Animal Welfare Professionals

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Hello all! I started working for a small humane society this past spring in northern Minnesota. I was wondering how folks who live in cold climates deal with cleaning their outdoor dog runs in the winter months?

In the warmer months we have access to an outdoor hose and are able to clean up any messes with a sufficient amount of water. However, now that we are entering the colder months, the hoses have been disconnected to prevent the outside faucets from freezing.  During my morning shift, one of the dogs had gotten sick and had diarrhea all over the back kennel- I was told to just use some buckets and carry water from inside to outside. It took me about 20 trips in and out carrying two buckets each time to get sufficient water to clean the material, disinfect, and then rinse the area.  I suspect other people are not actually cleaning the back kennels in winter because this process was borderline ridiculous. I am also a bit worried that all this water will just ice up and create a skating rink and potentially freezing drains(?) in the kennels once the temperatures really drop (today was warm and mild.)

So what solutions might folks have for being able to properly clean outdoor dog runs in these cold climates?

I am open to any suggestions including bigger upgrades to consider if we were to construct a newer facility for our dogs.  Thank you!

I live in Maine so totally understand the freezing weather. I can clean inside out though so don't have the same issue, however, I would recommend a long flexible hose, connect a few together if you must - hook up to hot water, hose down as you would normally and then squeegie excess water because as it freezes, it will become like an ice rink. 

I have the big thick freezer curtains that I put up around my outdoor runs during the winter to help keep the windchill out and snow blowing in and to keep the temperature a bit warmer than outside, and when the water is freezing as soon as it hits the ground, I have a torpedo blower that I have on to dry the floors of somewhat to make it less slippy.

Something else I do - is I have a floor scraper, a large one and I will just scrape up the frozen pee / poop and put in bags to throw in dumpster - that is when everything gets frozen solid.

Winter isn't fun for cleaning outside runs for sure - good luck.

Jen

------------------------------
Jenny Cope - Fear Free Certified
Exec. Dir./Founder
Give a Dog a Home Rescue
Greater Goods Charities - GOODS Program Ambassador
501c3 Non- Profit Corp, Tax ID/EIN 27-5241306
State of Maine Shelter/Rescue Licence # F1463
State of Maine Registered Charity: CO11334
https://giveadogahome.rescuegroups.org/
------------------------------