Cold Weather – Warm Hearts

It’s Cold!

A good dog shelter doesn’t have to be a grand mansion!

Different dogs handle different weather, well, differently! If you keep your pets in the house then you don’t have too much to worry about when the weather outside turns bitter cold. But if you have outdoor dogs, dogs who stay out in the cold for long periods (an hour or more) then it’s up to you to ensure that they have warm shelter.

There are many ways to create such a space.

Here are some important factors to pay attention to:

• Away from the Wind
• Stays Dry
• Allows access to fresh unfrozen water
• Possibly has a heating pad or heating light – caution must be exercised with these because the last thing we want is for a chewing pooch to bite through an electric bad and electrocute herself!

If it was sleeting and the wind was blowing I think even Snoopy would use that little house of his!

Like Snoopy who laid on top of his dog house, not all dogs are going to use what you provide all the time. Some may not even use it ever! Or at least not when you can see. But you should take care to provide shelter, especially for the worst days, even for so called weather toughened dogs.

Though you may not necessarily see it, if they’re fighting staying warm their immune system can become compromised through sheer overwork which may lay them open for all sorts of illnesses.

 

Suggested Warm Solutions:

• Covered Porch
• Dog Igloo
• Barn
• Shed
• Heated Water Dish or Bucket
• Protected Heat Lamp (avoid accidental burning)
• Protected Heated Pad (avoid accidental chewing!)
• Blankets
• Straw

 Make it Budget Friendly

The goal here isn’t to see how money you can spend setting up a warm spot for your outdoor dog(s) but how you can find ways to offer workable solutions that get the job done! For some this is going to be a dog door straight into the house, for others it might be an igloo by the deck with a heated pad under the flooring where the canine can’t accidentally chomp into it. For others lucky enough to have an out building like a garage, barn or a shed a pile of straw and access to it may be perfectly fine!

How do you determine how weather proof your dog is?

Hale and Hearty – but even she needs shelter when it’s cold and rainy

The Breed

Some dogs have thick almost oily fur that helps them resist water getting down onto their skin. While others have very thin fine fur that just looks insufficiently cozy.

Accustomed

Some dogs are outside a lot and have become largely accustomed to both the weather or to locating places they know they can stay comfortable in bad weather. Here in Kentucky you see a fair amount of Great Pyrenees living out in a pasture full of sheep. These guys can cope with a whole lot more inclement weather than the average house kept hound. But even they need shelter from time to time and of course unfrozen water.

Size

Little dogs, by volume, are less able to cope with biter temperatures than larger dogs. Their extremities can chill up and head towards frostbite quickly. Think of some of those paper thin ears on some toy breeds and I start getting the chills immediately! Coats help for quick walks and temporary exposure – but to be kept truly comfortable a dog needs a cozy cabin to snuggle up into.

Shelter!

With shelter just about any dog can survive comfortably outside in cold weather. Even the littles know how to stay warm when they have ways to do so.