Cold weather precaution in snow
Being in Texas, I don’t have to be too concerned about snow, lol, but in Montana and other places I too have to be cautious.
Two observations:
First, snow will accumulate between the toes of your Brittanys feet in that small pocket created by the toe webbing. That’s not good because lengthy exposure will frost bite your dogs toes. Options including booting in the snow or frequent feet checking. I have tried both. The cheap Nylon cordura velcro boots fix that. Of course you need to tape down the tops with duct tape. (don’t get that cheap tape called ‘duck tape’ brand – note the spelling difference).
Second, dehydration. With water sources frozen you must bring a water bottle with you to hydrate your dog. True, cold weather gives your dog the ability to run forever but trust me, they get dehydrated in this weather. My advice is bring a water bottle you can stick in your pocket or one that has a thermal barrier wrap to keep it from freezing while afield.
While these two recommendations seem like ‘duh – no kiddin’ type info, I myself am guilty of being in a rush and forgetting.
If you have some thoughts or recommendations, I’d like to hear them.
Take care and give your dog a treat for me!
Dave
3 comments
Well in PA we have snow one trick I use is I carry a small thermos in my back pack which I fill with water for Sophie. here another one jsut trow a bottle of water in your pack beside a hand warmer it won’t freeze then either
We hunted in -3 temps last year and my water never froze on me 
Also Sophie hates booties so I do this I keep a hand warmer in my pocket and stop every so often and I just slide and hand warmer in my gloved hand and garb her paw just for a second and it melts any ice build up between the pads pronto!! and complety dry and we continue on. We hunted in the snow last year in zero to 10 degree temps in January last yeat with no real problems as long as you take the above precautions.
I will tell you one thing to advoid DON’T try and hunt with snow that has a SOLID crust on top. Here in PA were kind on in the dang ice belt and we get a lot of that snow then it turns to sleet and and freezes SOLID on top. When that happens I just pack it in and stay home by the fire
. I have seen WAY too may dogs damage feet and rip tendons sliding on top or breaking thru this dang stuff and booties won’t help. It worse then a leg going down a rabbit hole 
on this type of day it’s JUST NOT WORTH THE TRIP for the dog, wait for a thaw and better conditions.
Thanks for the comment. I had forgotten about crusty snow. When I lived in Maryland in the 90′s it wasn’t uncommon for that to happen.
Dave, another option that I do so that snow will not build up in their feet as bad is to simply take a good pair of scissors and cut a lot of the hair from in between their toes and between their pads. The snow seems to attach to the hair and pack there. I have a lot less trouble with snow packing on my dogs feet once the hair is cut away. That being said, I still check their feet as it isn’t a cure all either.
You must log in to post a comment.