Walking dogs in winter.

[King Herald]

I’ve never had a dog in winter, so I’m unsure how you go about walking them ‘when the snow lays all around, deep and crisp and even’, so to speak.

How long can they walk on a frost laden pavement? Can you get little slip-on booties? Well, fairly large ones, my big fella weighs 50kg and has feet almost as big as my hands.

[ShampooEfficient]

We prefer to walk our SBT on grass when its icy, l purely because if she slips, she'll break her 12 year old bones... Given the choice, if we're working in the yard, she trots about outside for half an hour or so before she'll come indoors. We make sure she has a coat on though.

[James TiT]

Some dogs like snow. They roll over in it.

[HTP99]

Interesting, this is something that I've never given any great thought of in my 15 odd years of dog ownership; apart from a coat or jumper if it's a bit chilly.

As for snow, well we are in the South East, so apart from about 8 years ago we've not had any snow worth shouting about.

Edited by HTP99 on Sunday 19th November 17:53

[King Herald]

They don’t get frost burn on their pads do they?

[Badda]

Do wolves wear 'booties'?

[FiF]

Swedish winter conditions as example. Apply some balm or vaseline to the pads, though you need to clean it off before he comes inside. If it's really really cold, then limit the walk. In UK we've never taken any particular precautions as no winter has been sufficiently cold. For example he'll get an hour on the common in mornings of minus 4/5. Forest walks longer, but again it's on soft surfaces which are possibly more sheltered.

If we do get a lot of snow, careful of drifts, you don't know what's underneath.

As for coats and bootees, our Golden would pull the boots off, natural double coat is mega thick, and knowing him wearing an additional coat would mean he'd try and find some frozen ice to lie down on, in the hope he can crack it and wallow in the water underneath then we'd be stuck with a shopping wet coat. We try and keep him off ice as legs go everywhere like Bambi, just gave a feeling of possible strains.

Don't panic, ours loves cold weather rather more than hot.

[James TiT]

Be carefu if there is grit or salt on the pavement that could he paws.

[Boosted LS1]

James TiT said:

Be carefu if there is grit or salt on the pavement that could he paws.

? Please clarify what you mean.

[LordHaveMurci]

In 35yrs of walking dogs I've never done anything different in winter, never bought a dog a coat or booties!

Walked westies, spaniels, GSD's & cross breeds, they all cope just fine & most of them enjoy it.

[bexVN]

Apart from avoiding salted or gritted pavements (as that can irritate/burn their feet) I have not really worried about frosty mornings etc (except for myself slipping over!!) we have whippets so coats are used when not running the field but they have nice firm pads. Some dogs do have soft pads which can be a problem in extreme weather's but not often.

Re an above post about wolves and booties. Wolves have very thick fur between their pads many breeds of dogs don't which can leave their feet more exposed.

[mickthemechanic]

Hardest part is actually getting mine outside in adverse weather. To the point of it running upstairs to hide.

[iphonedyou]

How to walk a dog in Winter.

Think I've seen it all now.

[GreenDog]

In snow some dogs suffer with small balls of ice forming on the fur around their feet. Other than that my dogs love the snow and normal cold weather doesn't bother them at all. The worst thing I find is when it's constantly wet outside, drying 3 dogs after every walk is no fun.

[fttm]

King Herald said:

I’ve never had a dog in winter, so I’m unsure how you go about walking them ‘when the snow lays all around, deep and crisp and even’, so to speak.

How long can they walk on a frost laden pavement? Can you get little slip-on booties? Well, fairly large ones, my big fella weighs 50kg and has feet almost as big as my hands.
Are you fking serious ? Thought you were one of the sensible ones but your brain seems to have turned to mush since returning to Blighty . Try putting "booties"on your lad and see what happens ,
You're living in England not Siberia , get a grip man ;)

[bexVN]

fttm said:

King Herald said:

I’ve never had a dog in winter, so I’m unsure how you go about walking them ‘when the snow lays all around, deep and crisp and even’, so to speak.

How long can they walk on a frost laden pavement? Can you get little slip-on booties? Well, fairly large ones, my big fella weighs 50kg and has feet almost as big as my hands.
Are you fking serious ? Thought you were one of the sensible ones but your brain seems to have turned to mush since returning to Blighty . Try putting "booties"on your lad and see what happens ,
You're living in England not Siberia , get a grip man ;)

Says he/she who cannot use the quote properly

I would rather have someone ask a question that might seem ott to some over the amount of neglect I deal with day to day due to fking ignorance and incompetence.

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

In my limited experience;

Step one: unleash the Springer Spaniel.

Step two: watch as she tries to simultaneously break the records for tail wags per second and speed across the ground, all whilst charging into and through every ditch, pond, bramble patch and hedge she can.

Step three: wonder if she deliberately sets out to get soaked and or coated in mud for a laugh.

Edited by Chainsaw Rebuild on Sunday 19th November 23:04

[LaurasOtherHalf]

iphonedyou said:

How to walk a dog in Winter.

Think I've seen it all now.

You're being racist against the mentally ill (or fking thick as it used to be called), please delete your comment to avoid hurting the feelings of said mentally impaired unicorns lest you be targeted for spreading hate crimes.

OK yah?

[AdiT]

bexVN said:

Apart from avoiding salted or gritted pavements (as that can irritate/burn their feet)...

Isn't there also an issue with them getting sick/ill from licking/cleaning their paws? Thought I read something about rinsing paws if they've been where there was salt/grit. Didn't really take a lot of notice because it's not an issue where I walk mine.

Don't do anything different in winter. Well I put coats on them if it's raining but thats so I don't have to spend as long drying them rather than for their benefit. My Weim is a bit nut's if it's frosty and very nuts if there's snow. Think we were out about 4 hours this day...
2013-04-01_11-03-40_663 by Adrian Thorp, on Flickr

[FiF]

bexVN said:

Says he/she who cannot use the quote properly

I would rather have someone ask a question that might seem ott to some over the amount of neglect I deal with day to day due to fking ignorance and incompetence.

This ^^, well said.