I saw this today and was frankly a bit perplexed. There's a saying up here: "The Arctic favors men and dogs and frowns on women and horses." If I followed this, I'd never walk my dog. In fact, I see a lot of people up here who skijor (cross-country sled while being pulled by a dog) or run with their dogs or do stuff with their dogs when it is way colder than this. The Yukon Quest is run at temperatures way below this.
I would not let a short hair Chihuahua out at those temperatures but that's not a good dog for up here anyway. Dogs that size are eagle bait. Literally. But I've got an Aussie shepherd/mastiff pup who's about 5 months old and about 35 pounds.
We've had a rash of early cold weather so 10 has been about the high for the last week and a half and yet I go walk the dog or let the dog out. Last night I walked the dog at about -5. We were out for about 30 minutes and he did just fine. Ran up and down the trail.
What do you all say? Is it me? Or is this chart too restrictive?
Our red heeler mix from Mexico hates anything under 40 degrees. Will do his business and will be right back at the door.
Our blue heeler mix from Denver hates heat but lives for the snow.
Just depends on the dog. Obviously you want to be more cautious in the cold but growing up our border collies loved colder weather (20-30 degrees was their happy place). [Reply]
I have a small old dog and the lower part of "3" is where I have to take him out instead of him letting himself out through the dog door. It's a bit of a problem...but I love him and he's still happy and healthy enough. [Reply]
Originally Posted by frozenchief:
I think I found the limit for my dog, at least for now. We’ve had an early cold snap. It hit 0 today and is forecast to be colder tomorrow. My regular wood guy has been swamped so he’s set to bring wood in a few weeks but I need some now so I got some rounds from a friend and spent this morning splitting wood at -10. My dog ran around for 45 minutes while loading up the truck and doing all kinds of stuff. We got home and I started splitting the wood. After about 10 minutes, he started barking, clearly wanting inside. Later, he went walking with me when it was about -5 or so. We walked to almost 2 miles. Took about 40 minutes and he was fine but I did notice that at the end he was lifting one leg at a time for a few seconds before putting it down and lifting another leg. So I estimate that at about -5 or -10, he has about 45 minutes outside. As he gets older, that may change but: 1) that’s good info for now, and 2) it’s world ways from 10 above being life threatening and keeping him inside.
That's pretty brutal for Anchorage for this time or year. Fairbanks sure, but those temps where you're at, ouch! :-) Do me a favor and keep that up your way for awhile, if you would be so kind. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bwana:
That's pretty brutal for Anchorage for this time or year. Fairbanks sure, but those temps where you're at, ouch! :-) Do me a favor and keep that up your way for awhile, if you would be so kind. :-)
It is brutal for this time of year. We’ve set some record cold temps this November in parts of this state. Good thing about it now is that the lakes and rivers and ground gets really frozen with thick ice for snow machine riding later. And I’ll do my best to keep it up here for you all. [Reply]
My dogs don't give a fuck how cold it is. They want to go for a walk. And they are happy to do it below zero degrees F, even if I am crying about it. Of course I take them to a nearby park and they run around off leash to keep warm. But I take them there year round, so just a normal walk for us. [Reply]
Originally Posted by frozenchief:
I think I found the limit for my dog, at least for now. We’ve had an early cold snap. It hit 0 today and is forecast to be colder tomorrow. My regular wood guy has been swamped so he’s set to bring wood in a few weeks but I need some now so I got some rounds from a friend and spent this morning splitting wood at -10. My dog ran around for 45 minutes while loading up the truck and doing all kinds of stuff. We got home and I started splitting the wood. After about 10 minutes, he started barking, clearly wanting inside. Later, he went walking with me when it was about -5 or so. We walked to almost 2 miles. Took about 40 minutes and he was fine but I did notice that at the end he was lifting one leg at a time for a few seconds before putting it down and lifting another leg. So I estimate that at about -5 or -10, he has about 45 minutes outside. As he gets older, that may change but: 1) that’s good info for now, and 2) it’s world ways from 10 above being life threatening and keeping him inside.
Damn, I bet you go through a heckuva lot of wood. [Reply]
