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[noof_]

You may want to get the muttluks anyway. The salt is an issue for doggie/cat paws.

Here's a new discovery ...

Noofdog has no problem going in the snow. The entire yard is fenced, so she has free reign to go wherever she likes. Not a problem with snow-covered driveway and nonessential walkways ... until the snow melts.

Guess who had poop scoop duty after school today?

[iomhaigh]

Muttluks, or else wash her feet when you get back into the house.  The ice-melt that gets used is really bad for them. 

And, yes, shoveling the lawn. 

You might also be able to train her to go on command. 

Here's one article of dubious provenance, but the concept works
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/dog-training-bathroom-on-command-204070.html

[noof_]

You might also be able to train her to go on command. 

Here's one article of dubious provenance, but the concept works
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/dog-training-bathroom-on-command-204070.html

My dog goes on command. She will go wherever/whenever I ask her, which comes in handy when traveling. Of course it only works when she actually has to go.

She was trained to go in a certain part of the yard before I moved. In the spring I will attempt to train her to use an area at our new home. I hope it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks.

[titian]

A former coworker bought these after I gave him a catalog, and was really pleased with them:

Muttluks Hott Doggers
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=13539

Easy on/off with velcro, non-skid soles. Where they lived in town, lots of salt was used on sidewalks, and it was pretty irritating to the paw pads.

[john_proctor]

Salt is, indeed, hard on a dog's feet.  It's one of the worst "dog walking sins," I think.  Right up there with walking a puppy-adolescent too far on a hard surface (people, they're barefoot.  They need time for the pads of their feet to toughen up.  It's best to have doggie walk on natural surfaces for any length (and puppies shouldn't be walked for that much of a length.  In some breeds, their hips are not finished developing - tendons and ligaments getting tight and all that - for some 6 to 8 months.  You can actually do soft tissue damage that will lead to later life arthritis).

People also assume that, because they have "boundless energy," they can go from relatively sedentary to mile + long walks/runs without any buildup/ conditioning and without later soreness.

They can't.  They'll make the walk and seem to have fun, but dogs are very good fakers about physical pain and discomfort.

I have a command I use for the dog, too, when I take him/her out just to use the bathroom (they sometimes want to explore, particularly if a stray cat or raccoon or the like has been in the yard).  I've got a "stop fooling around; hurry up and pee, damnit" command.

[gayle]

My dogs will more or less go on command. 

The little dog is especially obedient on this matter - I just call her name and ask if she needs to pee/poop.  She kind of cocks her head at me and stares quizically for a moment, as if saying "Actually Mom, I do.  How'd you know that!?!"  And then trots over to her favorite spot and goes.  It's wicked funny.

[infopri]

I've tried to train my three to go on command, with some limited success.  Perhaps I'll try the treat-based training that was suggested in the article iomhaigh linked to.  (Thanks, iomhaigh!)  Perhaps that will work better than lavish praise.  (The praise worked well for the rest of their training, but perhaps peeing/pooping on command is a more challenging trick.)

[marlborough]

I have the oppisite problem--the little ones pee the second they hit the cold air and then they run inside for the heater.  The Jack Russell, however, is dangerously impervious to heat, cold, noise...and thinks that snow was put on earth for her tunnelling pleasure.  I have to drag her out of deep holes in snowbanks before she freezes (it is -20 by now at night up here in the Great White North).