Cold weather hiking with dogs?

Went to do Mt Pierce (and maybe Mt Eisenhower) on Monday 1/16/06 with my wife and our Lab, CINDERSMOM and Cinder. Temp at the trail head was about 3 degrees with a strong wind. We never made it because Cinder started shivering and made it known she had enough and wanted to turn around. Cinder belongs to the 4K club so she's not a beginner. I also saw a post in the trail conditions forum where another couple turned back because of their 2 dogs. We came home and ordered a winter coat and neoprene booties for Cinder but are unsure if that's a good solution. We are wondering what others who hike with dogs do when the cold is extreme. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Joe

I've got a 5 year old fox hound (?) mix/mut with a pretty short coat. He's had two close calls with hypothermia on camping trips, so he doesn't go much with me if it's cold.

I buy little kids fleece jackets at Goodwill for him! He doesn't like them, but they work. I'd like to find a kids down or synthetic vest, I think that would be perfect. I don't have them yet either, but for camping in cool to cold weather he needs his own pad and bag.

My hubsand's dog is husky/collie mix and he could sleep soundly in -50 with wind and be happy about it. He's old though, and has som hip problems so he doesn't go much either.

There are very few breeds that can comfortably endure temps in the single digits and below for long periods at a time, and Labs are not one of them. I don't take them on long hikes when it is below 20 deg F because they will start shivering when we stop. The neoprene and fleece jackets seem to help, but it does not protect their feet/legs from the cold. Because of this we just don't go out in the extreme cold, and we never do over nights with them in the winter.

Different breeds have different tolerances for winter conditions. However, I was very surprised that anyone attempted to take their dog above treeline in yesterday's conditions. It was plenty cold and windy even below treeline, and I'm glad to hear that people turned around because of their dogs. After looking at the weather forecast, I would not have brought a dog along.

Last year when we did Marcy in winter, we met up with a guy at the summit who had his dog with him. It was probably about 15-20 degrees at the summit with very strong winds (not Washington strong...) The dog was small, probably about 20 pounds, with a very short coat, but seemed to be having the time of her life. She greeted each one of us, waited while her owner chatted for a few minutes and then they took off in the direction of Gray. She was shivering a little, but seemed to be having a great time.

I had my boy hiking in -20 up around Middle Settlement Lake, he was crashing through 1/2 inch ice to go swimming and loved it. He put off so much heat from running around that hardly any ice stuck to his fur. I don't think I'd bring him above treeline in that kind of weather, though. (He slept all the way home after that trip.)

Dugan four-legs complains only if temps are -10F or colder. As a Kuvasz, he has a double coat. Its length is medium-long and thickness medium. For comparison, his coat is bulkier than a Golden but not so heavy as a Newf or Pyr.

On a colder windy day, we use packs as the "macho" equivalent to a coat. On a sunny still day, he can get too warm even in the 10-20F range.

Not only do different breeds have different tolerances, personal canine preference within a breed can vary widely as well.

And to answer the original question - if the cold is beyond what my dog could handle, he would not come with me. If we were already out, we would turn around immediately.

Should he get in trouble in winter, my emergency bivy is a lightweight 1 person tent. It's big enough for both of us.

A side question: Who else cringes after their dog plays in the water in sub freezing weather in the middle of a walk/hike?! Don't those feet ever get cold?!

A side question: Who else cringes after their dog plays in the water in sub freezing weather in the middle of a walk/hike?! Don't those feet ever get cold?!

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I just laugh. Casey loves water and will flop down in a 2" puddle to get wet. It doesn't seem to matter to him if it's 90 degrees or -20, if he sees water (or really liquid mud) he's in it faster than I can blink.
He loves spring thaw the best. I take him walking around Green Lakes State Park near us in Syracuse and last year he was in the water (still on the leash) up to his belly when the ice was about 2-4 inches thick. He was smashing it apart with his feet, grabbing the chunks in his mouth, jumping up out of the water and depositing the ice chunks on the trail. He did that until he ran out of leash room.

Cold doesn't seem to affect him much at all.

Me too

Dugan said:

A side question: Who else cringes after their dog plays in the water in sub freezing weather in the middle of a walk/hike?! Don't those feet ever get cold?!

