Curious as to what people do to exercise their pups and adult labs when it's raining out or during winter. I know during winter it's not that hard for a walk but if temps are really cold what do you do?
We live in Cornwall , where it rarely gets very cold , minus 5 is about the lowest , but it doesn't bother my adult Labrador , neither does rain , I just make sure he has a good rub down once home . More care with young pups , where extreme cold is applicable .
We don't have proper cold to contend with, rarely below zero celcius. We avoid higher temperatures (by higher I mean over 20 celcius)- going out earlier instead, but we don't really suffer with heat here either! Rain? Bring it on! We love the rain.
Love the rain wellies water proofs and happy dogs. I walk further and enjoy the peace the bad weather brings.
We live in Hampshire, UK and it can get very cold during the winter months but NOTHING stops us walking, rain, frost, snow, sunshine we love to walk in all of it !! xx
I have a rainsuit. In winter, which was very cold and snowy the winter we got Oban, highs of -30C several days, we went out anyway. When he was little I watched for little cold toesie woesies being held up and we would not be out for long. Now he's an adult we walk, ski and snowshoe. WE walk snowmobile trails (only the shared ones) and they are packed hard as and smoother than concrete sidewalk when first groomed. Heat is far more limiting for us than cold. Neither of us takes heat very well. No boots or coat for Oban, just for me.
What's weather got to do with walking a Lab? Cold, wet, windy, frosty, snowy, hot what ever the weather we're out enjoying our walks. My favourite is cold and frosty mornings, the dogs prefer wet and windy
That's "really cold" to you? In Andorra, we regularly have temperatures of -20C, occasionally -50C. The dogs don't give a hoot and have their walks as normal. In the winter, I use Musher's Secret on their feet to protect their pads against the cold and salt on the roads. The only time they don't go out is if it's dangerous - we can get very high winds, which will rip slates off the roofs, bring trees down etc. And sometimes we get freeze/thaw conditions which mean you literally (yes, literally) cannot walk out the door without falling over - even the dogs fall over, as it forms a thick sheet of very hard, glass-like ice that their claws are useless on. As our building is on a fairly steep hill, it's treacherous! When that happens, I wait for the sun to hit the road and melt it before venturing out. The first winter I had the dogs was very bad for dangerous winds, and I maybe missed two or three days of the winter because of it. The next, I had a couple of times where I got to the door and turned around because of the ice. Last year, there wasn't one occasion. I don't mind a jot walking in the rain, as long as I'm dressed for it. We don't get a lot of it, thankfully, so it's always a bit of a novel experience I dislike walking in the wind, especially if it's whipping up the snow, as it can really hurt any exposed bits of skin. When it's like that, I normally wear my ski goggles to walk!
I walk the dogs in any weather, except when it is very hot. When hot, I put them in the pond first so that they cool as they walk.
I really dislike high winds too, as we live in the countryside trees fall quite a lot and last year a very large thick branch snapped off and fell infront of Hattie and I, that was a close one It worries me but we stil go out but try to walk in the harvested fields as much as we can out of harms way. Obviously when it's very hot I walk very early or very late never taking dogs out in high temperatures which some people do xx
Same here, re the heat , Sam would go, despite the temperature, but I wont take him out in it , so its early morning and late afternoon for a swim . Nell find heat difficult , due to her fluffiness x
Going to add a ditto about wind. I spoke to two ladies with small children walking in the bush to avoid the wind, never thinking of the dangers of falling trees and limbs. Our own outing was fraught with downed trees across the trail. That night the news reported the death of a local 16 year old boy. He'd been out on his snowmobile, went home to meet his Dad, out they went again, and the kid drove head long at high speed right into a downed tree that hadn't been there the first two times he'd gone by. He was wearing a helmet but he broke his neck.
My absolute favourite walk is during a snowstorm - it's so pretty and quiet. And Quinn loves fresh snow! The only time weather impacts our walks is if it's a torrential downpour (Quinn won't go out) or extremely cold, and we just break up her walk into multiple shorter walks. The only issue we've had in winter is salt bothering her paws, so we use a balm to protect them.
I walk Mabel in all weathers, she doesn't like the British cold damp weather so she has a warm fleece waterproof coat for the winter and I have just bought a summer rain coat. She won't wear them all the time just if she looks a bit put out that rain is falling on her. Thinking about it hot summer days are far worst than cold days, as we don't get that many I'm thinking she never gets chance to acclimatise
Weather is far more likely to bother us humans than Labs where I live is wet and miserable all winter long and my last Lab hated the rain lol but loved her walks and hikes. I had great wellies and a rain coat so....off we went or you have a 80lbs Lab unexersized in the house.
