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.

[King Herald]

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

[King Herald]

Bloody hell, I thought for a second I’d posted this in The Lounge, with the number of dhead replies, I had to double check.


Anyway, we do walk ours along the pavement next to roads, so there will be a fair amount of salt and stuff I guess. Have to keep an eye on that.

AdiT said:

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

[King Herald]

Alucidnation said:

iphonedyou said:

How to walk a dog in Winter.

Think I've seen it all now.

How to walk a dog in summer, pretty bloody obvious, except the minute we have a heatwave the inter web is full of people whose dogs have blistered pads because the road is too hot....

There are no such things as silly questions, but there are some pitifuly stupid answers.

[King Herald]

Ours seem to have lost their urge to go walkies since the frost came around.

No more whining and tapping on knee with paw while looking earnestly out of the window late afternoon.

They are happy to mince into the garden, do their business, then lay back out in front of the fire. Muddy feet are taken care of with a towel in the conservatory ‘air lock’ before they get into the house.

[King Herald]

So, winter is all but gone..... and no problems on the dog front, snow, ice, they are bothered not, and will happily lay in the snow when in the garden, no different than they lay on the dry ground, or wet ground.

We had to fence off the grass area as it turned into a squelching quagmire, but they looked at the fence once, and never seemed bothered since, but it saved wiping the mud off their feet every time they came into the house.

Anyway, apart from the usual idiots with their predictable/typical Ph dhead responses, useful thread.

[King Herald]

fttm said:

dheads responses to a dhead question maybe ? Glad your dog survived the ordeal of a British winter though .

Isn’t it school tomorrow? Shouldn’t you be in bed by now???

[King Herald]

What country are you in?

We had a 1/4” of snow here in the Midlands.

[King Herald]

MYOB said:

King Herald said:

So, winter is all but gone.....

I know you have been overseas for a few years but our winters can hang around to April! Still have some way to go yet before we can warm our cockles.

Yes, I’ve just been up around Leek/Buxton on my bike, still plenty of snow on the ground all around there.

Talk on the news of a sweltering 12c tomorrow around the Midlands.

[King Herald]

smartymcsmartarse said:

Hahahahahahaha, warm weather? This is England, it reaches 25c at the most in mid summer.

I’m sure that would have been the sort of reply I would have got from the usual suspects if it was ME asking about how the heat.

Our dogs in the Philippines used to shiver at this sort of temperature, our household air con kept the house down to 22c. They lived outside though.

Anyway, sensible answer, we walked our English dogs in the evening during the summer, much cooler. Back door of the house is open all day, they came in and out as they please. Plenty of water available.