Do your dogs get walked every day, regardless of the weather ? How do they react to going out in the wet and cold ?

[TheTecknician]

Prompted by about half a dozen dogs, including three Border Collies, I saw at our local country park on New Year's Eve. The weather had suddenly closed in with a stiff wind, dark clouds and heavy rain. I was heading back to the car but these dogs either didn't notice how unpleasant the weather was or just didn't care! They scarpered off ahead off their owners, tails wagging and barging through mud and into ditches.

Years ago, our family had three Cocker spaniels of varying ages. The eldest wasn't at all bothered by rain and snow and would still happily go for walks in lousy conditions. She was more of an outdoorsy dog than the younger two. They, on the other hand, could not be persuaded to go outside even in light rain, especially as they aged. Interestingly, all three spaniels took care to avoid remaining mud and puddles in dry weather and would pointedly walk around them. I can't imagine today's loony springer spaniels or weimaraners being so delicate!

Huntaway Collie here and he will walk and walk and walk if we let him. Goes out every day otherwise he gets a bit frustrated. Took him out today and he was a bit spooked by the noise of the winds as the storm came in so we cut it a bit shorter.

Open the back door for a quick wee in The garden before bed .... and it's raining - no chance.

Got a working cocker and a sprocker. Cocker is a nutter and has been swimming in the floods after work, the little fucker completely ignored me screaming at him to get out the sprocker is a lot more delicate with long legs and she stares at him in horror but she's happy wading through mud.

Don't get a second of peace if they're not walked, and it's not co-incidence that the other hardy dog walkers we meet with a shared grimace have all got spaniels too...

My Labrador goes out unless is seriously bad weather, like the middle of a named storm. He loves running through puddles and he absolutely loves the wind. It gives him wind zoomies or he just stands there enjoying the wind blowing in his face and bringing interesting smells to him. He does not like it when it’s actually raining though and refuses to go out into the garden. He’ll try the back door, then the front to see if it’s any different and then just looks at me like, “Please can you turn the rain off now mum?”

@shortandspicy my dog is the same! Give him a manky, freezing cold pond and he would stay in it all day. Put him in a lovely warm bubble bath and he looks like he’s being tortured! Look at his sad little ears 😂

Labrador is generally happy in all weathers, loves snow. I often think it’s a bit coat dependant. Dogs that come from working lines tend to be bred to be pretty hardy and weather resistant. I think labs coats have a water resistant short layer so keeps the worst of the weather off. Some dogs get soaked through which sounds pretty miserable to me too.

I had a collie, she walked in all weathers, she walked around the puddles (obviously) but dogs need exercise. She would happily hike mountains in shitty conditions.
Collies are working dogs OP, rain doesn't phase them. Plus the joys of coming home, being towel dried and curling up in front of the fire..who doesn't love that?

Our three are taken out twice a day, every day, mostly by DH.
On top of that, until this last year, our older lab, who is 12 in February, took a daily dip in the river, rain or shine, snow, whatever. Now she's very elderly, it's every few days and not when it's been icy.
Her daughter isn't such a good swimmer, so generally has a daily dip in the ditch. 😵‍💫 For extra mud, I suppose.
The shepherd is impervious to everything and can frequently be seen sitting out in the rain or snow. She's not a swimmer but cares nothing for weather.

Yes always walk them. One loves all weathers. One less so!

Our cavapoo hated the rain.

Her coat held all the water like a sponge and then she got sore armpits unless blowdried (which she also hated 😂).

My JT hates the rain and cold. If it's raining or chilly he refuses to walk at all, just pees and demands to come back in.

JRTxBeagle hates he rain too, but likes the cold (if she's wearing a coat) and LOVES the snow.

Yes. At least twice a day morning and evening otherwise he will shit on the floor at the first opportunity (even if the back door is wide open to really make his message clear!). Some days he has a dog walker at lunchtime so 3 times a day. He hates the rain and he hates his coat but I hate cleaning shit off the back door mat so tough 😆

I have Covid and walks are shorter and only on the fields in front of my cottage, but it's still a walk in his mind, still out for a sniff. It's muddy and grim for me, messy and fun for him 😂

Our usual routine and his favourite part of his day is going in the car to see my horse then exploring the miles of private tracks belonging to the landowner off lead.

