Yard Dogs Maintnance

Hi everyone, for the past 6 months my 2 dogs are on a chain set up , they are yard dogs, the only time they leave the yard is when i take them on their daily walk, I would like some good pointers on how to maintain dogs that live outside, recently it got a lil cold, about 40f (thats Az cold lol), been thinking about bringing them in at night , do you all think that weather is cold or they are fine outside. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

You need some straw,seven dust,bleach, and clean there area daily... Also maintain there hardware (chain set up).:cool:

 

The quality of straw is really lousy these days. You don't get the nice long, whole stems that pack together well into an insulating nest. From what the guys at the feed store tell me, it's due to the kind of combines they now use -- being faster or something -- the result is that the stems are chopped up more in the field. This makes for a bale of straw that when you open it up, it just falls apart into little short pieces and dust.

If you DO use straw like this, it has to be replaced almost weekly. It's a real pain. Even good straw needs to be replaced about once a month. This new stuff is about worthless. Every once in a while I do find straw that is decent, but it's very rare. I am in Colorado and have been told it's not much better in other states.

Sometimes the straw in the big round bales seems better...

Hay CAN be used, but it also falls apart into pieces and dust pretty quickly.

Dreamer

 

They are fine Rojas. 40 degrees is not cold at all to a healthy dog. Like Jumper said keep straw in their houses, keep their areas clean and parasite free and keep an eye on their hardware. I also use cedar shavings w/ the straw for bedding. Makes them smell nice and helps keep the bugs out. In my opinion, they will thrive more if allowed to remain outside than if brought inside at the first nip in the air. Another thing I do is I feed wet. A dog won't drink as much in cool or cold weather so my dogs' food is wet enough to look like a stew, whether kibble, raw, canned, or any combination of the above.

 

I should of give more detail, I do and have always cleaned their chain spaces on a daily bases, change their water 2x per day, worm my dogs once per year or before if needed, both my dogs have carpet in their dog houses, one is the thick shaggy kind, the other is normal carpet.

 

Here it gets 0-20 deg in the winter sometimes so I have some kennels inside for them when its too cold or bad storms. Mine get kinda crazy when they are inside even though the space isnt much smaller then when they are outside.(I have big outside kennels set up inside) So, its up to you, 40 deg wont hurt them get some good straw.

 

Get good (horse quality) low dust Straw bales. keeps them warm and dry change it every week to keep dust from giving there eyes and lungs problems and to prevent molbing. in plastic barrels expecially i find they sweat a lil(or it comes in the door way and starts mold issues if not changed weekly, its a hygene thing too

and you could put the carpet you have over the doors of the houses to keep the heat in . if the house is to small there not comfy , but if its too big it is no longer warm for them at night.

I live in Canada and i use these houses

http://www.cascadesleddogclub.com/forms/DDSdoghouse.pdf


These are the new 6 houses I just built like the link above I built for $200cnd thats like 20 bucks for you guys lol

and they spent the winter in them with 5'' of straw. the lids i made removable with screws, but the rest is air-nailed with 1 1/4'' nails.

 

Another good thing to do besides keeping there bedding warm is when you feed them....offer them some warm broth or warm water in there feed before you put them up!

YIS

 

Its been gettin down to 30 degrees at night around here. I have 8 dogs and all of them are outside.I packed all of their doghouses with straw and i feed them a lil bit extra, and when I do feed them I pour warm gravy on their food. Some people call me crazy for doing it but it makes me feel better about them having a warm meal on their stomach.

 

How often do you guys change the straw and is straw the best to keep the dogs warm. Thanks.

 

dang all the good advise has been given:mad:

and the warm water thing realy works

 

i up my outside dogs feed 1/2-1 cup depending on the dog during the winter unless im conditioning them i let them gain a pound or two during the winter to help keep them warm


when everyone says straw do they mean pine straw or hay?? i personally use both at the same time i put a good layer of pine straw then some hay on top of it i do this because ive found the pine straw insulates better but the hay is more comfortable for the dogs


alot of good points here i also do the hot water thing on cold days

 

I think they are talking about hay

but pineneedle hugh?

I might give that a try it should make good bedding under the hay

 

Pine straw in the summer and only wheat straw in the winter, Pack it full as you can in the winter

 

my bad i meant ceader shavings in summer not pine straw lol

 

Anyone try the white pine shavings normally sold as small pet bedding? Thinking of giving it a try this weekend.

 

I have tried pine but I prefer cedar.

 

Allthe above advice is right on and I just always out of habit take a look at their feet in cold weather. Sometimes they need a little foot balm if the feet start to crack. I also keep a good check on all the hardware.

 

Update, recently i went to my feed store and got cedar shavings and 3 huge heavy duty coffee bags , made out of jute, with the cedar shavings inside the bags, much more cleaner yard lol, they seem more in comfort.