Need Cold Weather Advice Please!

[Diana Erhart]

Let me start this off by saying when we got Charlie 7 1/2 years ago we lived in Texas and I never dreamed we would be living in the cold Northeast. But here we are and I have no idea what to do in the frigid cold weather for my Charlie. Tonight is very cold. So far it is 4 degrees with a wind chill of -7 and dropping. We had about 6 inches of snow yesterday so everything is blanketed with snow. I took Charlie out and his feet get so cold after only a few minutes that he won't put down one foot and tries to hold up two feet. They get wet in the snow and I think they are freezing! He had a horrible time trying to both find a place to poop and then actually going (he tried to go on 2 feet, that was interesting). I tried getting him to go where there was a small place of grass shoveled out in the snow but he didn't seem to understand that. Anyway....Monday night the actually temperature is forecast to be -13 with a horrendous windchill. And won't get above 0 on Tuesday. Help!! What can I do? What do those of you who live in this cold do when you take your doodle outside? I don't want my guy to get frostbite on his feet. I have a winter jacket that is fleece lined but that doesn't seem to be enough.   I am going to try to get him some of the dog booties if I can find any this weekend.  Charlie is such a drama king that I expect a reaction like in the video that Rosemary posted earlier!  Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[F, Calla & Luca]

It's 4 here right now too. I just let the dogs out and they can come home as soon as they want to. They stay out longer than I would for sure. No jackets etc. here. I will call them in after 10-15 minutes if they don't come home sooner. Hopefully we are done for tonight. No leash walking today, too cold, too much salt. They don't seem uncomfortable when they return. I am sure very small doodles would get cold sooner.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Diana, The boots work great but in the meantime you could try putting some socks on him and see if that helps. You may have to tape them to keep them on.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

A few tips:

Socks help.  They wont stay on long but it buys you some time.  You might loose a half dozen but you'll find those when it thaws.

Trim hair even with the bottom of the paw pad.  Snow balls build up on the bottom of the paws more if hair is not trimmed flush with the pads.

Even Spud tried to play tonight and crashed on the ground and would not get up for a few.  I ran in the house thinking he  hurt his knee, got my husband, he got dressed, then Spud came running full speed in  :) 

I think some just hate that snow built up on the pads. Like us, could we walk with rocks in our shoes? 

The coats keep them plenty warm so that is no worry. Just those feet

[Emily, Bentley, & Maserati]

Keep the fur between their paw pads really short. We're in Alaska and often have below 0 temperatures plus snow and ice. When going outside in the yard to go to the bathroom or just roam around we don't put anything on their feet. When we take them for long walks/hikes in the snow we usually put their booties on but they don't seem to care if they have them on or off. If your doodle won't keep the booties on or you can't find any that fit well we also LOVE Musher's Secret Wax. We use them when the doodles flip their booties off.