MINNEAPOLIS — The coldest air of the season has arrived and while it may get some people down, the cold does make some perk up.
This bitter cold weather makes a lot of people hunker down, opting to stay inside — but not everyone.
“When it we get a fresh fallen snow or some such, they come out and they are so happy. It’s like a kid in a candy shop. They just want to play and play and play and chase each other. They are so happy when they’re outside. The colder it is, the happier they are,” Wendy Graham said.
Graham is the proud owner of Sky the Husky and Merlin the Samoyed.
“They’re such a joyful breed. They’re, they’re hard-working. They’ll do just about anything you ask of them, and they’re hardy,” Graham said.
Dr. Christa Troye with the Kelley Animal Hospital says the dogs have special adaptations or are bred to be in cold weather. They have a double-coated fur coat, where the undercoat acts like insulation
“They also have padded feet and padded fur around their ears for extra protection,” Troye said. “The furry feet are something to protect the paws… There’s just a lot of insulation down there too. But on the underside, we will flip the paws to make sure they look healthy and that they’re not carrying snow and ice in there if they’re outside for a while. Then this bushy tail collects things like leaves and ice. There’s a lot of grooming involved with these guys, but it does keep all of their skin that could be exposed variously. There’s inches of fur there that cover him, so he’s good in this weather for a little while.”
Man’s best friend helping you cope with the cold a little better.
“I think they helped me get outside, and they helped me see the brighter side of winter and the beauty of winter and just embrace it a little bit more than I normally would,” Graham said.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
