Cold Weather Precautions

Apologies to you if where you live you're basking in sunshine and padding about in your shorts at the moment. If that's the case what I'm about to say won't have much relevance to you at the moment. (But read it anyway so you're clued up for when winter *does* come your way.)

Here in the UK at the moment we're in the middle of a really bitter spell. It's really raw outside, with a biting lazy wind. (In case you don't have them where you live a 'lazy' wind is one that can't be bothered to go round you so it blows straight through you instead!)

The ground's frozen like iron and every last bit of moisture has turned to ice. With vivid blue skies and bright sunny days it's a real picture postcard scene. Personally I love being out with the dogs when it's like this (so long as I'm extremely well wrapped up!) but there are a few potential dangers to your dog that might not have occurred to you which I think you should be aware of.

The first is antifreeze. Most antifreeze is toxic, but contains a sweet tasting chemical that makes cats and dogs love to drink it. If they do get hold of it there's a very real danger of it being lethal. Even if your pet walks through some that's been spilled on the ground and then it licks its paws clean, the stuff is so toxic as to cause serious illness just from that brief contact.

I recently read about a number of foxes that kept being seen going underneath a stationery car and wanting to stay under it. It transpired the car radiator had a very slight leak and the foxes were licking at the drip. What happened to the foxes subsequently wasn't known, but I think there's a good chance they came to a very nasty end.

Although I've been aware of the dangers of antifreeze for a long time, I had no idea it was such a widespread problem. According to an article I read recently more than 10,000 dogs and cats are killed by it each year in America alone.

While you're out exercising your dogs you need to be aware of possible problems too.

When the ground is frozen rock hard I'd be reluctant to let my dogs race around at speed as they can easily jar their legs and shoulders when there's absolutely no give in the ground.

Be careful about ice. Lakes and ponds that are frozen over can look tempting play areas, but how thick is the ice? Even if it seems several inches thick there could be areas where it's much thinner. If your dog goes through the ice it will almost certainly find it impossible to haul itself back up onto thick ice again.

I have a friend whose lightly built labrador bitch did just that on a lake that was about 4 foot deep a few winters back. My friend stood agonising on the bank watching his dog's desperate struggles. Eventually he could bear it no more and plunged in himself. He's a big strong man built like a tank, and he waded out using his elbows to smash the ice in front of him to clear a path.

He reached her and carried her ashore, but in the process he very nearly killed himself, suffering severe exposure and hypothermia afterwards.

I most certainly wouldn't recommend doing what he did, but you can understand why he did it, can't you? Can you imagine the agony of standing impotent on the bank watching the life slipping away from your beloved dog only a few yards away from you? It doesn't even bear thinking about.

Don't let tragedy strike - unless you're 100% certain the ice is thick enough to bear your weight, don't let your dog on there in the first place.

Even very shallow puddles that have frozen over can cause problems. Just like you or I could slip over on them, so could your dog. If it's just going at a walking or trotting pace it almost certainly will have absolutely no bother negotiating even large expanses of ice, but if it's running when it hits the ice that's a different matter altogether.

Most of the time all that will happen is that its legs will splay out and it'll look a bit bemused as it picks itself up - no harm done.

But accidents can and do happen. They can easily tear muscles or even break a leg. Breeds with long thin legs like greyhounds and salukis are especially vulnerable. A bitch of mine once broke a leg, and believe me when I say it's an experience I never want to have again. The agony and sheer terror she experienced between the moment of the break and being anaesthatized at the vets was absolutely horrendous.

Something else to beware of is sharp stones like flints on the surface of the ground. In normal weather if a dog treads on one because there's a bit of give in the ground the stone will be pressed ever so slightly into the ground, and the dog will hardly notice it.

But when the ground's frozen solid the stone won't 'give' at all. Depending on the angle of impact, and the speed the dog's going at the time, the stone could easily cut right into a pad. I've seen some very deep gashes caused by running over flinty ground in icy conditions.

I'm not trying to be a killjoy - far from it. Like I said before I love being out with my dogs at this time of year, and, like me, they seem to really enjoy it too.

I just want you to be aware of possible problems.

What I do in practice is not worry in the slightest if my dogs are going at any speed up to a canter. But if the ground's rock hard, and *especially* if we're on very stony ground, I try to prevent them galloping flat out if at all possible.

Snow's a different ballgame, however. If it's frozen solid on top then treat it with caution as before. But if it's fresh and 'fluffy' then don't worry about it at all. It's extremely unlikely your dog will hurt itself in those conditions, so let it get out there and be a big kid! Dogs are just like children in the snow. OK, maybe they don't build snowmen ;-) but they adore fooling around in it and it's great fun watching them.

The one thing to look out for in the snow is balling between the pads. Small balls of snow can stick to the hairs of the feet between the pads and gradually they get bigger and bigger and more and more compacted until they become like balls of ice. At that point your dog will find it extremely uncomfortable and will frequently sit and bite at its feet.

You won't be able to get it all out, but by pulling at these compacted 'ice balls' you'll be able to get rid of the worst of it.

One final thing is to be aware of the temperature. Pups, elderly and sick dogs will feel the cold a lot more than will a healthy adult. Don't just turn them outside and forget about them. If your dog is kennelled make sure the kennel's well insulated and in a relatively sheltered position. Also check the water bowl frequently to make sure the water supply hasn't frozen over.

Please get out and enjoy this weather - I just love it. But exercise a little caution just to ensure both you and your dog stay safe.

Recommended reading "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".

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