A GSD question?

T

TayloredEq

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www.tayloredequestrian.com
I know that GSDs have the double coat thing going on so that they don't really feel the cold - but at what temperature do they start to get cold?

Bear and I are sleeping in the lorry at the moment whilst I am on colic watch for a clients horse. Bear certainly seems to enjoy his creature comforts. He sleeps on the bed at night and I will often find that I am being pushed off my pillow by his big fat head! He will always choose to lie on the bed, duvet, make himself a pillow etc as opposed to lying on the floor. Yet when we had some Americans here for some clinics they turned him really soft and he used to lie as close to the gas fire as he could get.

He doesn't seem at all bothered by the temperature outside at the moment (-6 this morning) but I just wondered at what point he might start notice it.

Sorry - bit of a waffly post!!
 
I have two of them, they can stand maybe 10 minutes indoors before begging to go out again.

They live in an unheated room (their water bowl is heated though) and I have never yet seen them look remotely unhappy. Yesterday, with windchill we were hitting -20C, night time temp was -18C. It is -15C now and I can see them lying on the yard presumably asleep, it is snowing and they may well disappear if they don't wake up soon.

Another good thing about short haired GSD's is that they don't get ice balls between their toes.
 
bloody hell Enfys where do you live?

We don't have any snow or ice really we're just frozen solid. He's not been bothered so far was just getting curious that was all!! And part of me wondered that seeing as he was now enjoying the heat from the gas fire would that make him more sensitive to the cold.
 
Ontario:)

My cats are weather proof too!
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As enyfs suggest they can withstand extreme cold weather, they have a superb coat, a shpeherd with no health issues and of young age could sleep out in this snow with no shelter and they woud not feel it, and it they have shelter they rarely use it or lie on any bed they are given, my akita has chucked her bed out of her kennel and is lying outside
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ok she maybe has a thicker coat than a shep but I doubt they are that far apart
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and it they have shelter they rarely use it or lie on any bed they are given,

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I think Bear is outside the stereotype on this one!! He loves his comforts and will even pull rugs down off the racks so that he has something to lie down on rather than lie on the concrete!
 
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and it they have shelter they rarely use it or lie on any bed they are given,

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I think Bear is outside the stereotype on this one!! He loves his comforts and will even pull rugs down off the racks so that he has something to lie down on rather than lie on the concrete!

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I blame the owner
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Remind me never to move to Ontario!!

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It isn't that bad, we have had much less snow than some parts of the UK
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Poppy loves her snow holes.
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and Boston, well, lovely dog, but at the end of the line when brains were being dealt out bless him! (photos were feb 2009 btw)
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I have never known my young fit dogs show the cold, but as you say they also like their creature comforts and are real fire hoggers when the opportunity arises. Evie will happily play outside all day though in weather such as we are currently having. My oldie Saffy is outside in the day in a kennel and run and very rarely goes into the shelter part of her kennel. At night she is in a brick kennel and at the moment she does have a heat lamp on, but she is 12 next month so deserves a bit of pampering
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But you have -15!! I'm already in 3 pairs or longjohns and over trousers plus 5 fleeces, silk glove liners plus gloves and skiing hat in -6 how the hell do you wear enough clothes and still be able to move?

Love the pic! Very cute
 
Mine have coats like bears (well, what coat B has left...) live outside all year round in their roofed kennels with boxes - and like Cayla's Akita, they have a Vetbed each but soon tell me when they are getting too toasty - they just carry them out and dump them
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Awesome pics, Enfys
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I am just about to go out and feed now, 4pm ish here.

I am only wearing thin cotton summer trousers (split my last pair of jeans yesterday) but I have quilted coveralls to go over them, then polo neck, tight fleece zip up, plus fleece sweatshirt, then a quilted shirt on top of the coveralls. neckwarmer that goes over my nose and fleece balaclave on top of that. One, maybe 2 pairs, of bog standard 69 cent Walmart one size fits all woolly gloves...job done. oh, wool socks and wellies with liners proof to -50C. Just call me Mrs Michelin!

I ride in that get up as well, although if I get off I can't get on again!
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I mistakenly thought (before I got Boston) that ALL GSD's were brave and brainy, I soon learned better. I love Boston to bits, he's an excellent guard dog (his job) as he is all mouth and no trousers. His one aim in life is to fetch every stick, log, twig, water can, anything he can move, and to have someone throw it for him.

His sidekick, Poppy, is the smart one.
 
Not a Shepherd, but my friend's Samoyed sleeps outside on the patio most nights, and the dog would rather be there than indoors. He hates the rain, though.

Bizarrely, Stella *loves* walking in the rain, pulling like a steam train all the way, but as I have said many, many times, she is not a fan of the snow. While boarding last week, she went out to play when it was 0c or so, but any colder, and it was out for a pee, and then back next to the fireplace.
 
Poor you! Hope the horse recovers and you can return to YOUR creature comforts!

Dizzy doesn't mind the snow, but he doesn't seem to mind hot rooms either. He always sleeps on the sofa or his bed.

The two Spitzes are totally different from eachother. Betty gets cold easily (so much for a snow dog), while Jakey lies down outside in the rain and snow. Jakey has a proper triple coat and it takes ages to get him wet when he's being washed.

Pookie the JRT sleeps under the covers!
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The double coated dogs can stand quite low temps and the GSD's native Germany gets some very cold winters! But lets face it what self respecting soft dog given the chance at a bed will say nah I'll sleep on the floor!

Gosh it's warm there Enfys, when my mare was in Quarantine in Saskatchewan it was under -40, the chap flew over with her and it sounded just like the film The Shining in the winter they can only go out for 20 mins before they run the risk of Frostbite!

Not for me I'd go stir crazy! Mental note to self don't visit Saskatchewan in winter!!!!!

Have a pic of her somewhere living out in her paddock with a few fence pannels for a wind break, she loves it over here it's mostly still green in winter!!!! Big surprise when she arived she didn't have a big fluffy coat, it was quite fine!
 
Karen, yes, it is warm here. I appear to be living in a bubble, everywhere else has snow, I have one poxy, measly, pathetic inch, I am so hacked off I can tell you.

Oh NO! SK is NOT a place I wish to live thankyou very much, way too cold for me. I can actually work outside in these temps quite happily.

My dogs can't stand the heat, our living room has a woodburner and if they venture indoors they lie on the cold floor by the basement doors where it is coolest. Quite often they will sleep on the concrete yard rather than their snuggly foam beds. In summer they dig holes and lie in them or take themselves off to the creek and lie in that.
 
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