Humane Society urges dog owners to take caution

By Alyssa Horrobin

If you get cold standing outside in the snow, your pet does too.

That’s the message from the Windsor-Essex Humane Society, which is urging pet owners to be careful in winter.

“If they are holding feet up, that kind of thing, they are ready to come inside,” said Amanda Dawson, an operations manager at the Windsor-Essex Humane Society.

Fabricio Rivera takes his dog Chop outside three or four times a day. He said if Chop is shivering or walking strangely, he knows it’s time to take him inside.

“Pets are like human beings, you know, they think. The difference is we can’t understand them. Anything that I wouldn’t want to do, I don’t put my dog through it,” he said.

 

With the extreme cold warnings issued by Environment Canada and the Windsor-Essex County Public Health Unit, he said keeping an eye on the weather is even more important for pet owners.

“I’ve never really seen numbers like this on the weather,” said Rivera. “How would you like it if nobody gave you a coat and it’s like negative 18 outside?”

During times of extreme cold, Rivera keeps his dog out for about 20 minutes, half the time he usually goes out for. Chop also wears a sweater.

That 15-20 minutes is a good general guideline for a pet to be outside during the winter months, according to Dawson.

“It really depends on your pet,” said Dawson. “If it’s extreme cold, reduce it even more, just out for bathroom breaks, that kind of thing.”

Dawson also recommends wiping paws off when dogs come back inside because salt can be very damaging to a pet’s feet.