German Shepherds Forum banner

Too cold?

3K views 28 replies 18 participants last post by  Ohana 
#1 ·
It's been really cold here in Canada for the past few days, with a windchill of -30, and although I can wear two pairs of pants a ton of clothes, my 15 month old pup can't :(
Whenever I take him for a walk now, he starts to limp and walk with only 3 legs after a few minutes. Then he just completely refuses to walk and just stares at me. I bought booties for him, but they don't seem to be helping. Maybe one of his paws are really sensitive to the ice??
So I resorted to taking him out for short periods of time more often. But we run into the same problem every time. I feel so horrible seeing him shiver and limp when we're outside though :(
And also, he is really hyper indoors because he doesn't get his usual long walks :(

Anyone else have this problem or suggestions??
 
#2 ·
Can you take him too a space in your home and play with him for an hour or so? I am in the the Durham region area and know what you are saying! the dogs go out for a pee then come straight back inside, i have a very large basement and i can play some ball or tug o war with them down there.
 
#3 ·
mine are the opposite , bring them indoors and it is too warm , they head for the doors

dogs with shifts of more than 20 degrees F which is about what winter conditions from our very warm house to the natural outdoors is. Dogs that are snug inside while owners are away at work and then put outdoors for an hour or two when they come home feel it because they have not adapted or been acclimated . Can cause respiratory problems . It is the sudden changes that are the problem.

so how cold was it last night --- missleslee did you wake up last night around 3 a.m. -- ? I was up reading - no interruptions! -- and then there was a BOOM . Thought roof collapse - ran out , ran upstairs to check ceilings . All good. Then later on the radio 1010 John Moore around 8 or so there were all sorts of call-ins with reports of multiple BOOMS , described as almost a super loud zonic boom. Climatologist came on to describe frost-quakes https://www.google.ca/?gws_rd=cr&ei=DjFzUq-8GaL42AXnzYCgDw#q=frost+quakes&safe=off&tbm=nws . There were four or five . We actually had a frost quake in our area during the power-outage of the ice storm we had just before Christmas.

I mean is there anything else mother nature can throw at us. A summer of flooding with police marine units needing to take people off the GO train, to ice storms to frost quakes ?
 
#4 ·
Yes, the kids were in the living room and all i heard was a loud boom and i thought something hit the side of our home. Frost tremors are new to me, i have never heard of them before..now they are being reported everywere!..i think next summer we will be hit with severe storms. I believe you are in Orillia but do you remember a few summers ago when we had that giant one and tornados touched down in new market area?
 
#5 ·
Sounds like maybe a pad got a bit of frostbite or something...

It's hard when it's so cold isn't it? My baby was outside a lot before we got him, so he has been used to it. He likes to be in, but he seems good outside too. Of course we bought him from a breeder on the other side of the Continental Divide where it doesn't get quite as cold. It's supposed to be below 0 F this weekend so we'll be playing ball and tug in the house probably.
 
#17 ·
Sounds like maybe a pad got a bit of frostbite or something...
I'm curious....could cold weather, playing in deep snow etc. cause injuries to the nails of a dog's paw? Whereas if a nail was torn, the cold snow might keep it from bleeding much. Or even cause damage to the bed of the nail from romping on icy snow?

Remember, I'm from South Texas - we had freezing weather this morning...a chilly 32! So I can't even imagine what ya'll are going through!
 
#10 ·
Orillia here!! I was up briefly at 6am and was -40 on my back deck.

Gus loves this weather and thankfully he has spent alot of time outside so his winter coat is now keeping him warm. He spent a full hour playing with his now squished plastic baby pool. Throws it everywhere, I just can't bring myself to taking it away from him.
 
#14 ·
Mine is limping on the cold snow too, but she's not shivering.

I'm lucky, I have a large horse riding arena I can let her bomb around in there where she's out of the wind and her paws are out of the snow, but in temps like this I basically just let her out to potty and she comes right back in.

I'm lucky, she's got a good off switch and is happy to entertain herself with her toys, but I'll do nosework inside to tire her out a bit and she seems pretty happy.

It's supposed to warm up a bit over the weekend, (but we're supposed to get another 15 cm of snow on Sunday), but cold again on Tues.
 
#19 ·
From Wisconsin and I don't ever remembering a day being too cold to walk my dogs, however they spend a lot of time outside (today 4-5 hours not all at one time) and the paws do have to acclimate in order for them to tolerate very cold temps. The acclimation has to be a daily process from my experience.

However, my sister has a little terrier mix who not only doesn't spend anytime outside (except to potty) but also has sensitive paws from allergies. But he has come on hikes with me and I put "Mushers Secret" on his paws and it really helps and allows him to hike with us in single digit weather with negative double digit wind chill. We periodically reapply the ointment to his paws through-out the hike.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App
 
#21 · (Edited)
Sunflowers! An electric blanket??? They have those down there? LOL! I am rolling!

Ah, am I the only one who says if it is below -10F we aren't going anywhere except for necessities? I do not walk my dog below 0. Wait, I don't walk them below 10F. Sorry. My dogs are fine out there, it's me.

I was pretty proud of my self out there in my sweat shirt cleaning kennels and hauling water this morning at 7 degrees. Of course I layer. I have a thick sweat shirt and sweat pants that I put over my thin stuff to clean kennels. Then if it gets below 20, I add a hat. If it gets below 10, I use gloves. I hate when the gloves stick to the kennel gates.
 
#23 ·
My tough girl lab, who will break through ice to retrieve, was limping after a few minutes on pavement this morning. She actually jumped off the driveway into the bank of shoveled snow and that appeared to fix her right up. I should probably get her booties since it's impossible to avoid paved surfaces on walks and they seemed to be the problem. Then again, this is the first time in 6 years of living here that we've had temps this low.

Huxley didn't seem to notice. He's a snow and cold lover to the extreme. When I cut our game of fetch short (only 10 minutes, I wimped out because my fingers were getting painful) he pouted his way back into the house.
 
#26 ·
Since GSDs have webbed paws they tend to get snow and/or ice jammed into their feet and toes. This can cause discomfort, and could be why yours is limping. Also, ice melting salt can cause paw cracking and damage. We are in North Dakota and even in the 0 weather I have to drag her in :) she loves it outside. I just don't want her to get too cold.
Activities we do when it is too cold:
Play inside. We throw a ball and hide while she's gone then she comes and finds us. Tuckers out her mind and body :)
Head to 'Grandma and Grandpas'. Any new change of scenery excites her and wears her out.
Go shopping. When we can't wAlk outside we head to the pet stores and make our rounds. PetSmart is full of people just 'walking their dogs' indoors on cold days. We are all on a first name basis now, as it has pretty much been 5 to -40 degrees for the last month.
Stores that allow dogs that we've found: PetSmart, PetCo, Runnings, Tractor Supply Co (TSC), Lowes, and a couple little mom&pop stores :)
Hope this helps!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top