Exercising your hound in frigid weather.

[Anya]

As winter is upon us here in Canada and as someone who hates the cold weather, I was wondering what you do to make sure your grey gets exercised. 

It's been really cold and very windy here for the past few days (the wind is the worst), and I've been letting Cleo run in the back yard. Do you think that's enough? I know as winter progresses we will have huge dumps of snow and the temps will be even colder.

 

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Anya

[spottydog]

Calgary here, we walk down to -20C or so, just around the block. Boots of course, and a jacket over her sweater. Good for her to get her neighborhood sniffs for a little mental stimulation and a change of scenery.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Eastern Ontario here!   

Nigel is 12++ and he wears his fleecy sweater 24/7.  The other 2 are naked in the house, as well as for potty breaks in the yard. 

Last winter was Kibos' first Canadian winter - he is from the south of Spain - but he didn't want it on and never seemed cold.  Sid the Irish boy has super thick fur and doesn't need a house coat either.  Our Nixon and Ruby  (RIP) both wore house fleecys quite a lot.

Today I put Nigel and Kibos 'ChillyDog' fleece on for our walk, but Sid the Irish boy was naked and was fine.  We only walked for 20 minutes.... the wind chill was about minus 12.

 I am quite rural and I only have the shoulder of the road to walk on, then onto a gravel road. 

Once the snow arrives we don't walk that much... the salt build up on the road is awful on their feet and I just don't have the ambition to put on 12 boots just to go walking for 15 minutes!    They do a few zoomies in the yard a couple times a day and that's really it for most of the winter.  Lazy sods!

[Anya]

Another Ontarian here!

Well I feel a lot better having read both of your replies. Thank you! I was feeling horribly guilty for not taking her on her usual 30-40 min. walks, not that she minded! She came up from Florida and I'm sure those cold winds (and eventual snow, slush and salt) were not what she signed up for .

She's got a thin coat and when I take her out for a pee break she shivers, so I don't think she has much tolerance for cold. I have fleecy PJ's on order, so they'll be her indoor wardrobe until Spring rolls around. In the meantime I'm glad I have a backyard where she can get some exercise.

Thanks again guys.

 

 

[EllenEveBaz]

I try to give the dog a little mental and physical exercise inside when the weather is bad; not that southwest Virginia gets as cold as Canada but we still have our days.  Various kind of treat puzzles (Christmas is coming!) and those mats that you can hide treats in.  Playing hide and go seek inside the house.  (Good for reinforcing the "stay" command.)  Working on obedience.  Setting up a hurdle course with soft and low hurdles.  I may start "nosework" this winter just to help keep them occupied.  Even giving them something to chew can distract them for a while.

[Anya]

Those are some great ideas. I have the treat mat but some additional training time should keep her mentally active. Thank you!

 

[rsieg]

A lot of pet stores allow well-behaved dogs inside nowadays. I think some other types of stores do as well, Home Depot comes to mind but not sure about them. So if you think Cleo will behave himself (not lifting his leg or getting into it with other dogs et cetera) then that could be a nice outing.

[Anya]

I took her to Petsmart....once, but we didn't make it inside. The sliding glass doors freaked her out and as I had my other (non grey) dog with me it was turning out to be a spectacle. So I left them both in the car while I got their food. Home Depot up here doesn't allow dogs unfortunately (except service dogs). 

Thanks for the suggestions though rsieg.