Aussiedoodles (and probably all doodles) have a complicated relationship with snow. First, they absolutely love it. I’ve never seen my dogs as excited as when we get a bunch of snow. They run around the yard in pure ecstasy, frolicking and playing, and then they walk around eating it.
The bad part is when they are done with their time in the snow and it’s time to come inside. Aussiedoodle fur is thick and long (unless you keep it trimmed really short. which we don’t) and collects snow like crazy. It attaches, clumps, sticks. It is really hard to get off.
It’s bad enough when it’s on their legs, but in deep enough snow these clumps will form all over their bodies. It takes a vigorous rub down with a towel and sometimes a dog brush to get the clumps of snow out. We can never get all of it, though, so sometimes you just have to wait for it to melt or them to lick it off. Our house gets very wet.
My advice if you’re taking your doodle to snow is to trim him or her down as much as you can beforehand. Sure they will be colder without the heavy fur, but you can dry them off and warm them back up a lot faster. A nice waterproof coat is also helpful to keep the snow out of their body fur (but won’t do much about the legs!). We have two different coats for our dogs – one is a RC Venture Outwear Fleece Lined, Water Resistant Dog Coat – it’s a nice little jacket, it is not waterproof so not the best for downpours but handles a light rain just fine and works well enough to keep snow off of their fur. The other is a Ruffwear Overcoat Fuse Jacket Harness Combo which is a really great dog coat. First it has a back and front leash attachment point, so I don’t need to put a harness on the dog underneath it. It blocks water very well and covers the dog more than other coats I’ve tried. It has pockets for storing extra dog poop bags or whatever else you want to bring on a walk with you. It’s a really sturdy jacket and I highly recommend it – it’s worth the price.
aussiedoodleadventures.com 