Cold Weather Hunting and It's Affect on Dogs

[Trapper4]

Will be pheasant hunting this weekend. When hunting the snow in the past, I've noticed ice chunks inbetween my Golden Retrievers paws. Would it be adviseable to clip the hair between his pads? Will this help keep the snow out? Any other ideas.

[Snag]

Show sheen or Pam can help a little, otherwise boots.

[Ole54868]

Whenever I am training or hunting my dogs in snow I make sure there hair is trimmed on there feet and that seems to keep the snow from building up and the snow doesn't seem to bother them. That is what I do with my Golden Retrievers and it works for me.

[Captain B.R.K]

Trim the hair between their paws?! Being new to owning a pup, I've never heard of this. I have a 9 mos. GSP that whimpers time to time when we are out in the snow. Sometimes she just sits down and cries because the snow bothers her feet.

Do you just take a scissors and trim all the fur by their paws?!

[JDM]

I have never had an issue with a labrador retriever. We used to train all winter in some pretty cold conditions. The old, wise dog people that I trained with always said that at -20 degrees, you had to stop training because the dogs can get frost in their lungs from moisture on the ground and that it can be harmful to the dog. I don't know if it is true or not. At -20, my dog will not have to worry about it. I hunted in -10 degrees this past weekend and it appeared to be much harder on me than it was on my dog. He is a kennel dog and is used to being outside. However, there were two indoor labs with us and they didn't have any problems either.

[SDbowhunter]

I have only noticed benefits from hunting in the cold weather in regards to my dog's performance. It keeps them cool and they dont overheat. They will go almost all day without slowing down. They eat snow and lots of the time need minimal amounts of water even though I offer it to them just as often as in 90 degree weather. My dog was rolling around in the snow banks trying to cool off after walking a field. I did notice he is alot more sore today when the warm weather prevents him from running full speed all day. A little asperin and they'll be running around and ready to go the next day.