Cold temps/dogs

Hello, lots of dog experts on here. I often have the grand dogs in the winter due to boy working out of state etc. My question is, we like the dogs to be in the garage at night. Is 50 degrees too cold for a grown lab? When it gets really cold I don’t want to keep it too warm in garage as the cost starts to skyrocket. Maybe I’m thinking too much like a human and the dogs, with their permanent fur parka, actually like the cooler temp vs. 72 degrees in the house. Thoughts?

Personal choice but my labs stay in the house with us year round

I would think 50 would be ok. Just make sure they have something warm to sleep on like a bed, that concrete can get pretty cold and would not want them sleeping directly on it. But to be honest all of our dogs stay in the house with us.

Maybe a husky or malamute would like it but I don’t think a lab would, especially if they are acclimated to being in the house normally. I don’t know what the limit is but 50 seems to be getting low to me. Don’t think they’ll die or anything but certainly aren’t going to be comfortable. If they have kennels or a box of some sort some blankets/insulation around it will keep it a lot warmer. If you do insulate it, and it’s 50 ambient, you probably have to leave one side open or half open… just monitor it at first to make sure it doesn’t get too hot. With something like Mud River Kennel covers you could go a lot lower than 50 and keep them toasty in a kennel.

There will be a million opinions and experiences, but in reality you (or the owner) know the dogs the best. I think it’s often more about what the owner wants versus what the dog truly needs or finds comfortable. I wouldn’t feel the least built guilty about 50 degrees, dry, out of the wind, and something to get the dog up off the floor with a few blankets to nestle into….so long as they’re not used to something completely different.

We grew up with dogs that wouldn’t step foot in the house if the door was left open and a bowl of treats was in sight…regardless of season. It wasn’t ever allowed. They were a part of the family as animals not humans. No insurance, no prescriptions, no sleeping in a bed with us. They spent 90% of their life outside being dogs free to do as they wished on our acreage, and the other 10% sleeping hard in the attached garage that was probably at best 50 degrees. We always made sure they were up off the floor and had some kind of old blanket. One was a lab/retriever mix that lived to be 16. The other was a shepherd that made 14. For as much as we could tell, they were happy and lived great lives.

This thread is already getting comical

The dog will be more than fine.

Hell, I’d keep the thermostat at 50° in the house if the wife would let me lol

As mentioned, just make sure to have a dog bed, even better if it’s in a crate (dogs are denning animals and prefer an enclosure versus sleeping in the open).

At our last house we had the garage at 50° with a dog door. You’d be surprised how many thousands of tracks there would be in the snow if it wasn’t crazy cold outside.

I agree…those labs will love to sleep in 50 degrees. They’ll be more than comfortable.

Get them something to sleep on and a couple blankets to nestle into and they’ll love it.

My old lab lived outside just fine. My mom would bring him in if it got colder than -15. Our new lab lives inside not by choice but gotta pick your battles I guess. He goes outside when we are at work and school. Thinking hes gonna be in the garage during the day now. Dont think 70 degrees 16 hours a day then out into the cold is a good idea. Garage is like 50-55 when im not in it. Not gonna worry about that at all.

Family members don’t sleep in the garage at my place.

if you’re worried about 50 being too cold, get them a small kennel with an electric heated pad for inside the garage. the tiny bit of heat and small enclosure would make it toasty warm in there.

I’d be way more worried about the garage getting too warm than too cold.

As others have already stated, something to lay on like a dog bed would be a good idea.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Family members don’t sleep in the garage at my place.

You never met my former sister in law…

My lab never spent a night in the house. A good insulated house and some straw in the back of the un-heated pole shed. Never bothered her in the 15 yrs she lived.
My neighbors raise impressive lab duck dogs. They’re outside 24-7. Simple dog house and a chain.
They’re way more resilient than you think.

Forgot to mention, one stays in kennel as he’ll get into any and everything and the other on a dog bed. Both are off the ground with plenty of warm bedding beneath them. I’m thinking it’s just fine.

True, my other family members don’t sleep in the garage but they don’t lick their private parts either…. (at least I don’t think they do)

B-man wrote:

This thread is already getting comical

The dog will be more than fine.

Hell, I’d keep the thermostat at 50° in the house if the wife would let me lol

As mentioned, just make sure to have a dog bed, even better if it’s in a crate (dogs are denning animals and prefer an enclosure versus sleeping in the open).

At our last house we had the garage at 50° with a dog door. You’d be surprised how many thousands of tracks there would be in the snow if it wasn’t crazy cold outside.

X2

Our chese/lab mix lived most of her life outdoors at our homes in Grand Portage then Hovland, inland from Lake Superior. We picked her up at Hollow Rock Resort from the old owners when she was a year old and had already spent a winter outdoors as a puppy. She was from a long line of happy and healthy Reservation dogs that never saw the vet.

Most of time she slept near the base of a spruce tree, sometimes in the hollow formed in the deep snow around the tree in the dead of winter. There, she curled up with her tail covering the tip of her nose. We saw temperatures that were well in excess of -20f for nights on end.

