For dogs to be outside? Over the summer I became the owner of two Plott hound puppies that someone had dumped beside the highway. They don't seem bothered by colder weather, they play and spazz out in the backyard with temps in the 30's. They have VERY short hair, so I don't want them to get too cold. I put them in the garage most nights, but at what point is it too cold for them to be out any longer then it takes for a bathroom break?



The boys.

My girls, two labs of about 90 lbs each, get the garage treatment if it gets below 30, or if there is rain below 40.  They have my old recliner from college, so I figure even if they get the garage treatment to early, they still enjoy the nice chair.

It depends on the dog. A husky when dry can survive sub zero temps IF it can burry itself in the snow and let it's coat and the snow insulate it
Your dogs have little coat and if wet, eating bad food and unprotected from the wind can die in much warmer temps. How warm is hard to say. You will have to watch them and check on them to see how they are managing.

Garages can get colder than outside temps.

Get them a large house filled with straw.

My bro has a Husky, and she won't even use her dog house on the coldest, nastiest days Oklahoma weather can produce. Just lays right out there in the open without a care in the world.



I think to be on the safe side, once the daytime highs get in the 40's, that's when they're new home will be the garage.

Do you guys have heated garages?

I've got the garage door sealed up pretty well, and its insulated. I also have a big heater that keeps it comfortable in there. I spent a while in there the other night playing with them, and it was much warmer than it was outside.





Might put their house in the garage with some straw, too.





 

Sounds like a nice set up then.
As for the house in the garage with straw.

As long as you don't mind straw all over the garage.




Nice looking dogs also.

Yeah I took everything of value out of the garage and basically let them have it. They're at that age where they destroy EVERYTHING. Especially the one with the red collar, he's like a 4-legged wrecking ball.

Maybe now but they look like they are going to turn into some really nice dogs.

Give it time and a little training.

Those are good looking pups!!  I've always had a fondness for hound dogs............

Here's a tip that might be useful: I bought an old 50's style,small kitchen table for $2 at a yard sale and enclosed the sides with some old plywood and stapled a tarp all around it to keep out the wind,put in 3 or 4  old blankets and called it good.Although my 2 mutts are spoiled rotten they will stay in the "dog house" if they have to.I wouldn't leave them out for an extended period of time though,surely not overnight...it often gets damn cold here this time of year.

When Top Gear did it's 'trip to the North Pole one guy went by dogsled.  The dogteam ran better at night because it was colder and the dogs didn't overheat so easily.    So sled dogs can overheat when working even when it is -10 below.  Put sleddogs out at -60 and the'll curl up with nose under tail and be fine.

Of course these aren't sleddogs, but I am using it to illustrate that dogs can handle being outside in very tough conditions.  

So what about animals with shorter coats?  Well, horses don't have long coats, and they are 'energy neutral' right at freezing.  The old rule of thumb is that if the horse's water was crusted over with a thin film of ice then the horse was at perfect temperature...any warmer or colder and the horse would have to spend energy cooling himself or warming himself.

White tail deer don't have thick coats either and they are living out in canadian winters just fine.  Oh, the coat thickens up a little but in comparison to true arctic animals it is still pretty short.

For dogs, the key is that they are acclimated to it.  If the plott hounds are outside all the time then they are going to be able to stand a lot colder temperatures than a dog that lives in your 72 degree home.  Heck, a short coated dog that lives outside in the cold is going to be better able to handle the cold than a long haired breed that lives mainly in the house.

I'd make sure the dogs have some small shelter to go into from the wind.   A 'Dog-gloo' is perfect IMHO.  You want something with the entrance facing south to keep the wind out, and something small enough that a dog or two will quickly fill it with their body heat.  A Dog-gloo heated by a pair of plott hounds is probably better than being in the garage.

dogloo

that plus a flap for a door and some carpet remnants or blanket or straw on the bottom and your dogs are going to be set for even the coldest weather.

These are the first dogs I've ever had, so there's a learning curve to it all, but you make some damn good points.





 

Do you plan on house training them?

Nope. The garage is as close to being indoor dogs as they'll get.