We live in Northwest Montana and purchased a Parson Russell Terrier puppy this past February. While he was a very young puppy we kept him primarily inside on the coldest days, but now that he is a year old he wants to spend more time outside frankly than I do.
Apparently he has a double coat and doesn’t complain too much about being outside when it’s raining and in the 40’s. However when the temps drop below freezing during the day (it was only 7 degrees when I woke up this morning) I get nervous letting him spend much time outside, especially it it’s also windy.
My question is, will my dog instinctively want to stay inside during the coldest days or will he stubbornly stay outside and risk getting sick or hurting his paws?
Can I trust him to avoid exposures that would injure him or is that foolish thinking on my part? I should mention that this is the first time I have had a dog and lived in a really cold climate.
If he’s fine with it he should be fine. I have a couple of terriers and they let me know fairly well if they’ve had enough of the cold. They shiver uncontrolably when cold and stop walking and lift their paws if they are too cold.
If he’s running around enjoying himself I wouldn’t be concerned. Just keep a close eye on him as they can go from running around to “my paws are frozen” rather quickly.
Looks like Parsons (former the Jack Russell - I did not know the name had changed) has a double coat. He’s likely a lot warmer out there than you are with a warm jacket on. He’ll let you know when he wants inside - just keep an eye on him the first couple times to get a sense of how long that is.
Make sure to educate your neighbors. I had a small, double coated dog that hated to be inside. A neighbor called animal control, and I had to prove to them he wasn’t in any danger.
This was in Seattle whenre it rarely gets below freezing.
If he has the option to come inside and chooses to be outside, I wouldn’t worry about him, though I would not leave him outside with no one around to keep an eye on him in case he does get cold and wants to come in.
Unless you can be sure to check on him every 10-15 minutes, provide a good doghouse (small, insulated, with good bedding) that he can go into when he starts to get cold.