Winter pet-safety tips

• Use pet-safe ice melt on your paved surfaces.

• Never, ever leave any antifreeze where dogs can get to it.

• If you need bundling up, so does your pooch. If you need serious bundling up (like a snowmobile suit when you're not going snowmobiling), leave your dog inside except for quickie potty treks.

• Before any extended time outdoors, give your dog lots of water.

• Keep outdoor treks with old, young or ill dogs short and sweet.

• Always have an ID tag on your dogs; if they get away, they have a hard time tracking their way home because of the snow cover.

Chemicals: After any outdoor trek, check and clean any bootie-less dog's feet with a warm damp cloth. If the paws show any signs of irritation, apply some petroleum jelly on the spot.

Hypothermia: If your dog is shivering and/or lethargic after a few minutes back home, put him or her under a light blanket and call your vet. By the way, not only are young and old canines susceptible, but so are females that recently have had puppies and dogs with little hair on their underbellies.

Hyper from being stuck indoors: Physical play is great, but so are mental lessons and training. Also, if your dog is active, he'll burn more calories in winter and needs about 10 percent more food to compensate.

• Windchill is more important than temperature.

• Clothing is not optional in many cases.

• The biggest threats are frostbite, hypothermia and deicing chemicals on the ground.

• Dogs need a good bit of water before an outdoor sojourn.