Dogs and snow

My dog just got to see his first snow. It was so funny. He lived in Mississippi the first 13 months of his life so I'm sure he never saw snow before. We're in Wisconsin. We let him out to go potty and he put his feet down and looked at the ground and just stood there. He usually takes off running as soon as I open the door. Then, he laid down, rolled around in it and kept licking it off the ground. We let him in and now he keeps begging at the door to go back out. We thought for sure he would hate the snow. Does your dog like snow?

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Someone told me that I need to get my dog boots to walk in the snow. I asked about boots in another thread and looked over the links a helpful poster gave me for boots. I haven't gotten to buying any yet. I'm a crossing guard so I see people walking their dogs in the winter all the time. I never paid much attention to their feet because I didn't have dog last winter. It snowed for the first time yesterday. I saw several people out walking their dogs in the snow this morning. None were wearing boots. Do any of you use boots for your dog in the winter? Can I take my dog for a 30 min walk in the winter without boots? We would be on sidewalks. Some people don't shovel like they should, but most do.

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Do you put a sweater on your dog when you walk them in the winter? I have had mixed advice on this. I'm not sure if I should or not. I have a 20 month old Border Collie/Chow mix who's about 50 pounds. I live in WI. For the next few months we'll be in the 20's-30's for temps.

It depends on what dog you have.

If your dog is not a winter dog, such as a chihuahua, then it might be helpful to get sweater for the dog when you two walk in the snow.

From what I have heard, the dog boots might cause more problems than helping. Some people had trouble to have the boots stay on their dogs. Some other people said the boots had caused raw spots on the lower legs of the dog.

Don't quote me on it. It's all hearsay since I don't even own a dog myself.

I don't think my dog understands the snow He's white, so I think he's just amused that it's the same colour that he is, but I have seen him trying to eat/lick it so I'm sure he understands that it's somewhat like water. I didn't purchase any dog booties for him, but I'm considering that. I know that if I walk him and it's too cold out, he will start to do this jumping thing with the paw that's too cold/hurts. He has trouble keeping warm, but will not allow me to put his sweater on him. He doesn't like to be constricted. During the winter, I try to give him short walks or simply run around in the backyard with him until I think he's tired to try to avoid walking. I know that he doesn't understand that he needs to sweater to keep warm, but I wish he would let me put it on for at least 30 minutes a day so I could give him proper exercise

I don't suggest walking your dog for 30 minutes without boots or a sweater. It won't be good for the dog. It's far too cold, and even when/if people do shovel their sidewalks, there is usually salt, and that hurts the dogs too. The salt grains get stuck in their paws and when they walk it begins to dig deeper and hurt them. This is also part of the reasoning for the jumping that my dog does.

I don't think dogs need shoes. But some short haired dogs, especially the small dogs do need dog coats in the winter. I had one dog who would try to bite the snow balls we would throw in the air. He had a great time. We had a kick just watching him jump in the air to try to catch the snow balls. When he finally caught one, he had such a surprise look on his face. I am sure he thought that the snow balls were regular balls. I am sure he didn't expect something so cold and so crunchy.

Ha, our German Shepherd loved snowballs too. He would chase them and chomp them for as long as you were willing to throw. Then he would proceed to pee like a horse for the next few hours. We had to not throw snowballs after 4pm!


I think that cross breed would be fine in the snow. Most dogs do not like boots anyway. But just keep an eye on him and check his feet.

Our German shepherd loved the snow. He used to nap in a giant pile of snow and when you called him he looked at you, turned his nose up and just stayed there. We had to go out and bring him back in.