Outside in the winter

[Marcb2g]

Just like most huskies Nyko loves to be outside, its starting to get cold and im thinking about leaving him outside most if not all the day and night. Recently when I try to call him in his just lays down in the yard and looks at me as if he want to stay out. Here are the Questions?

-Will he be ok? gets down maybe to 25-30 degrees (F) at the worst in my part of North Carolina.

-Will he finally grow a winter coat? (he will be two on the 26th and his coat has always been the same)?

-Also Nyko's coat has always been smaller to the point where people ask me if I shave him where is his husky hair, alot of people say it because he is inside all the time and his body never needs a winter/thick coat so it wont grow.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

are you sure - he could just be a short haired husky - both mine are inside most of the time and are still fluffy

if you want to leave him outside tho - i would suggest you get him somewhere he can still go and get shelter/warmth if he wants it, and make sure your garden is secure so he cant get out and no1 can get in

[valkyries]

agree with nix my girl as a short coat, she's 4 years old soon. Some just have short coats, my boys have long coats i let them stay out most of the time and would all nite if i could but as my girl as a short coat i wont let her xxxxxx

[Kells xx]

i agree with nix too

daughtry and darwin are short coated and i wouldnt leave them out all unless they had somewhere secure and warm to go.....mine love the cold weather too and have to be bribed back in after walkies

[carriebyrne]

i agree with nix too

daughtry and darwin are short coated and i wouldnt leave them out all unless they had somewhere secure and warm to go.....mine love the cold weather too and have to be bribed back in after walkies

my vet told me nikos coat is short because he insists on sleeping underneath the radiator! and freaks it if i put him out, i have just bought a kennel so trying to teach him to sleep there for a least part of the day and hopefully then he will sleep out at night eventually

[Marcb2g]

Guess he might be a short hair husky then , I wanted to see him all big and fluffy one day. If I try and leave him out one night ill be shore to have a nice size dog house filled with some type of insulation for him. I know ill be checking on him all night, I can't help my self; if he's standing at the door ill just let him in.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

you got pics of him?

[sutsibe]

Guess he might be a short hair husky then , I wanted to see him all big and fluffy one day. If I try and leave him out one night ill be shore to have a nice size dog house filled with some type of insulation for him. I know ill be checking on him all night, I can't help my self; if he's standing at the door ill just let him in.

The nice thing about short coats is that they're much easier, usually, to care for! It's usually easier to groom them out and a longer, super-thick coat is more likely to mat up. I would build a flat-topped dog house (so he can lay on top of it, which they often do - just make sure it's positioned in a place where he can't use it to go over a fence or get into other mischief!) that you can remove the roof from, and fill it with cedar chips - generally no need to add insulation! We used to build them from a single sheet of plywood - I think that they were about 2' wide and 4' long. Make the base of 2 x 4s, and a frame inside of 1 x 1s to add stability. With a couple of small pieces of 1 x 1s on the bottom of the top, it will hold the lid nicely in place so that he can jump up and down without the top of the dog house moving around, yet it's easy to take off and clean out or add bedding in. Cedar chips are nice - they repel fleas and other bugs, and they make the dogs smell nice! Plus, they're relatively cheap and easy to remove and replace as they get wet or soiled.

[Marcb2g]

you got pics of him?

pics posted

The nice thing about short coats is that they're much easier, usually, to care for! It's usually easier to groom them out and a longer, super-thick coat is more likely to mat up. I would build a flat-topped dog house (so he can lay on top of it, which they often do - just make sure it's positioned in a place where he can't use it to go over a fence or get into other mischief!) that you can remove the roof from, and fill it with cedar chips - generally no need to add insulation! We used to build them from a single sheet of plywood - I think that they were about 2' wide and 4' long. Make the base of 2 x 4s, and a frame inside of 1 x 1s to add stability. With a couple of small pieces of 1 x 1s on the bottom of the top, it will hold the lid nicely in place so that he can jump up and down without the top of the dog house moving around, yet it's easy to take off and clean out or add bedding in. Cedar chips are nice - they repel fleas and other bugs, and they make the dogs smell nice! Plus, they're relatively cheap and easy to remove and replace as they get wet or soiled.

Thanks for all the great info, think ill give it all a try once I get home; I think he will like it.

[taz291819]

At 25-degrees he's fine. Heck, you're in NC, the lowest it'll get this season is possibly 15-degrees, and he'll still be fine. If he likes it out there, let him stay. Though I agree with what was said above, make sure he has a dog-house with either cedar chips or hay to get into, just in case.