Too cold for walks . . any advice?

[Doris]

The winter weather has certainly arrived. I'm concerned that I won't be able to walk Bodi since the wind chill is so low here in Ohio. Today is -11 and tomorrow morning is going to be -25! Bodi will run out in the backyard to pee, but he likes to be walked to poop! I'm sure eventually he will run out there and do his thing, but I'm also concerned about the lack of exercise. We have a treadmill . . .does anyone have their doodle using a treadmill?

[Brenda Hetzel]

I don't have a treadmill but instead I toss the ball down the basement steps, Lucky runs down to get it, brings it back up and we repeat this till he seems to have had enough or I have had enough because he can never get enough of his ball!

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

I think it may take some time to train a dog to use a treadmill. In the meantime here are some ideas/games :)

1) Indoor fetch
2) Keep away (if you have 2 humans sit on oppo sides of the room and throw a toy back and forth
3) Hide and seek (last night I put some food in kongs, made the doodles sit and stay and went to hide them. Then I released them to find the kong).

We will also take them to Petsmart or Petco occasionally if the weather is bad.

It's horrible here in NJ too (prob not as bad as Ohio)...my husband was already saying we should maybe not walk them tomrrow morning. The temp is going to only be around 5.

[Teri]

it's so cold here in Ottawa this morning -37 celsius Gordon went out for 5 mins peed and then started holding up his paws and then just laid on the ground.....poor little guy.

[Christine Lavallee]

I feel ya! We live in Ohio also and we do one quick walk around the block in this freezing weather and that seems to be enough for our 85 pound doodle to go if he has too, but him and his doodle brother run like crazy around the house, so they still seem to get there exercise. I am not sure about the treadmill but i have heard of people doing that.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jackdoodle is the same way...he only goes poop on his twice daily walks. But the actual temperature here in Chicago is 8 below zero this a.m., with a windchill of 30 below !!! They closed the schools! Jack just went in the yard...he must have figured out that we aren't going walking today. Bodi WILL catch on.
We have the exercise problem in bad weather, too...and I have a small ranch house with no stairs. We play fetch indoors with soft stuffed balls, and I also roll a large rope ball down the hallway for him to chase. Practicing obedience exercises can help, too...not so much physical activity, but the mental stimulation helps.

[Janie]

It was very easy to teach Daisy to use the treadmill.

[Cam & Oski]

I love it! Awesome pic :)

[Katie]

I have the same problem. I live outside of the Adirondacks in NY, and it's -9 here right now and supposed to get colder! We usually go on 2 long walks a day plus a trip to the dog park. I haven't tried the treadmill because Herbie is scared of everything (took me two full days to get him to walk up the stairs on his own). We've just been playing a lot of indoor fetch and practicing exercises for the time being, as was already mentioned.

[Renee]

Where I take Taffy for puppy training they rent out the space when they don't have classes for those days it is too cold to take the dogs outside. This gives them a nice space to play and run and we can also use the agility equipment they have there too.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

We do! It did take time to desentsitize Samantha, but that in inself it exercise. We used chicken.
Good luck!

[Leslie and Halas]

Same here...our actual temp is -11. I have no idea what the wind chill is. I have a small backyard area between my condo and my garage, and it's blocked from the wind. If I can stand it, I'll throw snowballs to Halas for a few minutes, but I think it will be too cold for even that until Saturday. But, other than that, we're playing fetch or chase or practicing obedience indoors.

[lotus]

we are in Ohio too and it is cold!!! good for Tressel he likes to be out in the snow but not good for me...our yard is not fenced in yet so I have to keep him on the leash. we play indoor catch to get some exercise...I do the stair thing too.
you can take your dog to Lowes and Home Depot??? I didn't know that...I like to take Tressel to as many places that I can and that would be great. I could spend hours in those places! :)
I hear you on the indoor doggie area...I was just talking about that the other day. I think I would have more fun with that then Tressel would...lol :)