Pooch Snow Play

Rating ***

I have 2 dogs to my name, and if you count my dad's dog that's 3 I'm responsible for. I found this article helpful and insightful into the ways that dog react with the winter conditions and there some tidbits of information in here that I wasn't aware of, and I probably should have been. I've noticed our older hound/black lab mix, Archie, seemed to limp slightly at times when he was outside. I discovered while reading the article that this is caused by the chemicals and salts used to thaw the snow and ice on the roads and pathways. I also discovered that none of our dogs has coats or sweaters, I quickly went out and fixed this. Now its not that article was meant to scare dog owners into getting every possible form of protection against the elements for their prized pooch, but seeing as my dogs had nothing, I thought it appropriate. While physical activity is important, too much can have negative repercussions in the winter months. A final word of caution, if its too cold for us to be outside comfortably, then the same goes for our dogs.

Ottawa Outdoors – Winter 2008 /2009 – Author Unknown (Information procured from the Ottawa Humane Society)