Caring for your dog in colder, winter weather
With Met Eireann’s warnings of colder spells and snowy conditions on the way for January 2021, we’ve put together a winter care guide for you and your dog.
We may be spending January indoors in lockdown with level 5 restrictions but dogs still need to be exercised. We know it’s cosy indoors, but be sure to keep your dog content and happy with daily walks within your limited travel restrictions. When out on winter walks, be sure to keep your dog wrapped up warm as well as yourself. The finer coated breeds such as dachshunds, sighthounds and staffies need a weatherproof coat to keep the chill out while walking.
If you do a lot of public trails or road walking, be aware of salt and grit on your dogs’ paws. Grit keeps us safe from icey conditions but is poisonous to dogs who tend to lick their paws post walk or can irritate their pads and toes if left on after walking. Maybe wash down their paws with lukewarm water after walking to help keep them safe. Also, when walking in the snow, always check for snow between your dogs’ toes or paw pads. This can turn to ice balls especially in longer coated dogs and become very painful so be sure to dry your dog off after each walk during colder snaps.
It goes without saying, that no dog should be left outdoors in harsh weather conditions or at any time of the year. They deserve to be wrapped up warm indoors like the family members they are. Dog beds and baskets can become wet at this time of the year, particularly if they are long haired dogs, so be sure to dry off muddy and rained on dogs post-walk and be sure they have a warm, dry bed to retire to.
We will probably still be walking in the darker mornings and evenings for a bit longer in January, so if you don’t already, maybe look into a hi-viz coat, bandana, flashing collar or tags, or some other hi visibility safety product for your dog. Be sure they have excellent recall too, as you can easily lose sight of them if you let them off in parks and woodlands. A light up collar will help you to keep track of them and, as always, be sure they have tags with your phone number on their collar or harness and that their microchip is upto date and registered.
Be sure to adjust their food accordingly, especially if your dog has a thinner coat like a greyhound or whippet, they may need their portions increased as their body is burning more calories to keep them warm.
Try keep them and you active indoors! Take a look at some of our other blog posts on lockdown activities indoors and past times to do with dogs for the longer winter evenings. Particularly, as we are getting ourselves through another lockdown for January, enjoy playing and enjoying the company of your dog while benefitting keeping them happy and content indoors for winter too!
Above all else, particularly at this time of year, be sure to allocate lots of cuddle time over the next few weeks, light the fire, cosy up on the couch with your favourite four legged family member and a movie and let’s see January and this lockdown through. There is light at the end of the tunnel.