New puppy + snow

[Jen]

We are picking up our new dood on Saturday and although I have had many dogs in the past my new dog mom anxieties are kicking in. With many inches of snow due to hit us in the Boston area tomorrow I am worried about him being cold. Do any of you let your puppies romp in the snow? Do you put a jacket and booties on them each time before taking them outside? I am already planning on purchasing him booties, and carrying him past the sidewalk and salt when it's an emergency and I don't have time to put them on, but I am worried for the snow on his paws and the freezing temperatures we are expecting. So excited to be a member of the community and can't wait to share pictures of him this weekend.

- Worried new mom (aka Jen)

[Stacy]

Other people always have better advice than I do, but I'm awake! I would personally be very cautious about taking a young pup out into the kind of weather that's expected. I don't feel like they have as much energy reserve and could get very cold very quickly. And they might not even realize how cold they were until they were in trouble.

With my full grown dogs with full grown coats, I feel like they can comfortably stay outside as long as I can. It's about 5 minutes. They don't wear boots or coats. They go out and do their thing while I shiver, and we all go back inside again. If I was raising a brand new pup right now I would be looking into puppy pads or something similar. I had good luck with one of those fake grass patches you can find online for when I had to leave Katie for longer than I thought she should reasonably be able to hold it. And it didn't seem to impede our potty training. 

If I absolutely had to take an 8 week old puppy out, they would be very very short trips. And I would shovel a spot for them so they stayed as warm and dry as possible. 

Good luck with your new little friend! Looking forward to the pictures. 

[Jen]

Thank you for the late reply Stacy!! I have already purchased a gigantic package of puppy pads and was actually also looking into the real grass patches that some companies ship. Definitely my biggest concern is creating a bad habit of pottying inside that we will need to break. Luckily the snow is happening today and they might manage to clean some of it up before Saturday but I def don't want my little guy freezing...... he is coming from Mount Desert Island, Maine so I will make sure to also ask the breeder how often they are exposed to the elements up there while still in her care 

[Stacy]

I looked at those real grass pads once. But since I'm plant challeneged, I wasn't sure if the dogs would be fooled when I asked them to go potty on that thing that might have been grass at one time. 

Good luck with the puppy and bombogenesis! I was reading about it last night and they were saying that parts of the east coast would be colder than Mars. I don't know much about Mars, but I thought that was an odd reference. They couldn't give us something a little more relatable? Alaska, Iceland, the North Pole? No, it's going to be colder than Mars. It's a strange world we live in!

[Christine]

Hi!  Congrats on the new pup!  I am not an expert by no means, but did want to let you know that when our doodle came home 2 years ago, she was so tiny... runt of the litter weighing only 3 lbs. .  And it was so cold.  We potty trained her to the pads.  She took to it immediately with no accidents.  And then come spring we trained her to ring potty bells and go to a certain area in our yard.  She did great.  When she goes out we have a huge yard and she knows to go to her potty patch. She prefers to go potty outside, but also maintains the ability to go on those pads should I need it.  Rare, but sometimes.  We travel with her to several family members homes and we bring the bells. She rings the bells  there and goes out.  I may have just been lucky with Nala. She is super smart and knows everything I say.  Lol. I’m no great puppy trainer.  She made it easy.  Best of luck.  Would love to see pics :)

christine & miss Nala 

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Be careful with the puppy pads - I have seen dogs become so reliant on them that they think that is the proper place to go to the bathroom when they should really ask to go outside. Even if a puppy pad is absent, they can resort to the carpet.

Last year we got 14 inches of snow in SW Washington which is a lot for us. I shoveled out a path for Orwell so the snow wouldn't stick to his hair. Before I shoveled the path, snow would constantly get stuck on his legs and I had to "defrost" him every time we went back inside. Your pup should be fine going out just for potty purposes and then coming right back in if you shovel a path. Though, from what I understand on the news, you might have to be shoveling more than I had to last year.

[Jen]

Luckily I feel like it wasn't nearly as bad as they made it out to be other than all of the record coastal flooding. We have had much worse (and longer) snow storms in the past.

I took a walk yesterday and realized there are some parts of our buildings parking garage that are still covered even though they are outside and will likely start with him over there until we thaw out 

Not looking forward to defrosting him when he does start to play in the snow and develop the ice balls, I have seen some crazy homemade "snow suits" on Instagram that I might take a swing at assembling 

[Kaitee and Orwell]

I think that is a good idea. Good luck. :)

Never thought of a snow suit, but I bet it is a good idea for the Midwest and Northeast.

[Murph and Me]

Let the dog have his fun in the snow. They LOVE the snow and are a lot warmer than people think. He will let you know when he has had his fill of it. Murphy always gives me a look as if to say “why are we going in the house? “ Been that way since I got him.

[Jen]

Thank you all for the advice! Sorry for the late update as we have been crazy busy now that puppy is here. It was an absolute nightmare finding boots in stock anywhere but we did find some and he is doing well outside. Here are some cute pictures