This is my first season hunting from a boat, and first season with a dog. We live in Michigan and my dog is already complaining about cold paws. It's not that cold yet. This morning it was 45 degrees, and about an hour into the hunt he was lifting his paws up off the hunt deck and shaking. How is he going to handle it when it actually gets cold?

What do you guys do?

Being from south Louisiana, we don't get cold like y'all do up there, but this past year we had some mornings where it was in the 20s and wet. I got my pup a neoprene vest that helps a lot with core temp (believed I paid 50 for it at Cabelas), and I keep a couple of towels in the boat. After retrieves, I pat her down if she is in the boat and dry her feet off and ears. If you are hunting out of a boat, get you some hydroturf on the floor where your pup sits. It doesn't hold heat or cold much and helps a lot with their paws. Lastly, for super cold mornings, we have a couple butane heaters that we keep in the boat and I put one by my dog if I see she is cold. Hope this all helps bud

I have a momarsh Invisilab that I fold the legs under like a ground blind and put it on the front deck of the boat. It drains water quickly and I just put a little camo burlap or brush on it. Dog hunts off the front of the boat.

It may not produce those MMT photo of the month pics of the dog next to your engine, but it keeps the dog warm, gives him a defined place to be (which makes it less likely to break), and takes no time to set up. Never had an issue even in single digits with ice.


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You can also get some mushers salve to toughen up their feet.


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That should serve the same purpose bro. What I usually do is put it on her if it is 40 or under, other than that, she is good I find

Saw this in one of my upland dog magazines. We don't have the cold paw problem in South florida.

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Neoprene vest is a must. It not only keeps their entire body warm, it provides floatation and keeps them from shaking off and spraying everything in the boat. I use the 3mm size early season (unless over 60 degrees) and 5mm size late season.

This last week I hunted with air temp in the mid-20's and windchill in the low teens. He had his vest on and then I'd use the SUGAR coat ( http://thesugarcoat.com/) over that for times when he started shivering. Just like with humans, if you keep the core body temp up, the extremities will stay warmer.

Hydroturf in the boat also helps a ton to prevent heat conduction thru the aluminum and into the cold water.

So, I've read a couple horror stories about healthy, "tough" dogs and hypothermia. I think theres omw ot a link to one lurking in the threads on mmt. Not even something to play with. The word tough has nothing to do with this discussion. Vest below 50 or 60, foot protection and some sort of effort to keep em warm below 35 or so. It's not much trouble, and doesnt have anything to do with toughness in your dog. He has no control over heat loss in his body, and it's just too easy to help him/her. Every dog is different, and most will be fine colder, but why push it? Get whatever they need to be comfortable while they wait on you to miss the next bird lol

#CFFITR
#TheGhostBoat
#whoneedsphysicsihaveamudmotor

$7. Tariffs, dude.

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#TheGhostBoat
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I used to live on the gulf coast and one year, opening day, my dog and I had traveled several hours north across a strong cold front (want to say it was 2015). We had not seen temps below 60 degrees, even at night on the coast yet that fall and she was still relatively young at two years old. The temp opening morning was 30 degrees with a brisk wind. I took an old jacket, tied it as high up on the tree as I could and wrapped her up in it after she made her first retrieve and got wet. It was funny after that because every time I’d send her for a retrieve, she’d bust out of the jacket and a cloud of steam would follow. I caught some flak from my hunting buddies for it but I didn’t care, she stayed warm. Hypothermia is nothing to play around with. A guy I know who lives in Florida but was up near us hunting nearly had his dog die that morning from getting too cold.

Our dogs down in South Florida are definitely more acclimated to survive the surface of the sun than sub 30 air temps and water temps in the 50s. It would be tough. Hell... I fell out one year in Arkansas after I took my gloves off for a little while. I can't shoot with gloves on and took them off for a while in single digit temps. It was sub zero earlier that morning. Needless to say I don't function well at all in cold weather and succumbed to heat loss through my hands of all places.

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My dogs vest keeps her wayyyyyy warmer than without it. She also gets dried off and sits behind full cover, but that vest definitely keeps them warm. Like ol boy said above, when you stick your hand in that vest, it's warm

When I wear a jacket, I'm warmer, regardless if it is "tailored" to fit me perfectly. The same thing applies with an animal. I personally use all the methods described here. I dry my dog off, put a jacket on her, keep a heater on her, keep a pad under her, etc. not only does all that protect your dog, but a happy dog that isn't miserable is going to give you better and more consistent retrieves, just like staying comfortable and warm results in more consistent success when hunting, imo

Before I got a tailored jacket for my dog, the non tailored one still kept her from shivering. That was my experience with it

Well my dog has a pretty big neck. And is shaped generally like a summer sausage. He fills up both ends of that vest pretty well. I don't think there's going to be a lot of water exchange every time he's in and out of the water. It should work pretty good.

If I would have known about the stuff I would have. I've caught hell for being such a puzzy in the cold weather.

One time I drove an hour to the ramp and the temp was in the 50s. The temps were supposed to be in the upper 70's by midmorning, so I wore shorts because I didn't want to cook in my waders. Got to the ramp only to realize my lab drug them out of the boat (Probably pizzed because he realized he wasn't coming). I manned up and froze my sack off that morning.

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Yeah, it doesn't get super cold down here, but last year it got stupid cold for us down here. A few days it was in the teens and about a week it was in the 20s. Breaking ice was something unknown to us before this past season. After those freezing days, I ended up putting a lot more into trying to keep my pup warm and comfortable.

That's cold af lol

So his double XL showed up. It was still a struggle to put on. Took me and my wife to get it on. One to pull it together and the other to zip it. Will it stretch out?

Also he is not too thrilled to be wearing it. Maybe because it's a little too tight.

I have used the mushers on my labs the stuff works incredible . I also use it in last winter hiking the Adirondack mountains in cold temps

He should get used to it in time bro

It was hard to get it on my pup at first and now she knows if i put it on her we are going hunting, so she is well behaved and happy when I pull it out and let her wear it. In time, your pup will attribute it to something positive and it will be easier to put on him/her