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Keeping Your Dogs Healthy in Cold Weather

Like wolves, sled dogs are capable of living outside through the harshesed of weather. Their thick undercouts form a protective layer that usually shuts out the cold, even in windy, blizzard conditions. But wolves and other norhtern animals have the sense to seek refuge in a sheltered area during extreme weahter. Wolves will rest in the lee of rocks or trees during a windstorm and dig protective burrows for their pups in the spring and summer. As sled dog owners, we provide cozy houses for our dogs while at home, but we also take measures out on the trail to protect our dogs from extreme weather conditions.

When starting a training run or recreational trip, mushers plan for the weather conditions they will encounter, and they may even delay a trip if extreme weather is expected. Some mushers use the "rule of the 40s"--only running when the temperature is between +40 and -40 degrees F. But sometimes on trips and often when running longer races, a team must simply push on when the temperature drops. Knowing when to stop and take shelter and using the proper precautions can keep a dog team healthy and free of cold injury.

Provide Shelter

When weather conditions get severe, it is tempting to push on for a cabin or village up ahead, but it is often wiser to pull up in the first sheltered patch of trees or behind a wind breaking rock or hillock. If the dogs are floundering and losing the trail and the musher is geting worn out just trying to keep moving at all, then it's time to dig in.

Get the dogs out of the wind if possible, and a least let their tuglines loose so they can turn comfortably as they curled up and lay down. Blowing snow will soon cover a group of dogs, making them warmer as the snow insulates and shelters them from the wind. The musher can climb into the sled bag or flip the sled on it's side to form a windbreak. Always have that extra heavy parka on hand when you venture into the wild country--more than one musher has had to hunker down in the warmth of a good coat when trapped by weather.

PREVENT FROSTBITE

Minor frostbite is probably the most common cold-related injury in sled dogs, especially in windy conditions and in dog with thin coats. The original northern dogs were heavily furred with a thick undercoat and long guard hairs. Their ears were also fairly short, and even their bellies were covered with thick fur. Many of the sled dogs we use today are a mixture of the northern breeds with various hounds. These husky crosses tend to have a lighter coat and little fur on their stomachs. When the windchills dip below 0 degrees F, this light belly fur makes a male prone to frostbite on his testicles and penis sheath.

If you feel your own skin chilling rapidly when exposed, then it is a good idea to check out your lightly furred dogs. Frostbite starts as a minor swelling of the tissue and can be detected as small, hard frozen spots on the skin. If allowed to freeze solid,the tissue will swell, die and eventually sluff off.