Dogs and Cold Temps

I have a question about dogs and their tolerance for cold temps.

The background info:
We live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
We have two Australian Shepherds - Lenny and Victor.
They are brothers and are just over a year old.
Hubby and I are away at work all day from 7:30 to 4:30 ish.
When we are home they are house pets.

We’ve created a “kennel” by building a room in the garage (which is about 12 x 12 ft) that has a doggy door to a fenced area outside that is also 12 x 12 ft. The indoor part also has a “loft” so that they have a place to sleep that is off the floor and above the doggy-door (thus away from any wind that blows through the it). We’ve tried various types of doors on the doggy door - but the boys have eaten (aka chewed to bits) each one. It remains uncovered.

During the summer the room, and outside area for that matter, remains quite cool as it is on the side of the yard that doesn’t get sun until late in the afternoon and is shaded by many trees.

This morning it was colder than its been lately (it was -16 Celcius, with a high today predicted to be -10 Celcius). As Hubby and I put the boys into their room we began to wonder just how tolerant they are to the cold.

We expect a time to arrive that would make the kennel choice too cold for our boys and the house will become the day time option (with restricted access to most of it, natch).

Tomorrows temps are predicted to be a tad on the warmer side, should we start keeping Lenny and Victor in the house now? What is a dogs tolerance to cold?

Thanks much,
Lynn

My relatives live in far NW Ireland, and have kept a series of dogs - boxers, various hunting dogs, that kind of thing. All have lived ‘outside’, with a wooden shed to sleep in, never in the house. Their winter nights often feature sub-zero temps coupled with storms with winds gusting up to 100mph, and the dogs would quite happily wander around outside. As long as they are used to it, there shouldn’t be a problem.

I’m no expert, and I have to admit a high of -10C seems pretty damned cold, but my recollection is that most dogs can learn to handle pretty cold temps.

I believe a dog who spends a great deal of time outside will grow a longer, thicker coat than a dog kept primarily indoors.

As far as your dog “room”, there may be a couple of problems.

You did well getting the dogs off the floor/ground.

You may nor need to worry overmuch about having a door. Instead, you can block all/most of the wind by having a barrier inside of the entrance. Basically, a wall the dogs have to walk around to get to the sleeping/living area.

Also, you may want to section off part of the 12x12 area to provide a much smaller sleeping space. That will allow the dogs to curl up and use their bidy heat. Think of how small of a cage/kennel dogs get ysed to sleeping in. I would think that an area no more than 5x5, with maybe a 2-3’ roof would provide ample space for 2 Austies to curl up in, while preserving their body heat. If it were double walled with insulation, it might be enough for even your frigid arctic temps.

My dog, a Staffie, hates the cold, but then, she is a big wuss.

I would guess it depends on the breed. I’d imagine Australian Sheperds wouldn’t tolerate the cold too well, not being bred for it, while a husky would be fine in sub-zero temperatures but wouldn’t last five minutes in the Aussie bush. Pure speculation on my part though.

Thats part of our delimna - can we consider them used to the cold?

This is only their second winter, the first occuring when they were puppies and they were kept in the house then. Once spring hit, we started keeping them in the kennel.

We take them for walks and don’t get the impression they are cold. However, staying outdoors in a somewhat confined area for a longish time period is another story altogether.

Hi everyone - thanks for the replies so far. To clarify a couple of points mentioned:

Since they are in the house most of the time I consider my boys to be primarily house dogs.

The loft area is actually small (about 5 x 4) and is covered in blankets (the kind a mover would use as they are thick and very durable). Its also positioned above the doggy-door area so that any wind is under it.

Also, their garage-room is VERY insulated. I didn’t mention that our garage is quite big, it will hold about 4 cars and the entire garage is very well insulated as it houses our well and water-filtering system. The doggy-door being the only “weak link” if you will.

Hmm, you might get one of those thermometers that records the high/low temps and see how cold it actually gets in their sleeping area.

I think Aussies have enough coat to handle cold weather. My only worry might be their age. But since I live in the Deep South, USA, I don’t have a lot of experience with really cold weather.

Congratulations on having Aussies – the best dogs in the world!

My only input here is that the dogs my not figure out they can use the loft area as a warmer place to sleep.

Dogs are pretty dumb that way. My dog sleeps under the bed in the daytime. Once, our air conditioner began to leak indoors. The dog couldn’t figure out that by standing up and walking 4 or 5 feet to the left he could be dry; instead he sat in water

Not only are Aussies the best, mine are the bestest <grin>
(I’d post pics but don’t know how or where.) Lenny is a Black and White tri and Victor a Blue-Merle.

I know they sleep on the loft as their toys appear there and the blankets are ruffled (bunched up the way I’ve seen them make their beds in the house).

The -14 Celcius is not even the coldest we get – we’re more concerned about the later winter months where the high for the day is -25. Most definately in the house then.

