Cool! (ha!) It turns out we don’t need to worry so much about our dogs’ feet getting too cold. Researchers have learned that dogs’ feet are specially adapted for cold weather and are similar to penguin wings, dolphin fins, & arctic foxes. The vascular network draws cold blood from the surface of the pads and also rewarms the blood before it continues into the dogs’ core because the veins (carrying cold blood) are running right next too arteries (carrying warm blood) which rewarms the blood in the veins. (thanks Margaret!)
Just because they can withstand extreme cold though, doesn’t mean your dog wants to. And you do need to protect them from other things that might harm their feet like de-icers, etc.