She would retreat to her house and bed of straw during more prolonged storms with precipitation.

What a specimen she was. She would run behind my snowmobile for miles into the ice fishing lakes we frequented, often in -20f or colder morning temperatures.

As she aged past 10 she spent nights indoors during very cold and inclement weather. She was very active as a hunting dog and property guardian until age 12.

Kinda funny timing, when I got home it was 23°. Ben was riding his bike in a long sleeve tee shirt and the chickens were outside (voluntarily)

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Gitchi Gummi wrote:

if you’re worried about 50 being too cold, get them a small kennel with an electric heated pad for inside the garage. the tiny bit of heat and small enclosure would make it toasty warm in there.

X2. B-Man said it best, but if you’re concerned a heated pad is an easy solution.

Tom Bennett wrote:

Our chese/lab mix lived most of her life outdoors at our homes in Grand Portage then Hovland, inland from Lake Superior. We picked her up at Hollow Rock Resort from the old owners when she was a year old and had already spent a winter outdoors as a puppy. She was from a long line of happy and healthy Reservation dogs that never saw the vet.

Most of time she slept near the base of a spruce tree, sometimes in the hollow formed in the deep snow around the tree in the dead of winter. There, she curled up with her tail covering the tip of her nose. We saw temperatures that were well in excess of -20f for nights on end.

She would retreat to her house and bed of straw during more prolonged storms with precipitation.

What a specimen she was. She would run behind my snowmobile for miles into the ice fishing lakes we frequented, often in -20f or colder morning temperatures.

As she aged past 10 she spent nights indoors during very cold and inclement weather. She was very active as a hunting dog and property guardian until age 12.

My brother had a Chesapeake. What great dogs. She was like a lab on steroids.

I had a lab/springer mix that lived outside in a kennel year round. The first winter I had him we put straw in his house and a plastic flap over his house door before the first real cold snap. By the next morning he had ripped off the plastic flap, kicked out most of the straw and way laying on that outside in sub zero temps happy as could be. Like B-man said dogs are very resilient.

I suppose it’s all about what they are used too. Keeping inside dogs out in a garage might pose a problem. The labs we have, I gotta fight for the covers… and no way they’d spend a night in a garage without ALOT of whining. They are to accustomed to human interaction.

50??? For a full grown lab??? Yeahhhh that is not a problem. Realistically if they have something soft to sleep on they’d probs prefer it to be much cooler than that even.

Carbon monoxide is a bigger concern in a garage than temps.

Our dogs never come in they have a house with straw and amazing they will be out sitting in the cold instead. All my life our dogs have been outside dogs garage house with straw leads to the kennel outside. Made the top of the dog house lift up so we can clean out the straw and house. Family dogs that love being outside and the snow. Our family member dogs never spent a day inside and never an issue. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Swimjiggin wrote:

I suppose it’s all about what they are used too. Keeping inside dogs out in a garage might pose a problem. The labs we have, I gotta fight for the covers… and no way they’d spend a night in a garage without ALOT of whining. They are to accustomed to human interaction.

very good point. I’d think its kind of cruel to take an inside dog and decide in mid January that its going to be an outside dog. They need time to acclimate and grow a thicker coat.

Dogs are resilient and I always get a chuckle out of the wide spectrum of how people treat their dogs. My dogs are my best friends and I treat them like it. I got a dog for a reason, not to just have another critter roaming around outside but at the same time, I don’t judge the people that have them as outside pets AS LONG AS THEIR DOG DOESN’T BARK. I have a neighbor who’s dog is an outside dog but the thing isn’t trained worth a sh*t and is annoying AF with its constant barking. I don’t understand why people have dogs if thats how its going to be. Be a good person and be considerate of your neighbors.

Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
Family members don’t sleep in the garage at my place.

You never met my former sister in law…

My former sister in law was so fat….how fat was she?

Grew up with Labs and they never spent a day inside. Had a kennel and a dog house. During they day they were out on the two acres. We would try hay or blankets in the winter and they would kick them out. These dog’s were the best hunting dogs. Dogs lived and survived outside long before we moved them inside our house.

If you want a dog for a pet hen treat them like a pet. If you want a working dog then treat them like a working dog.

Before I get attacked for this our dogs were well taken care of and loved. Our dogs always out performed any dog that lived inside.

If your dog lives inside then it never can outperform a dog that lives outside 24/7 and runs loose on 2 acres. Those soft house dogs just can’t keep up.

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If necessary
we have used the infrared heat lamps hanging down over their beds. Has always worked well for our Sporting dogs

Crawdaddy-
If you want them to really perform. Start having them and drink real beer.

orve4 wrote:

If you want a dog for a pet hen treat them like a pet. If you want a working dog then treat them like a working dog.

Our dogs always out performed any dog that lived inside.

what exactly makes a dog a “working dog”?

I’d confidently put my soft inside dog against any of your outside dogs any day of the week.