Winter
How to Go Outside on a Winter Day in Minnesota
If you live somewhere the temperature never gets below 30 F, this article is not for you.
Minnesota winters are beautiful from inside your house. The sunlight sparkles on the black ice that makes up your driveway. You can watch the lake “breeze” catch snowflakes and hurl them into unsuspecting wildlife. All while you sit in a comfy chair drinking hot tea.
At some point, we have to go outside. We look at the temperature, factor in the wind, and end up whimpering softly. It’s going to hurt. It always hurts.
How does one prepare to walk the dog when it’s 10 degrees with a 15-MPH wind? What do you wear? What do you tell your brain to get it to allow you out the door? How do you protect your dog, especially if your dog is like our dog and loves winter so much he can’t contain his joy?
Let’s start with preparing yourself emotionally. You are going into this knowing your eyes are going to freeze open, snot will run down your face into your scarf, and every time you breathe it will feel as though you are dying. But your fight or flight mechanism is screaming “DON’T DO IT.” You have to do it. There is no way to prepare yourself emotionally. Just suck it up.
Now, what to wear? Contrary to the internet, Ugg boots and a puffer jacket are not going to help you. Here’s how to dress for a 10-minute dog walk on a typical winter day in Minnesota:
A long-sleeve tee or turtleneck, a thick sweater (cotton or wool), flannel-lined jeans or khakis (or you can wear long underwear under a regular pair of slacks), a thick pullover, a fleece vest over the pullover, very thick socks, lined boots with pants tucked in, a very warm scarf tied around your neck and lower part of your face, a lined wool hat that covers your ears and forehead, lined mittens. You may want to put spikes on the soles of your boots.
And yes, after you do all of this, you will have to pee.
Protecting the dog is pretty easy, but it depends on what kind of dog you have. If you have a Newfoundland, there’s really nothing to do, except put a little Musher’s wax on the paws. If you have a small dog, you may want a coat. If like us, you have a dog who runs at cheetah speed through the woods, the park, lawns, and everywhere else, Musher’s on the paws and ears, and let ’em go.
We used to try and get Jasper to wear a winter dog coat. He hated it, so he’d purposely run through a thicket and the coat would rip right off. Then he would bound back out, panting and smiling, as one of us tried to retrieve said coat. We gave up.
Protect your skin, even the inch that’s exposed to the elements. Vaseline and Aquaphor are brilliant to slather all over after you apply sunscreen. Wear sunscreen. Yes, you’re only going outside for a few minutes, and yes, the majority of your skin is covered. Wear sunscreen.
You could move somewhere warmer, but do you really want people to know you caved to winter in Minnesota? That Minnesota beat you? Or do you want to be able to pound your heavily-lawyered chest and gasp aloud from underneath your scarf “I am stronger than a Minnesota winter!”?
No! Remember the Norwegian settlers who came to this land of ten thousand lakes and said “This looks exactly like what we left behind, let’s stay.” Those brave pioneers lived in little houses on the prairie, they didn’t have snowblowers or heated roofs, and they suffered! There were no remote starters for your horse and buggy, there was hypothermia and frostbite, and entire families slept in the same bed for warmth.
Surely we can handle a 10-minute dog walk wearing pretty much everything we own.
