Working Dog Question

I am the proud owner of a young, male Bernese Mountain Dog. BMD's are "working dog" breeds and I am a true believer that whatever a dog was genetically bred to do, it should do it.

I make sure my Berner gets plenty of cart pulling time, off leash walks not to mention the three times a week we visit the local nursing home and spend some time with the seniors there..and many other daily car rides that lead to new places.

The problem is lately, the northeast winter has set in and my time outside with my Berner is limited. He is definitely feeling the boredom. Today it is 10 degrees with 30 mph winds. This will probably continue until late February.

Will this decrease in activity dampen Bodi's working dog spirit? He looks so sad, even though he gets tons of love from us. Does anybody else have this problem?

hes prolly just bored just try and keep him a bit more entertained. When we arent hunting Tytus gets so bored and drives us nuts. We just have to make sure he gets more excersice.

Keep him entertained inside? If I can't do as much outside time with my BCs I do more inside fun.

Take him outside then, he has a thick coat I'm sure he won't mind.

Izzy (corgi) lives for below freezing temps
Sometimes Frodo (also corgi, lol) decides that he'd rather stay at home on the couch, but we still go hiking through the woods/running at the park no matter the temp or they drive me nuts!

If you can stand the cold, by all means take him outside for those activities he loves. He's got a very good coat on him.

Try bundling yourself up and getting some booties for Bodi. Coated dogs are a lot more tolerant of the cold than we are.

Whenever the weather is bad, like it is right now, I just put my cattle dog on the treadmill. He loves it. I also put my chihuahua dog on the treadmill, he appreciates not having to go out in the cold to run lol.

Why not continue the "carting" outdoors by using a small child's sled rather than a cart?? If you cant stand the temps then there are many indoor activites you cold do too. Dont worry his spirit won't dampen for work Sibes get the summer off from pulling because it is too hot. Come autumn when the temps drop enough to pull the cart or ATV out, they are just howling for the chance to run again!

How hot does it get in your part of the world? I see teams out with carts or ATVs in the summer here.

Thanks everyone. The problem with the cold is me, NOT Bodi - he can come and go as he pleases via a dog door in our kitchen. He chooses to stay outside pretty much all day during these zub zero temps. Me on the other hand can handle about ten minutes outside then I'm done. Today (-1 degrees) I took Bodi to the dog park (no one there but us) and took a very short walk, then off to PetSmart for some meet and greet.

I just love his working dog spirit and would be crushed if I had somehting to do with ruining it.

not OC but it can get up in the high 90's low 100's with high humidity. Heck it can get to hot to do agility, I can't imagine an endurance sport with a heavy coat.

I don't think down time is going to hurt his working spirit, but in order to keep yourself sane, you need to find some kind of outlet for him when it's cold. If it were me, I'd bundle up, and go about your business like it's any other day. When I take Gunnar to our working club, it's rain or shine, cold, heat, whatever. I have a lot of weather appropriate clothes. I just bought some ski bibs for when it gets really cold, and I use underarmor and all kinds of layering to be able to move freely but stay warm. We're outside from 8am to noon, so even if it's zero degrees, you have to be ready to go. Of course, Gunnar loves the cold and will spend more time outdoors now than in summer.