At home, if it's raining he won't go out. Put his walking coat on and unlock the car, different story!!!

My collie used to not care but now his old he walks beside me under the umbrella

Yes, as much to stop them driving me bonkers as anything. I usually check the weather tho and try and go when it's the least rainy! She's not a fan of the rain but still pesters me to go out.

This morning I got up early and walked at 7.45, was only spitting here then. I'm going again in half an hour (yay it's stopped and the forecast here is much drier for the next two weeks!)

Said Lordship after a walk. My chair, my cushion, naturally

I literally just chucked mine into the garden as they haven't been out all day.

God knows how they do it ....

Can't persuade them to go for a walk- they just sit shivering in the front porch and won't move!
(That's a Tibetan Terrier and a mini Poodle- so plenty of fur to keep them warm and sort of dry.)

Border collie mum here! - hes happy to go out in all weathers, but is equally happy to miss an odd day aslong as hes got toys to throw around instead!

My current lurcher has a thing in his mind that he needs to go out at least once a day otherwise he sulks - but if the weather is horrible it can be a very short walk. That's fine - it's not the length of the walk that matters just the act of going out and coming back again.

If it's raining and horrible I will often just take him to the very local small park, and he will quickly zoom round it twice, then come and stand next to me waiting to be taken home. He'll then flumph around the house from bed to bed all day like a big cat - he really can be very lazy.....

If the weather is nice on the other hand he will walk for miles if asked to and is pretty tireless.....

I do think all breeds are different, and that even within breeds all individual dogs are different. It's a matter of knowing your dog and what he/she needs.

I have 2 spaniels who are walked no matter what. I also have an older chihuahua/patterdale who is also walked but isn’t keen on the rain! If my springer doesn’t get walked then he is an absolute nightmare so a non negotiable in this house!

We’ve had our 3 year old rescue for a year. He was kept in a crate 24/7 before going to the rescue.
I’ve always taken my dogs out come rain or shine. Last winter he was petrified of the rain and wind, couldn’t make head nor tail out of it.
I slowly introduced him to all kinds of weather and now doesn’t care what it’s like outside.
Slightly regretting that on days like today!

Our terrier goes out in all weather. He's an absolute pain in the backside if we're even a bit late in taking him out, he follows us around the house and plonks himself on our feet or howls at the front door.

My pampered Frenchie does not do rain (or sun for that matter!). Even getting him out to pee in the garden on rainy days is fun!

My dogs love going out on their walks - they are ' small ' dogs so you'd think/hope they'd want to stay home or just be out for a quickie.

Oh no ! they thoroughly enjoyed their normal ( almost) full walk this morning.

One is a pug, and two are pug x shih tzu ( sisters from the same litter ) pug is daddy.
I adopted all of them and as their Mummy wasn't able to walk them every day I think they have been making up for it ever since.

( if Mummy or any of the human sisters are on MN - yes they are very happy ! )

I only managed to shorten their walk today by parking at the 2nd entrance to the park rather than the further away one.

Well once off their leads ( need to do their business before getting off, or the little sister will run as fast as her little legs will let her to the most distant spot in the park ! and I have to spend ages looking for her business so I can pick it up )
they thought it would be fun to run round in circles on the flooded grass and play chase - the mud was half way up their little legs !

Whilst the very elderly bichon plodded after them and I am pushing her buggy through the grass - usually she sticks to the path for that bit of the walk but oh no not today ( bichons are white ! she wasn't this morning ) she can't manage the whole walk anymore but I would never leave her at home on her own.

Thankfully they all have waterproof coats that cover half of their legs and most of their tummies. so it was only a head dry and half leg dry when we got home.

So it's not just labs that like their walks in all weathers :) but there were very few of us out this morning at 8.30am

Collie/Shepherd X.
Weekday morning lead walk 15 mins, 1 hour lunchtime with dog walker, running free in countryside.
Evening 15-40 min walk on lead around town.
Weekend 2 walks. Long one mid morning, shorter at night.
Every single day.
No matter what sort of weather, live in the South.
Frequent swims in river, even in winter.
When hot gets walked earlier/later and daily swim.
Only dislike are fireworks, so recently needed convincing going out after dark and wants to come home quickly.

This thread has taken me back to my old black lab.
If I tried to get him out of the front door and it was raining he always insisted on looking out of the back door to see if it was the same 😋