If you live anywhere near the Duluth area, you know it’s been a very cold winter for sure! We had our first big snowfall over three days in December leaving us 33″ of new snow, that’s a lot of snow to deal with at one time! Cold weather always follows snow storms in the northern region and it dropped quick.
When it’s -10F at night we load all the dogs in the dog trailer, so they can share heat in adjacent cells. It gets up to 70F in there, nice and cozy which helps them hold weight better. Last year we only loaded the dogs a handful of days, the normal Februay -20F snaps came and went and that was about it. This winter, we were loading 2-4 times per week over a handful times. It seems like the dogs spent half the winter sleeping in the trailer.
We are 100% off the grid, no power, no running water. Our wood shed was emptied by the end of February, four cords of wood burnt up in our wood stove. When the temps get down to 5F or colder, you have to have a fire burning constantly otherwise it gets cold quick.
Full Wood Shed
On the training side, it’s been great! The dogs really perform well at -25F to 5F above. The cold temps allow them to run all out without overheating.
Living up north builds character, that’s for sure!
[…] The statistics do not lie, since we have moved here just two years ago we’ve had the most snowfall both winters! Not to mention this year was the coldest winter ever recorded in Duluth. […]