# How cold is too cold for their paws?



## Joanne & Asia (Jul 23, 2007)

It is about -15 celcius here today and Asia was digging in the snow for her ball and started screaming in pain and holdong up her paw from the cold as she had no sign of injury. Does anyone know when it is too cold to have them outside for any length of time?


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## Fractal (Jun 26, 2008)

Hmm, I just tried looking around the net for the answer but nothing o.o
There's tones of sites saying how to care for them when it's to cold but none about how cold is too cold.

Guess I'll wait for the answer with you.


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

I've never seen a golden complain about the cold. The only time mine seem bothered at all is with really sticky snow it gets balled up between their toes. For this I use Mushers Secret Wax.


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## KiwiD (Jan 14, 2008)

It's -26C here today but with the windchill it's a brutal -40C. She's used to winters weather but you know it's too cold out for her when she's only been out for a minute and she's standing at the step letting out her one lone "woof", which means let me in. We do have boots for her when we go walking and it's very cold outside. I don't think there's a hard and fast rule about how cold it should be before they need to be kept indoors but on days like today Madison only goes out to do her business and then she comes right back in again. I wouldn't say -15 is too cold (at least not here in the Prairies), but their paws can get cold so maybe you could look into boots?


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## Abbydabbydo (Jan 31, 2007)

We go out in the double ought, too cold for man or beast and mine don't complain. I'm thinking Asia might have hit something that hurt her paw, it probably wasn't the snow in general. I do shorten the walks when it is below zero F. (Cause I am freezing )


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## Joanne & Asia (Jul 23, 2007)

we just went out for a walk through the deep snow and she did ok except at the beginning when she was holding up first one paw and then the other. We were only out for about 30 minutes as it was too hard for me blazing a trail where we usually hike. Maybe she is just too much of a princess! I remember once last winter when we had a cold spell and we were at the dog park in about -20 weather and she refused to walk her paws were so cold. I really don't think I could get her to keep boots on but maybe I shold try.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Lexi's feet are much more sensitive them Liberty or Trace's...
If it is below 20 degrees F - she is not a happy camper...

Liberty complains if we get down to 0...

As Rob said....snow ball toes are no fun either!


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## Guest (Dec 19, 2008)

As others have stated, my two will lie down or hold their paws up when it's below 20 degrees outside. However, one of the best things you can do to help keep their paws more comfortable & healthy (year-round) is keep the paw hair trimmed VERY short, inbetween the toes & pads. This way, snowballs cannot cling to the hair & get stuck within the paw. Because when the snowballs are in there, they cling to the skin, making the paws even colder. If there's no hair for the snow to cling to, then the skin within the paws won't get as cold.


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## tannernoodle (Mar 19, 2008)

I'm in MN and it's REALLY cold here right now. My last golden and now Tucker I have seen outside and they'll hold up one or two paws and just stand there and then lay down...it burns their pads I'm thinking. Our yard is kind of snow packed ice. I mean this happens within minutes of him going outside...so I let him do this thing and get him back inside. Their pads get really white in the winter too...the other day we were in the snow and I figured he'd be fine...nope, he was running along and started holding one back leg up like it hurt...my last golden did this a lot on the pavement or sidewalks when it was cold so I'd try to walk them in the snow but then you get the snowballs. We just try to stay in more when it's below zero here.


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