[Updated November 7, 2018]

ATTENTION: We HAVE recently reviewed not only the best dog boots for winter, but also the best dog winter coats for cold weather.

It’s one of those jobs you just don’t ask a native (and lifelong) Californian to do: review dog coats. The only time I tried it, I failed; I separated the products under consideration into two categories – rain coats and warm coats – and was taken to task, rightly, for not providing a choice for dogs who have to go out in freezing rains. Because… a freezing rain? I have never experienced such a thing, much less had to walk my dog in one.

I was reminded of this recently, when I flew into Edmonton, Alberta, in order to tour the Champion Pet Food manufacturing facility north of there. I have never, ever, been somewhere so cold before – and they were having a relatively warm week for that time of year. The whole time I was there, I kept thinking, how on earth can you walk your dog in this cold? How do their paws not freeze?

Well, I guess they do; at least, the only dog I saw being walked the whole time I was there (about 36 hours) was wearing boots. I’m sure that while coyotes and wolves and even feral dogs either adapt or die in such cold, dogs who live indoors most of the time do need boots to protect their feet when being walked. The ground was just solid ice, whether frozen snow, dirt, or concrete.

On WDJ’s Facebook page a month or so ago, I linked a humorous (at least to me) YouTube video of dogs who had just been fitted with boots and were walking in them for (apparently) the first time. SO MANY people commented how cruel it is to outfit the dogs so and them laugh at them, as if boots on dogs is some great cruelty. I’m telling you, cruelty would be walking an indoor dog without boots in an Edmonton winter. Or even in Boston, say, where dogs are commonly treated to frozen sidewalks and salty slush, the better to burn any cracked paw pads that inevitably develop in cold winters.

Hey! You readers who live in incredibly cold places! How do you help your dogs cope with the cold? We’d love for you to share your favorite tips and tools.

I don’t know why it always surprises me when someone refers proudly to their strict adherence to prohibiting their dog from getting any “people food.”

I understand they are proud because they believe they are doing the right thing – that they think “people food” is somehow bad for dogs and that they are keeping their dogs well (and well – behaved, even) by not “spoiling” them.

What I don’t understand is how people have come to regard what I’m going to call * real food * could be bad for dogs.

Of course, there are a few foods that shouldn’t be given to dogs, such as chocolate and macadamia nuts – both contain substances that are toxic to dogs. The list of prohibited foods gets much longer if you include foods that no one in their right mind would actually FEED to a dog, such as avocado pits, raw bread dough, and gum containing xylitol. And then there are foods that shouldn’t be given to dogs in large amounts, the absolute amount of which is dependent upon the dog’s weight: onions, raisins, grapes, and fatty trimmings from meat.

But generally, these individual items are not what people are talking about when they say they don’t give their dogs “people food.” What they really mean is, leftovers. And there is no good reason at all to NEVER give your dog leftovers from healthy foods you eat yourself. Healthy food is healthy!

The converse is also true: foods that are unhealthy for you (such as fast food burgers and fries, pizza, mashed potatoes loaded with butter and sour cream and fatty gravy) are no healthier for your dog. Moderation in all things! An occasional treat of a reasonable portion of one of these foods is fine; it’s not going to ruin your dog!

Common sense applies. I wouldn’t recommend sharing from your plate in response to whining or begging behaviors – unless you love those behaviors and never plan on eating with your dog in front of other people.  Reduce the total amount of food that a dog receives on the same day that he receives a lot of table scraps so you don’t make your dog fat. Don’t replace the majority of your dog’s “complete and balanced” diet with a nutritionally incomplete and wildly imbalanced diet. I mean, they could surely survive and even thrive on our scraps – and dogs do survive and thrive on nothing but table scraps all over the world, and have for millennia! – but for optimum health, you want to make sure they receive a full complement of the proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals that dogs need (human and canine requirements being different).

But do give your dog some “real food”! With the exceptions noted above, good food – fresh, home – prepared, heavy on the vegetables and whole grains and lean meats – is good for him, too.

I don’t know about you, but my Facebook news feed is often cluttered with posts regarding lost dogs. In the past week alone, friends or family shared photos and information about half a dozen different lost dogs, from all different parts of the country and lost due to all sorts of circumstances. I find these posts doubly sad, because not only are the people bereft for the loss of their dogs (and the dogs unquestionably scared out of their minds, cold, and hungry), many of the incidents described appear to have been avoidable – with hindsight, of course. But the point is, if people thought more about the bad things that can happen when they least expected them, and worked to prevent them, many of these tragic “lost dog” cases would never happen.

For example, there is a California family looking for their dog, who slipped his collar in the middle of being attacked by a loose dog on a walk, and who ran away in terror from his attacker and his family. While it’s arguable that attacks by loose dogs can’t have been prevented, what is certain is that if your dog’s collar can slip over his head in ANY circumstances, you need to walk him with a different type of collar or harness on! Well-fitted limited-slip collars (a.k.a. martingale collars) are best for many dogs with slender heads and thicker necks.

A well-adjusted and secure harness may be best for dogs whose neck and body anatomy (such as stocky Pugs) make any collars too risky.

I see many, many posts describing lost dogs with no collars (and therefore, no tags) on, which detail a variety of non-emergency reasons the dog was not wearing his or her collar (meaning, the dog didn’t slip the collar in a panic, but rather, wasn’t wearing a collar at the time of his or her escape). As long as gates can be left open, doors can be incompletely closed, a car accident can happen, and so on and so forth, your dog should have a collar on. However, second lines of defense are smart to employ with any dog who has a propensity to wander, or who is a flight risk when frightened. Securing a baby gate outside your main traffic doors or setting up exercise pens inside or outside the door in an “airlock” formation can prevent a door-darter from being rewarded by a quick (and risky) taste of freedom. And of course, car seat belts (or crating your dog in a car) are a great method for both protecting your dog from escaping your car after an accident and making certain he doesn’t bolt out of the car when the driver or passengers enter or exit.

One of the very first behaviors I begin to teach any of my own dogs or foster dogs is a recall, and I practice this behavior a LOT, in an effort to keep it super fresh and super reinforcing for my dogs. I almost always carry treats on a walk with dogs – and if a dog I am walking is new to me, and/or if the place I am walking is extra-challenging (for example, somewhere we might encounter deer or rabbits, or in town, where we have to pass by highly aroused dogs on the other side of fences) – I carry extra-special, over-the-top yummy treats, such as sardines or fresh roast beef.

Alternatively, I carry favorite toys for any toy-obsessed dogs I walk with. And I practice with dogs on a short leash in a low-distraction environment before graduating to a long line in a low-distraction environment; a short leash in a higher-distraction environment before moving up to a long line in a higher-distraction environment… you get the idea.

Also, if I’m not feeling really positive about the dog’s demonstrated ability to return to me brightly and quickly in any circumstances, I make darn sure the dog is never, ever completely “free.” He’s either on a leash, or in a secure crate, house, kennel, or yard until he’s demonstrated a SOLID recall in the face of all sorts of distractions.

Please! Fewer “lost dog!” postings, and more, “Wow, that (collar, crate, seatbelt, training) really paid off!” stories.