It has already been one of the wildest Chicago “summers” in a while, and to call this past season a summer may even be overstating it. Lots of rain. Fluctuations in weather. Storms. We have a lot of strange weather here, but these past few months have still been quite different.
Which is why it’s crazy to realize that the colder months are just around the corner.
Our winters – and even our falls – can get extremely cold. Even on days that they’re not cold, they can be pouring rain. One week you’re doing a normal thirty-minute walk around the block, and the next you’re standing at the door in three layers, staring at a wind chill in the single digits, while your dog stares back at you like today is exactly the day to skip it.
We talk at length about how important it is to give a dog exercise. That doesn’t change just because the weather is cold.
Dogs still need to move their bodies and their brains through a Chicago winter, even on the days when skipping it feels like the easier call. The good news is that a full workout doesn’t have to mean a full walk outside. Between shorter, smarter outdoor sessions and a handful of indoor options that genuinely tire a dog out, most dogs can get everything they need even on the coldest weeks.
Know Your Dog’s Tolerance Before You Plan Anything
Every dog handles cold differently, which means there are some dogs that are more than happy to go for a brisk walk even when it is near freezing cold outside. Veterinary guidance generally treats 45 degrees and above as fine for most dogs, 32 to 45 as a reason to shorten things for puppies, seniors, and thin-coated breeds, and anything below 20 as genuinely risky for smaller or short-haired dogs.
Keep in mind that wind cuts through all of these numbers fast, so a windy 25-degree day off Lake Michigan can act far colder than the number suggests.
Coat and size drive most of the difference. A Husky or a Bernese Mountain Dog carries a double coat built for exactly this weather and can often outlast its owner outside. A Chihuahua, a Greyhound, or any small, short-coated breed loses heat fast and has less padding to protect paws and belly. Watch for a dog lifting its paws off the ground, shivering, or pulling toward the door, all signs it’s ready to head in regardless of how the walk was planned.
Outdoor Exercise That Still Works in Winter
Still, your dog is going to need exercise. But how can you exercise them when it’s barely warm enough outside for you?
Cold weather doesn’t rule out the outdoors. It just changes what a good outing looks like.
- Break One Long Walk Into Several Short Ones — Three ten-minute walks spread through the day give a dog nearly as much movement and mental stimulation as one thirty-minute walk, without asking anyone’s paws or lungs to handle extended cold in a single stretch.
- Let Cold-Tolerant Dogs Play In the Snow Itself — For breeds built for it, snow is enrichment, not an obstacle. Running through it, digging in it, and chasing a ball thrown into it all demand more effort than the same activity on flat, dry ground, which means more exercise packed into less time.
- Use a Fenced Yard for Quick, Intense Bursts — A five-minute game of fetch or tug at a full sprint in a secure yard can burn off more energy than a slow twenty-minute walk, and it gets a high-energy dog back inside before the cold becomes a concern.
- Time Walks for the Warmest Part of the Day — Early afternoon is almost always warmer than early morning or evening in winter, and shifting a walk by even a few hours can add meaningful comfort without cutting it short.
- Use Gear to Buy More Time Outside — Booties and a coat do more than protect a dog from the cold. For a dog who genuinely enjoys being outside, the right gear buys extra minutes of comfortable exercise that would otherwise get cut short.
So, even in the cold, you *can* give your dog significant exercise outside. You simply need to be more strategic about it. Dogs can even enjoy the rain, although anyone sensitive to smells may not agree with you afterwards.
Indoor Exercise That Tires a Dog Out
Still, let’s say that going outside is not possible, either because of your dog breed or because the snow is so terrible you are unable to leave your house. What can you do?
On the days that call for staying in entirely, physical exercise is only half of what a dog needs, and a handful of indoor activities can cover both halves at once.
- Stairs — If a home has them, sending a dog up and down a flight after a thrown toy a dozen times counts as cardio, done entirely indoors.
- A Flirt Pole — This gives a dog the chance to chase, pounce, and lunge the way a walk almost never allows, and a few minutes of it can be more physically demanding than it looks.
- Tug of War — Played at full intensity, tug is genuine physical exertion, not just a game, and most dogs will happily keep going well past the point an owner is ready to stop.
- Hallway or Stairwell Fetch — A long hallway works as a straight sprint lane, and repeated retrieves add up to meaningful distance covered in a small footprint.
- Hide and Seek With Treats or a Toy — Hiding something around a room and sending a dog to find it taps into scent work, which is mentally exhausting in a way that shows up as tiredness afterward.
- A Doggy Playdate or Daycare Day — Time spent playing with another dog covers the physical and social side of exercise at once, and it’s a solid option on days too cold for anyone to be outside long.
However, there is one very important additional technique that is highly valuable to dogs that are stuck indoors: Training.
Ten minutes of sit, stay, recall, or a new trick asks for genuine focus, and a dog that’s mentally engaged tires differently, and often faster, than one that’s only moving. One of the reasons that outdoor walks are so much better than indoor walks is because they provide significant *mental* stimulation, not just physical stimulation. Indoors, you can provide the exercise, but the dog isn’t getting the same sensory information that you get outdoors.
Training provides mental stimulation, helping you fight boredom and give the dog more exercise.
Getting the Balance Right
Most dogs do best with some version of both: a shorter outdoor session for fresh air and a change of scenery, paired with genuine indoor engagement to round out the rest of what they need that day. A dog only getting fifteen minutes outside on a brutal day can still end up with a full day’s worth of exercise by the time bedtime rolls around.
Our earlier piece on how dogs experience boredom goes deeper into what happens when that engagement is missing, cold weather or not. If winter is turning into a season of a restless, harder-to-manage dog, reach out or call Marc directly at 331-286-1174 to talk through what’s going on.
