Cold Weather Precautions - Update (Part 2!)In the last two issues I've mentioned various cold weather precautions. One of the things I'd encouraged you to do was to wrap up warm and get out and enjoy the cold crisp weather that a lot of us in the Northern hemisphere have been experiencing lately. But I'm afraid I'd overlooked something important I want to clear up right away. There are some places where it's just _too_ cold to go for a long walk with your dog. Where I live in the southern part of the UK the temperature rarely drops below about minus 7 or 8 degrees Celsius. In _exceptional_ winters it's been known to go as low as as 20 degrees below in parts of the Scottish Highlands. I don't honestly know what the coldest weather I've ever been out in is, but I'd be very surprised if it's any colder than minus 10. It just doesn't happen where I live. So my comments about getting out and enjoying the weather were (foolishly) in relation to the sort of winter weather where _I_ live. I was completely forgetting the fact that in many parts of the world the winters are infinitely more severe than here in the UK. Parts of North America and Canada as well as Scandanavia instantly come to mind. I'm sure there must be other places too. What I _should_ have said is that if the winters where you live are more severe than they are are with me, you need to exercise caution about going out. If, once you are wrapped up, it's still a pleasant experience to go for a walk, then you can be pretty sure your dog will think so too. |
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On the other hand if going out is absolutely miserable due to the extremely low temperatures where you live, then you can bet your dog's not going to be having a bundle of laughs either. So use your common sense about it. My oversight was brought home to me with a bump last week when I read about a sick German Shepherd mix that froze to death in its kennel in Boston, North America. It was the eighth death the Animal Rescue League had investigated during a two week spell of bitterly cold weather. The dog had completely frozen rigid to the floor of the dog house and the only way to get it out was to smash the house to pieces then prize the body from the floor. I immediately realised the folly of my sweeping statement about getting out in the cold weather. So if where you live the winters are much more severe than here in the UK, and on reading my words you'd said to yourself "What _is_ that fool talking about?" please accept my apolgies. You need to keep your dog in as much as possible, and only let it out for the briefest of toilet breaks until the really harsh weather eases. Then once it becomes bearable to be outside when you're wrapped up warm by all means go for it and get out there and enjoy it. Once again, sorry for any confusion I've caused. Recommended reading "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".
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