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My buddy, Henry - a black lab in his second winter - makes me feel the same way. On a walk last week when it was about 20F, he jumped into the little stream, swam around as best he could and broke off a chunk of ice to bring me. Try as I might, I can't keep him away from the water. And he looks cute with butt-sicles that form on him.
He sees water and has to go in. Don't think he'd do it if he was cold. But then, he never seems to get cold.

I notice the cut off for Kennebunk is around 10 degrees. When it's in the teens or higher she'll stay out all day. Single digits and lower and she does this trick where she bounds out of the door, gets about 30 feet from the house, than just freezes up, picks up her paws one at a time and looks at me like, "what the hell do you expect me to do out here?". I've actually carried her inside (all 75lbs of her).

What is the recommended doggie shopping website? I'd like to get her some booties for winter hiking.

I've taken my Golden Retriever, Toby, out a couple of times this winter. Both times the temperature was around 20F. Sometimes he would wimper a bit when we stopped, so he just made me keep going and going.

I wax his paws and put boots on (which always seem to come off halfway through).

He loves the snow, but I don't think I'd take him out if it got super cold. He's never wanted to turn back yet, and his tail is always wagging. I'd turnaround in a heartbeat if I thought he wanted to go back though. And I can't stand it when he goes in the streams....


-Shayne

truepatriot09 said:

she does this trick where she bounds out of the door, gets about 30 feet from the house, than just freezes up, picks up her paws one at a time and looks at me

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I call that the "Are you nuts? It's too cold to put my feet on the ground." look. Typically accompanied by sad, reluctant expression. Dugan four-legs hits that at around -10 but is fine with booties.

Booties:
Someone here (Nadine?) suggested the method that works best for me. Wrap vetrap around the leg a couple of times with the bottom edge about an inch below where the top edge of the bootie will be. Put bootie on with top edge overlapping vetwrap. Wrap duct tape around leg, securing bootie to vetrap. Prevents the loss of fur that would otherwise occur by taping bootie directly to leg.

Websites:
There's tons. Google something like "wholesale dog supplies" and you should get at least a dozen common vendors (Cherrybrook, RC Steele, etc). The vendors usually have on line catalogs. For more specialized stuff, like coats or booties, you might want to narrow the search to pick up more specialized vendors. For instance, a sled dog supplier probably sells a better bootie than a more general supplier.

The weather was visious on Monday!

My German Shepard will lay on snow, still wet from a bath, perfectly happy. What he doesn't tolerate for very long is walking on ice or black ice/frozen pavement. The first time this happened, I had to carry him a couple blocks back home. (100 lbs. )

If a dog is picking up his feet in a weird way, along with the whining, do something quickly. Same goes for hot pavement in summer.

I saw Spaddock's dog on Mt Tom recently on a quite cold day, having no troubles at all. I think I'll try that musher's wax!

Different breeds of dogs are ment to live in certain conditions, if you want to take your dog to the mountains you might want to get a mountain dog.
But if you already have your own buddy and you want to take him or her with you remember a house dog is a house dog and is not accumented to low tempertures. Wax is good but booties are better because they prevent thier pads from becoming cut from the ice (if you can keep them on) but at least stop once in a while and crush the ice balls betwine thier toes. A padded pack or any other clothing is good to keep them warm (they don't know what they look like). Thermorest pad and a nice fleece blanket for bedtime and they are all set. Food, a grain based dog food that you feed to house dogs is NOT suitable for cold weather conditions. You gotta kick it it up a knotch add suit , bacon grease, fish oil or anything high protien (same for yourself) bodies need extra fuel in -0 temps, read the nutrition facts on freezed dried foods, good luck eating about 4 of them. Eskimos eat blubber, must work.
Just a few thoughts been enjoying the winter for 30+ years, still love it.
Hi, Dugan

My dogs are nine, so we've had time to figure out their temp. extremes. The lab does better than the golden, but anything colder the 10 degrees means we don't go out for long.

I use musher's wax instead of booties for my golden. I worry about putting booties on an older dog with absolutely no fear of heights. He'll go right to the edge of cliffs. I'm constantly having to tell him to back him up!

Other than the wax, they go naked on the trail. They have their own ridge rest and fleece blanket for overnights. We don't carry them on day trips because they prefer to keep moving rather than lay down to rest -- we keep the breaks as short as possible on cold days.