When Is It TOO Cold?

[Mollie&Me]

It's -35C outside right now with the wind chill. Gah.

 

The weather has been like this for the past four weeks, (last weekend was -42C with the windchill) with the addition of snow. Lots of snow. Nothing new for Alberta winters but it's pretty much put a halt on our weekly lessons for the past four weeks. Well, not the cold so much - more the highway driving in the snow which is pretty dangerous right now. But once the roads have cleared, I'd love to get going again!

 

Is there a general guideline with regards to working a dog in cold temperatures?

 

(Which led me to wonder, when is it too cold for the sheep...)

[Debbie Meier]

I don't know if there is a general rule of thumb, I would think you would have to factor in humidity, windchill and all along with what conditions the dog, livestock and yourself are used to operating in. But, once it gets into the single digits (Farenheit) we don't do any more work then we have too, I don't want to overheat the sheep, the dog nor myself and end up getting a chill. As far as people coming here to work dogs, I cancel when it gets below 20 degrees, the dogs nor the people are used to working out in the cold. I'm not saying I don't train, I just don't go out to specifically train, we do the work that needs to be done if I need to pause to train a little we do, I had to do a little of that this morning when Bea was not staying put. I have a couple of young dogs that need to go out and be worked, I'll wait for a little warmer weather to work them. Yesterday morning it was about 6 below, Tank brought the ewes in, hit a branch just right puncturing the top of his foot. It was just too cold, his foot bled like crazy until it froze up clotting the wound, overall he seemed fine, not limping or anything. But after he was in the house for a while after I cleaned it up and probed it to make sure there was no foreign objects in it he felt it, he's been pretty much three legged since (except when he goes outside, forgets about it and goes playing in the snow again). I've also noticed that it takes less to injure the sheep when it gets that cold, things just don't give.

 

It was sorta funny last night, Tank is not one to go see Wayne when he gets home from work, but last night he went right to Wayne and stuck his foot in his face, as if to say "Look what Deb did to me today".

 

Deb

[KathyF]

I think it does depend upon what you, your dog and the sheep are able to handle. I have had a few times over the past couple of weeks when the temp has been 0F but with no wind and the sun was shining that I worked our dogs. I only work them on flanking exercises which do not require as much running by the dog or the sheep. I was just out the past three afternoons working dogs and the temps ranged from 15F two days ago to 25F today. Even the other morning when it was -11 I got too warm doing chores and had to switch gloves.

 

Kathy

[Liz P]

I used to run BCs as a sled dog team. They lived inside with me so were only outside for potty breaks, play time and training. Between -10F and 10F was the perfect weather, not so cold but not hot enough to overheat. Over 20F and they were panting hard and needed more water. From -40F to -10F we would still run, below that and I didn't want to go outside People run sled dogs all the time at much colder temps but there is a higher risk of lung injury from rapidly breathing in cold air. I suppose the major limiting factors would be the sheep and the pasture conditions.