Good Morning, all,

I'm getting my Sibe, Kingsley, at the beginning of January. He will be 8.5 weeks old at that point. We live in New York and have a pretty spacious yard.

I've had no trouble house training my other dogs (and cat!), but I was living in South Texas at the point, so I never had to consider what kind of impact a snowy environment would have in the training process.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience house training their dog in the snow. I haven't been able to find too much information on the subject.

Do you know if it's basically the same thing as normal house training? Will he be able to smell is past eliminations or should I use a used towel to kind of encourage the desired spot?

I dunno. Help!

I house trained Cally in the snow. I did the exact same thing that you would normally do when you housetrain- take them out every 1-2 hours, after they eat, sleep, drink, play, run around and including throughout the night every couple hours. Same process just colder As long as you stay consistent and lots of praise, he'll get it

Hello!! I am in the same exact spot as you!! I am getting my pupp first week of january.. I dont have him yet but i plan on just going about it the same way.. I think its no different for the dog really just yourself.. Aslong as we stay consistsnt and still take him out even during snow storm it shouldnt change his or her training.. Its just more of us wanting to go out in the cold than them.. Plus they are huskys they love the snow.. Thats how i am thinkig of it but again i dont have him yet i could be wrong.. Goodluck to the both of us lol haha

Yeah it should pretty much be the same as just training in the summer months, or at least it always has been for us.

my only rule of thumb for puppies and winter climates is based on how cold it is out.


If I'm uncomfortably cold in a big sweater (read hoodie) then my puppy probably is too. I limit the amount of time they spend outside to the minimum on those days. They can more then likely handle it fine, I just like to be 100% sure in those cases.

After they get a bit older its really no problem at all in my book... and We've gone out in snow storms.

Neither rain nor snow nor sleet will keep my huskies off their feet.


Apart from that one thing to keep in consideration is Road or Rock Salt. Puppy pads are tender and before they callus over they can cut or break easy, especially in the cold. Huskies have fur between them allowing them to limit that but it can, and does, still happen.

If your area over salts for the winter months, like ours does, or you place it down instead of sand on your walk or deck or anywhere you might get a whinny pup from time to time. It's not going to do any real damage to them at all, but salt can at times cause some pain.

Just something to be watchful of If you're coming from an area that didn't have a lot of snow in the past .

~Chris~

As everyone else said, it's the same thing. The one thing you want to do is make sure to have your dog get used to multiple types of surfaces to pee on. My brothers pup was also adopted in the winter and as the snow melted, would hunt down the remaining areas of snow to pee on since she was confused and unused to grass or gravel! LOL It's good practice to get your pup used to walking on various surfaces, anyhoo - definitely get a puppy book to see how you should socialize your pup the first few months, it's so important!

Robinhuskylover2231 wrote:

I house trained Cally in the snow. I did the exact same thing that you would normally do when you housetrain- take them out every 1-2 hours, after they eat, sleep, drink, play, run around and including throughout the night every couple hours. Same process just colder As long as you stay consistent and lots of praise, he'll get it

Great! Thank you. I was hoping that the snow wouldn't affect their training too much.

Ericobeasto wrote:

Hello!! I am in the same exact spot as you!! I am getting my pupp first week of january.. I dont have him yet but i plan on just going about it the same way.. I think its no different for the dog really just yourself.. Aslong as we stay consistsnt and still take him out even during snow storm it shouldnt change his or her training.. Its just more of us wanting to go out in the cold than them.. Plus they are huskys they love the snow.. Thats how i am thinkig of it but again i dont have him yet i could be wrong.. Goodluck to the both of us lol haha

Best of luck to you! I advise you to read up as much as possible. This forum is a great source for real life advice as well as a very active way to receive help and criticisms. One of my favorite husky blogs is www.shibashake.com.

Tika wrote:

Yeah it should pretty much be the same as just training in the summer months, or at least it always has been for us.

my only rule of thumb for puppies and winter climates is based on how cold it is out.


If I'm uncomfortably cold in a big sweater (read hoodie) then my puppy probably is too. I limit the amount of time they spend outside to the minimum on those days. They can more then likely handle it fine, I just like to be 100% sure in those cases.

After they get a bit older its really no problem at all in my book... and We've gone out in snow storms.

Neither rain nor snow nor sleet will keep my huskies off their feet.


Apart from that one thing to keep in consideration is Road or Rock Salt. Puppy pads are tender and before they callus over they can cut or break easy, especially in the cold. Huskies have fur between them allowing them to limit that but it can, and does, still happen.

If your area over salts for the winter months, like ours does, or you place it down instead of sand on your walk or deck or anywhere you might get a whinny pup from time to time. It's not going to do any real damage to them at all, but salt can at times cause some pain.

Just something to be watchful of If you're coming from an area that didn't have a lot of snow in the past .

~Chris~

We live in a small town that has a lot of grassy wooded areas. The streets get salted but my yard won't.

hollywoodhuskies wrote:

As everyone else said, it's the same thing. The one thing you want to do is make sure to have your dog get used to multiple types of surfaces to pee on. My brothers pup was also adopted in the winter and as the snow melted, would hunt down the remaining areas of snow to pee on since she was confused and unused to grass or gravel! LOL It's good practice to get your pup used to walking on various surfaces, anyhoo - definitely get a puppy book to see how you should socialize your pup the first few months, it's so important!

We have a couple great dog parks in town:) Thanks!