Ok, so it’s -10C outside (which doesn’t seem too cold to me, but…) but the important thing is how cold is it in the garage? Presumably it has a roof and you said the walls are insulated, so it’s probably way above 0C in there even on bitterly cold days, isn’t it? It’s just a little above 0C right here now(33F), and I wouldn’t feel too guilty about putting the dog out for a little while if he wanted out - though he stays in the cellar at night when the day time temperatures fall below 7C since he’s too old to deal with the cold. If it’s above 12C in the garage, I won’t worry about them. Our beagle is short-haired and perfectly comfortable in the cellar at that temperature.

You could get a heated water bowl so that if they’re cold, they’ll have warm water to warm up with.

Also, you might want to give them a few polar fleece blankets to curl up in on the loft. That stuff really seems to hold in heat, and it’s easy to wash & dry, to boot. Plus, if they’re chewers, they might not chew it as much as cotton. (My dog ruined all her blankets until I tried polar fleece.) You could get a bunch for cheap at a fabric store right now, since most of them are getting spring fabrics in. No need to finish the ends since it doesn’t fray.

However, I suspect your dogs will be fine. If they’re in the same place you’ve got your well & filtration system and it’s not getting too cold to freeze that stuff, then they’re good.

As always, though, talk to your vet, just to be sure.

Actually, oddly enough, Australian Shepherds are an American breed, not an Australian one. They were originally bred from sheep dogs that were brought from Australia, but that were descended from European dogs.

More Aussie info:
http://www.asca.org/Education/index.htm

I asked our vet this very question recently. We have 2 doggies…an Australian Sheperd/sheltie mix and a Spitz mix. They live outside in our large fenced in back yard. They both have a dog house with a bed or blanket inside.

The vet told me that they would be fine outside until the temp got around 25 degrees or lower (for instance last night when it was 17 freakin degrees here…brrrrr!!!)

I vote for inside at night, just on general principle (mine usually sleeps right next to my bed–or on it, if she thinks I’m asleep).

If that’s not an option, you can always heat the loft. Could be as simple as putting a (well guarded) heat lamp over half of it…

Oh they’re definately house dogs.

I know they “know” they’re not supposed to be on the bed at night but each morning we’ll wake up to two Aussie’s on the bed.

Lenny: Yup, snoring. They’re asleep.
Victor: 'Bout time.
Boing, both on the bed.

Today we just couldn’t leave them in their kennel – too damn cold (-27 C with the wind chill). It will be their first time left indoors. Though restrictions are in place, and the house safe-proofed, I’m not sure what we’ll find when we get home. They have the run of the house at night and we’ve not encountered any problems. Fingers crossed.

TTFN
Lynn

Well my dog has been loving the weather here in balmy Ottawa. The dog sleeps for hours on the porch table. Course, he’s a Siberian Husky. :slight_smile:

Sounds like your dogs have a fine place to spend waiting for you guys. Two suggestions:

Have they chewed up a wood dog-door? If so yoiks and I suggest some kind of wind break. Instead of a straight hole have the inside or outside go through an L-shaped tunnel (not so sharp/tight they don’t feel safe going through.

Ceramic heaters are pretty safe nowadays. Stick one in a cage in the corner with a timer set to go off every so often on the cold nights. Make sure they can’t get at the cord as they are chewers.
Good luck. At least we got snow now, not just ice sheets.

Hi!

Aussie owner here, recently moved from Ottawa to Minnesnowta. Coulda picked a warmer spot, but hey.

My aussie is low on coat at this point in time, and I’m sure she would be cold in the current winter temperatures if she were inactive. This being said, she’s the only one of our dogs who would stand outside at -30oC and request playing fetch until I died of frostbite and hypothermia combined.

Your setup sounds pretty cozy and warm, so long as they are protected from the wind (which is usually the killer when it’s really COLD out in the Valley.)

Since you have two aussie boys, chances are that they’re not blowing their coats and that they’re nice and furry at this time of year. If they seem happy about going into their run before you leave, then I wouldn’t worry too much. On super cold days, make sure that they’ve got lots of blankets up in their little loft. With two of them, too, they may pile up together if they’re cold.

I see you’ve left them indoors today… if this concerns you for house… safety… reasons (trust me, I have an aussie, I know what they can do when they get bored…) you may want to consider getting an exercise pen (4ft tall minimum!) and penning them together in a specific spot in the house. That way, they’re totally gated in and can’t cause trouble. There are crate buckets you can hang from ex-pens, too, which solve the watering issue.

I use the expen a lot with my guys when I want them enclosed (as opposed to fenced!) but not crated. Could be worth looking into!

And YAY FOR AUSSIES!

:smiley: Elly n’ the dawgs
Valen (the toller), Zap (the Aussie) and Spanky (the BC/Sheltie/Rug cross)

Shameless Proud Mom Link:

http://zappuppy.tripod.com/zap.html