What do your doodles do... in the winter

[Stacy]

I'm a broken record. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. I hate winter. It's not my thing. And it's been an extra snowy one this year. Right now it's 15* F and feels like 3*. Yuck. But here we are, having a staycation until Feb. 5th and we're not bored, exactly. Any time I'm off work I'm a happy camper. But I wish it was go for a walk weather instead. The girls are pretty good at couch potato-ing, and frankly so am I. But people must do things in winter. Give me some ideas! 

The girls don't seem to mind the weather, but even if I was warm enough I wonder if their feet would be okay to go for a walk. I thought about buying myself one of these - But then I think I need to get the girls snowsuits too! And boots. And hats... So mostly we are just snuggling under the electric blanket watching the Ted Bundy Tapes on Netflix and waiting for spring!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm past trying to keep Jasper entertained at this point. I'm just trying to get him to potty before he starts lifting his paws because his feet are freezing and he ends up lying down in the snow and waiting for me to carry him in. Boots do not work. If I put boots on him, he runs on three legs with one paw in his mouth trying to get the boot off. Then he lies down in the snow to try to pull them off. I am not going to survive this. 

[Stacy]

Oh, Karen! I feel your pain, really I do. Spring will come eventually, it has to! Just a thought, and you know I'm not dog trainer (but I wish I was) Do you think you could train him to wear the boots? Maybe start in the house where it's not so cold and give lots of treats until he forgets how much he hates them? Maybe that's not the right way. But dogs do wear boots, and I bet most of them don't enjoy them at first. I know Jasper's a genius. There has to be a way to get him used to them. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jack wore boots to go hiking, and it was easy to get him to wear them. 

Jasper is a whole other animal. Nothing works with him. 

[Stacy]

Maybe he's too smart. You need a less intelligent dog, LOL. Katie fussed a little bit about the boots, but didn't give me too much trouble. The alternative was burning her pads off. Maybe she knew that it was the better option. My little papillon, Olivia would get cold feet and I had to go out and rescue her. The big dogs seem to be more tolerant. I wish I had a solution for you. It's not that much fun.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

No and it's going to get worse. Low temperatures in the next week are supposedly to break records.

[Stacy]

We're getting ready for this arctic nonsense too. I'm not sure it's going to be as cold here as it is there, but all the local dog groups are freaking out. I really think that unless they have the tiniest, oldest, frailest dog they can still handle going out to potty. I'm not saying they should be left out there, but people can be over the top. They are my babies, but they're not human infants. Look at the Huskies in Alaska! They sleep in a snowdrift. I just needed to say that somewhere, after reading someone say that they won't let their dog out if it's below 32*F. My girls would think I lost my mind if I refused to let them outside.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jasper is fine if the temperature is above zero. Temps and windchills below zero, he starts shivering and picking up his feet. 
Wednesday, our high temperature is supposed to be 14 degrees below zero with a windchill of 45 to 50 degrees below zero. To me, this is a real reason for panicking. Colleges are closed, and they are advising people not to be outdoors for more than 5 minutes (even bundled up) for any reason.

I don;t know what I'm going to do. He absolutely will not use newspapers or pee pads. He absolutely will not potty in the garage. I am worried out of my mind. 

[Stacy]

Yuck. That's cold. The weather app is telling me tomorrow we have a high of 25 and a low of -2. Facebook was warning me about a windchill of -25. It was 40 something this morning when we got up. I think the girls will still be okay to go out and do their thing, but they'll have to hurry. I don't wear gloves, so I know they can stand it as long as I can. The only good thing is there isn't supposed to be any precipitation. It's got to be better if it's a dry cold, right?

I think your 2 minute plan is the way to go. Eventually he'll need to go bad enough that he'll hurry it up, or at least that's what I would think. I think if Maggie decided she needed to go she would just do it on the carpet. Katie I'm not sure. She hasn't had an accident since she was 6 months old. I think she would have to be pretty desperate to go in the house. But they can both hold it for 12 + hours on work days. I'm not sure they ever would on a day I was home. It's not ideal, but they are physically capable.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna resisted her fleece lines muttluks at first but then she loved that her paws were not cold and tolerated them.  I was hoping they might fit Riley as a puppy but they didn't even fit her at the start of winter let alone now lol.  Her paws are bigger than my palm, Luna's were about the size of an egg.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Sorry, but I can't help laughing...... 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'll be laughing about it too one of these days. Maybe in April. :D

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Maybe not til May. Bwhahaha.