for them. I will not expose them to salt.
 
Yeah, I worry about him getting salt in his paws too, but, fortunately, I live in a subdivision where no one salts the street or sidewalks. I throw salt out in the driveway once in a while, but usually only on the far side of the drive so Fasb doesn't accidentally get into it.
 
I'd rather play in the yard because it's a more controlled environment. I can keep an eye on them and we can go inside and warm up right away as soon as anyone starts to look cold. Don't have to carry them back home :)
 
Fasb's Owner said:
Yeah, I worry about him getting salt in his paws too, but, fortunately, I live in a subdivision where no one salts the street or sidewalks. I throw salt out in the driveway once in a while, but usually only on the far side of the drive so Fasb doesn't accidentally get into it.
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Well, then you're golden, no reason to not go out for a walk then and let em use the bathroom where he's used to :D

If it is as cold as it is here or in Manitoba and our Shelties are more than fine there really wouldn't be a reason reason to worry for you.
Spruce has a super dooper coat, lol, but Toffee hasn't got much undercoat to speak of and even he has never really complained about the cold.
JUST couple of times it was below 40 and they did get into some salt, I brush it off, and we walk back.
On those rare occassion I don't go out for a walk due to cold because there is salt and it can't dissolve cuz it is that cold out it doesn't work, if that gets stuck in paws it hurts! But NEVER not to go out for a few minutes to do their business, I find that weird :D
I doubt they get frostbite THAT quickly? Just don't go out for hours and make them stand on one spot etc
 
My dogs went out the past few days a couple of times a day and it was below freezing. They only stayed out under 15 minutes, but they still went out. My girls don't seem to be terribly bothered by the cold temps.
 
Treesa always goes outside no matter the weather.....we've had some pretty cold days here. -20's and colder with the wind chill. 0 degrees would be spring here !! She also needs her walk to go potty, a trip around the block is good enough. Other than that she loves to go out on the back deck to bury her face in the snow and roll happily in it.
She's a happy little Canuk Sheltie eh'
:yes:
 
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