Brrrrrrrrr it's cold outside.

Don't look now but we are really getting it. It is peppering down snow here in Southern Indiana. and i'm so cold glad my dogs go outside and on potty pads. Four of my little ones would get lost in the snow if they went out.

 

It's getting cold up here in Toronto too. Monday morning it was -34*C (-29*F). We're supposed to be in for a storm too, I think starting this afternoon. Hopefully it won't start until after I finish work. I use potty pads with Rocky in the winter so he doesn't have to go out in the snow.

I remember one winter when we had Max I was letting him out in the morning and I misjudged how much snow there was and he disappeared for a few seconds only to emerge and run into the house with snow all over him. Needless to say my mother was not impressed with a snow covere dog jumping into bed with her.

 

It is cold here to Western NY, I know Toronto is always colder (I am right by Niagara Falls. I just have a question though, did you always train your dog on puppy pads, or just in the winter? I have never used them, so I don't really want them to learn how to use them, and then they won't go outside at all. How can I train them to go on them? Max is 2 and Rosco is 1, they are pretty custom to going outside. Thanks.

 

I started Rocky outside, but in the winter sometimes its just too cold so I trained him to use the pads just in the winter (the rest of the year he goes outside).

What I did was in the beginning when he went out to pee I would use the pad and soak a little up so his scent was already on the pad. I keep the pads in my garage so when he would go to the door to go out I just open the door to the garage and let him out. Sometimes he tries to go ont he garage floor but I use the command "On the mat" and he goes on the mat.

Rocky will be six next year and I've only used the mats in the winter since he was about 2 or 3.

 

I start all my puppies on the pads better thasn my carpet. I would tyake them to the pad and when they went give them praise and a treat. We also have a doggie door and when its nice out they love to go out.

 

Hum, I wonder what I should do then. I do not have an attached garage, my garage is outside behind my house, so the only place I could use it would be in my house. I actually did buy those pads for Max to try them when he was a puppy, but I know a girl that did that, and now her dog will not go potty outside (she is 2 now) so I didn't want that to happen. Unless maybe I try it in the basement, but how do I tell them to go on that ya know. I have really steep basement stairs, so Rosco will not go donw them or up them by himself, so I would have to take them, but I don't know how I could get them to use them now.

 

I got Winnie two years ago in Feb! I live in NY state and it was FREEEEEEZING!!!! I used puppy pads for a while, and she used them ALMOST everytime. I took the pad outside and she would go in one specific spot. She LOVES the winter--She loves the snow, etc...I dont know if it is because I got here in the winter and she was trained in the winter, or if dogs generally LOVE the snow.....

 

I would have to say, they do love the snow too. It was just really, really cold on Sunday & Monday, I think it was just way too cold those days. He has been doing better since then, but it hasn't been too cold either. Today, it is just really wet & rainy (crapy) I will have to see if he does it again, but thanks for the advice. :wink:

 

lol Topher loves the snow