It's cold

[fishvik]

It's -8 in eastern Idaho. How many of you guys leave your medium coated to long haired dogs, that sleep in the house, outside for a couple of hours during the day in this type of weather? My Lab/GWP doesn't seem to mind, but my GSP goes out does her business and immediately wants in.

[Steve007]

Not me. My dogs are house dogs. If we're bird hunting, they're running (mostly), but they're quite a few generations from being wolves. Cold weather is stressful; some stress is good (as in bird hunting or conditioning), but I see no merit in optional stress.

[fishvik]

Let me add that my Lab/GWP cross is a avid waterfowl retriever in temperature in the low teens and single digits when the wind isn't blowing too much(the wind is always blowing in eastern Idaho to some extent). He is also my partner when we go ice fishing. I let him out to keep his coat up.

[fishvik]

Steve007, what breed of dogs do you have and do you waterfowl hunt at all?

[Steve007]

Two GWPs. I do not regularly waterfowl hunt, though my FC has dived completely under ice chunks of a near-frozen river to get a lightly-hit wood duck I mistakenly thought was a fast-flying beautiful pheasant. Got it stuffed in my living room.

My dogs are house dogs and handle cold weather and cold water very well. If I waterfowl hunted, I suspect l'd get them vests.

[fishvik]

I have a vest for Puck but I think developing a coat is also important and so far it works. He's 6 yo and when I transport him in the cab of the pickup he starts panting after a short time with the heat on even after retrieving all morning.

[Gordon Guy]

I put them out when I go to work. It was -14 last week so I put heating pads (Made specifically for dog houses) in their dog houses. They are a lot warmer now.

I use the Dog Den 2 houses with closing doors and some hay in addition.

[bustingcover]

I have pitbulls that stay outside year around. Their houses are properly stuffed and built to keep the wind out. In the winter they leave the houses todo their business and that's it. Some will just look at me during feed time trying to decide if they're hungry enough to come out.

The gwp and the lew are house dogs. They don't mind the cold they're just happy to be outside.

[gsppurist]

My GSPs are indoors all the time in Winter. Leave them out during the spring/summer/fall once the weather gets above 60 degrees. Currently 6 degrees in Idaho.

[Ateup]

All my bird dogs stay outside in dog dens... (pointers & GSPS)we have had some nasty weather here in Kansas ,
I'm in Texas now for 10 days but at home we usually have a month where everytime I
Pull in for fuel some concerned citezen will ask if my dogs stay in that trailer at
Night. My response is look at my temp monitor... ( I think 40-45 degrees is sufficient!)
And that is outside temps of below 10. So do the math for the other part of the fall/winter.
I'm glad for concerned citizens, and they do a service.

My decker terriers are either in the house or have free access to the garage or shop( heated) in the cold snaps
BUT ( they're our family's babies)! They run free. Because obivously they keep the place free of pest!

[snakecreekkennels]

I have German shorthair pointer's and live in Iowa, where normal Iowa winter temps can arrange to below zero to the 20s. I am currently down to one dog which I worry about her getting cold but she is in a double insulated doghouse and has an entryway that goes back to her den area which blocks the wind very well. I had two dogs that were put in the same box and did not worry much about them because they both generated a lot of heat together. Since one of my dogs died in the early fall I am a little bit more cognizant of the temperatures. I also have blankets and straw bedding in the doghouse. My rule for this year is when It gets to the single digits in the nights the dog comes inside. In the morning she goes out to spend all day and normally the temperatures are warmer and then I bring her back in at night if the single digits are still present.

[fishvik]

I took Puck, my Lab/GWP, duck hunting on Thursday, high in single digits and ice fishing on Friday, high in the teens. The temps didn't bother him at all but he freaked at clear, no snow cover ice. I've used him for the last 5 years to pull my sled, but the ice was always covered with snow. Because of the thaw/freeze weather we had this week the ice was 7" thick, dark grey and real slick. Puck didn't know how to deal with it. He whined and wanted to sit in the sled after we got set up. A first he didn't even want to chase his retrieving dummy. After a while though he realized he was ok and started to act normal.

[Gertie]

My setters do alright as long as they're moving. Once we stop, especially if they got wet or have snow balls stuck to their fur, they get cold quick. We don't really have any place in the yard for them to stay off the snow and out of the weather so I don't leave them out for long. The Chesapeake is always fine. The only time I've ever seen her cold is a few minutes after she broke through a sheen of ice when it was less than 20 degrees out.

In general, this has been the hardest winter I've experienced since moving to Oregon 18 years ago. Hearing reports of whole coveys of chukar staggering down the road and dying by the dozens and quail freezing in yards. Sad. The consensus at our club meeting was that ODFW should cancel the remainder of the season in those places. I've decided to not hunt in the areas that have been hard hit. Having the dogs out there running around is tough on the big game as well as the birds. Hopefully the weather will let up soon and give the critters a break and the few birds that made it some time to bounce back before the nesting season.

[greg jacobs]

It sure has been a cold one.