So my 9 week old pup will be joining our household next Saturday. We live where is gets cold and we have snow from Nov-April (45 deg latitude). This morning we are enjoying our first snow of the season. Already 15 cm. Question is how cold is too cold for a pup to be outside? Or another way to ask -- how long can he be outside if it's say -10 C or colder? This is more about potty training than outdoor exercise but both apply. I've a large indoor area where he can run when there is inclement weather.
Young pups, like very young children , cannot regulate their own body temperatures too well , so I would keep outside trips to a minimum , just for toilet training only when the temps drop dramatically as yours do . Make sure that once indoors, your puppy get thoroughly dried off and warmed as quickly as possible as they can suffer hyperthermia , just as we can . I lived in a cold region of France for some years where we often had minus 12 degrees , my very young pups only went out to do their toileting , until they got a little older when they then loved playing in the snow .Good luck with your puppy next week
I have no direct experience of pups and vey cold weather but I would follow Kate's advice and restrict time spent outside to a minimum.
Your pup is a little younger than mine were this time last year. We have lots of snow here, and sometimes very, very low temperatures (-50C with wind chill). It's not generally quite that extreme, though; -10C is pretty much an everyday temperature. I'd agree with Kate to keep it to when absolutely necessary until your pup is a bit older and stronger. Even at four months, we only spent about ten minutes at a time playing in the snow. The pups would start shivering if we were out too long - I tried to ensure I didn't get that far. They did have an absolute ball, though! We've just had our first snow fall here. We were in Spain for a couple of nights and got home a couple of hours ago to snow - Willow went absolutely nuts when she got it underfoot You have to take the general weather conditions into account. A clear, sunny day with very dry snow is a lot less chilling for your pup than a windy or wetter snow day. You have to use common sense.
Lisa and Snowshoe and of course snowbunny all have current experience of how to manage such low temps. Kate's advice is very sensible. The other issue when pups are a little bigger is to protect their joints from the slipping and sliding that inevitably occurs with hoolying around. I am sure this contributed to Lilly's HD as her hoolying in the snow of the cold snowy winter in the UK was the trigger for her limping and subsequent diagnosis. jac
I WANT your 15 cm. 10 cm and I can ski. Weather forecast last night said a possible 20 for us but it didn't happen, phooey. Oban came home with us Dec. 8 of what turned out to be one of our snowiest, coldest winters in years. As a matter of fact we had to delay his pick up by one day so the breeder could clear her driveway of about 30 cm of snow that fell. Little puppy Oban put his little feet on snowy ground and knew no difference, he was happy and playful just like our spring puppy. If anything I think the snow and cold speeded up the potty business, he went out, got the job done and came back in. We did blow paths around the backyard, the snow was too deep, it was over his head. And I did watch carefully on the really cold days with highs of -30C and he did sit and hold up a little foot a couple of times so in we went. Otherwise it was business as usual and we might be out for 1/2 hour, playing. We made snowmen for him, we chased around the pee paths and we drove to a nearby bush and walked on snowmobile trails. The neatest thing was when the snow disappeared. Oban had never known anything but snowy ground. The first time he saw and walked on bare ground he was exactly the same as puppies seeing their first snow. He barked at the sandy ground, he jumped on it, he ran through it, he tried to eat it. So cute. Make sure you have the video camera ready for this, I didn't think of it. Our breeder always warns about puppies and dogs of any age bounding through deep snow. Hard on the cruciate, or it can be. Which they will probably all want to do if you go too, because Labs LOVE winter. Summer heat is far harder on my dog than cold. Heat slows him down and stops him sooner than cold does. One tip though, for you. Don't lock yourself out in the middle of a cold night. We left coat, mitts and big boots by the door for those quickie outings.
