What do you do with your dog when the weather is extreme?

Todays windchill was almost 20 below so the dogs got little potty breaks in the fenced yard and then came in and hung out with us.  We had extended "gusts" in excess of 35 mph, some of the drifts are almost 5 feet.  Being outside wasn't happening today.  The wind literally knocked me over when I went out to get the newspaper this morning and with NO visability, it wasn't at all safe for us to try to walk in the woods.

Honestly, when my crew is bored they get antsy.  Today, they appreciated being warm enough that they all snagged a bed and snuggled in.

1. Now if tomorrow is equally crappy, we'll find something to do in the house, like a group training session so that they have the chance to get tired out at least mentally.

 Yesterday was a pretty busy day for my dogs so they weren't as hyper as normal. The actual temp here today was -1 with windchills about 20 below. The dogs still spent a lot of time outside today. I couldn't believe it. They kept jingling the bell to go out so out they went. They'd stay about for about 20 mins then come in and warm up then go out again to play - or in Dakota's case, to curl up in a husky ball and go to sleep on the deck.

I did work with Neiko on the balance ball a bit and teaching him to jump in my arms. Lily got  a training session in sit/stay. Mostly though we laid around and enjoyed cuddling! 

Man, I swear it got colder as the day went on! It is -30 celsius (-22 fahr) with the wind chill.  Luckily we had sun this morning so although the temp was cold the warmth of the sun helped a lot. I have a standing date with my cousin and her dog on Sundays so we did do 1 1/2 hr off leash down in the ravine. It is nice and sheltered down there which helped break the wind. If we don't get out for a walk Kobi and I play fetch. He actually moves faster playing catch then he does on our walks, so i figure he gets a pretty good work out.  I"M SICK OF WINTER!!!!!!

My gsds all have a very handy OFF switch.  They know that outside behavior isn't ok INSIDE and they behave very differently in the house.  Still, I can tell when they NEED something more, and that's when they'll get a bonus frozen kong, some group training, which really requires a lot of self restraint on their part, or maybe a fresh knuckle or marrow bone.  It's not as good as a romp through the woods, but in weather like this there just aren't enough layers to keep me warm, and even THEY get cold!

I tell my dogs TBSS!!! (too bad so sad)

It was very cold and extreme wind chills yesterday. They could go out in the back yard. We watched them and left them out as long as the wanted to stay out, but brought them in as soon as they came to the door. None of my dogs stayed out long, I was worried they were not doing their duties. We did some basic obedience inside, but not a whole lot. Pretty much they just slugged around the house like I did.

Last year we had some extreme cold for an extended period. We would take the dogs to Petsmart and walk them around. We also would load them into the car and let them run at the park as long as we could stand it. The park is 2 blocks from my house so it was pathetic that we drove them there, but if we had walked them we would have been frozen before they ever got to stretch their legs.

I drag their little curly resisting butts outside and make sure they pee/poop.  Then we come inside, take our coats off and make a fire in the fireplace.

Well, I bundle up and we go hike pretty much regardless of the weather.  The only thing that stops us is lightening.  She's got to get out, I've got to get out, if we waited for perfect weather all the time we wouldn't walk for months.

Honor's not incredibly fond of going out in harsh weather (she hates snow and cold sidewalks), so to even go outside, she gets bundled into dog shoes.  Beyond that, we don't go out much in bad weather.  But the one big benefit of having a small dog is that racing around the apartment is actually fairly substantial exercise.  We also play MARATHON games of fetch...man, she will fetch for HOURS.  If I didn't know better, I'd think she had a touch of retriever in her!    We also do long training sessions, and practice walking nicely up and down the hallways.

Extreme for us here is extreme heat, not cold. It was near 70 today (yay, fun day at the park) but this past summer it was over 100 most days for a couple months, so we had to walk after dark or really early in the morning. They were so lethargic during the worst heat, and my AC worked itself to death in August, so the boys spent alot of time laying in front of the floor fans and munching on frozen yogurt cubes. We've also had tons of rain this winter, but after two or three days of skipping park time because of rain none of us could take it anymore. We started going whenever it would stop for a bit, the result was dogs covered in red Georgia mud several times, but they were happy dogs.

 I'm lucky, I have my own training center, so we just go hang out and train, play ball, or play at doggy play group:-))

Here at home we play frisbee for a bit, or the dogs go out in their pen and run around (it helps to have one herder to chase the others LOL).  Sioux and Sequoyah really don't mind the weather, although I still don't put them out too long if it's really windy/nasty.  Maska tries hard to look like part of the couch so I won't ask him to go out in the cold;-) 

 Well, every night for the past week has been -40°....we do very, very fast peewalks. We race up and down the stairs. Do some training, learn new tricks. Race up and down the stairs. And then we go out for another peewalk. Then we race up and down the stairs. We wait for it to be -30 or higher and then go out in the back yard and run around until a)their feet are too sore/cold, or b)my face is almost frozen.

TODAY it got ABOVE ZERO! It was 2 degrees Fahrenheit. So the dogs got lots of play time outside.

 Quick answer: we don't let much stop us.
 

willowchow

Well, I bundle up and we go hike pretty much regardless of the weather. 

  Me too; yesterday the wind chill was -4, we walked for an hour. I'm a big fan of thermal underwear. We don't go out if the wind chill is -15 or more, but other than that, we're out. When we can't get out, she gets a nice soup or marrow bone, and we play with her toys and run up and down the stairs like Jeano.