GSP cold weather tolerance

jwnissen · Post by **jwnissen** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:24 am

SO yet another "newbie" question. This is my first GSP and dog in general for about 20 years. All of my dogs growing up stayed in the house so this was not an issue. I live in north east washington in a desert where it can get down to 0 on occasion and stays in the 20's in the middle of winter. I built a kennel on the side of my house and it is protected from the wind. She has a igloo dog house that is just big enough for her with straw in it for bedding. I am really concerned about leaving her outside for 8 - 10 hours when its cold. My question is at what temperature should I just leave her inside the house in her kennel? I asked my trainer and he just told me that its easier to kill them in the heat than in the cold. I treat my dos as if she is one of the family and probabally worry a little too much. It would kill me to come home and find her dead from the cold. I know its a loaded question with lots of factors but hopefully I gave you most of the info. She stays inside at night and inside while we are at home, besides playing and working her in the field. I have heard that dogs that are outside all the time acclimate to the cold weather. She isnt out all the time so im not sure if she can get acclimated with what time she is. Thanks for your time.

John

willt · Post by **willt** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:48 am

I have had shorthairs my whole life, I just makes sure they have plenty of straw in there dog houses. I live in Utah and I have never had a problem with a dog getting to cold and freezing to death, it was a whopping 7 degrees lastnight. I think water and food are very important in colder months along with the right shelter to keep them out of the weather. It might be a little harder on her where she's been used to the house just gradually work her into it if ur really worried about it. That's just my opinion.

WillieELk78GSP · Post by **WillieELk78GSP** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:49 am

IMO, i would just get her a nice vest and watch her for a few days, i figure with the igloo and wind shield and a veat she would be just fine. But i live in western washington were it gets down to about 20 in the winter and notyet much colder than that.

ACooper · Post by **ACooper** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:11 pm

I would not leave her unattended with the vest.

Cajun Casey · Post by **Cajun Casey** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:52 pm

Dogs are smart. If she has a good shelter, which you say she has, she will curl up in a ball and sleep through the cold. When we had nearly two feet snow here in February, 2011, my outside dogs were in barrels with straw. The barrels were nearly buried. I looked out and saw steam coming out of them where the openings were. The dogs stayed socked in for over a day and emerged unscathed.

jwnissen · Post by **jwnissen** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 4:29 pm

WillieELk78GSP wrote:IMO, i would just get her a nice vest and watch her for a few days, i figure with the igloo and wind shield and a veat she would be just fine. But i live in western washington were it gets down to about 20 in the winter and notyet much colder than that.

That did cross my mind, but then I realized that she would eat the vest in the first couple hours. Thanks for all the responses. I figured she would be alright, I just wanted to make sure.

Fester · Post by **Fester** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 4:50 pm

Look in on the dogs if they are cold you can tell, keep them dry, if you have 2 that can sleep together without problems this works, if there is ever a question about if there cold bring them in ,if its below 10 and windy check on them, if they cant get to water fix it

Hattrick · Post by **Hattrick** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 5:00 pm

Keep her in the house. as sweet as shorthairs can be, you will have her sleeping in ur bed before you no it.

jwnissen · Post by **jwnissen** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:22 pm

Hattrick wrote:Keep her in the house. as sweet as shorthairs can be, you will have her sleeping in ur bed before you no it.

My wife just said "heck NO"!!!

Ours is still a little destructive and likes to eat just about anything so we keep her in her kennel at night.

Hattrick · Post by **Hattrick** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:35 pm

Keep working it. She will come around faster than you think. Lol

Brazosvalleyvizslas · Post by **Brazosvalleyvizslas** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:02 pm

Think about where the breed was developed, It gets very cold there.

Post by **ezzy333** » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:08 pm

Fester wrote:Look in on the dogs if they are cold you can tell, keep them dry, if you have 2 that can sleep together without problems this works, if there is ever a question about if there cold bring them in ,if its below 10 and windy check on them, if they cant get to water fix it

Over the years we have had many dogs in our kennel, both ours and boarded. It was unheated and we never had any trouble with any of the dogs except for the vizslas when it would get down around 30 below. Make sure the dog houses are bedded & dry, the dogs are out of the wind and are well fed.

Ezzy

campgsp · Post by **campgsp** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 12:31 am

Straw, dog house, out of wind and snow, plenty of water ,food at intervals. Nothing is to worry about. Shorthairs can withstand the cold very well. We get strong cold winds and some pretty nasty winters here . I've found dogs to hot to stay in the dog house sleeping on the snow covered ground. But never a cold dead dog. Feel the pup when it first comes out of the dog house you will see just how warm she is.
I just think you area over worrying.
If you can't get over that switch the dog with the wife. Problem solved.

Trekmoor · Post by **Trekmoor** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:41 am

I live in Scotland which isn't noted for it's warm winters ....or summers ! :roll: I have had several GSP's and all of them were fine out in the kennel - provided the kennel kept the dog out of the wind and was wet proof. One of the GSP's loved the snow and wind so much he used to stand facing into the wind on top of the kennel even at night ..... I think he liked the feeling of the wind blowing his ears back ! ..... Crazy dog !

I made my own kennels with a sort of wind baffle board inside that the dogs could , if they wanted to, shelter behind.

Bill T.

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