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Storm days
How to manage bathroom breaks in a nor'easter
A nor'easter is not a snowstorm with a nicer name. It is wind off the water, sideways snow or rain, salt on every surface and a dog that has decided the yard has disappeared. The bathroom break is the one thing that cannot wait for the plow, so it needs a plan.
What you need
What you need: a cleared patch, a leash, a light and towels by the door
The work is done the afternoon before. Pick a spot close to a door on the side of the house away from the wind; a nor'easter blows from the northeast, so the southwest side of the house is usually the lee. Shovel it down to grass or lay a tarp you can pull off later, and clear a straight path. Put a leash, a headlamp, a coat for a thin-coated dog and a stack of old towels by that door. If your dog wears boots, fit them now, not in the storm.
Salt is the other thing to plan for. Ice melt on your own steps should be a pet-safe kind, and the road salt the city puts down is not something you control, so a rinse bowl or a wet cloth by the door is part of the kit. The AVMA's cold-weather guidance is clear that salt and de-icers irritate pads and are worse when licked off, and our page on washing salt off paws has the full routine.
- A shovelled or tarped patch on the lee side
- Leash and headlamp on the hook by the door
- A coat for short-coated, small or senior dogs
- Old towels and a rinse bowl inside the door
- Pet-safe ice melt on your own steps
The method
The method: prepare, time the break, go out on leash, come back and rinse
The break itself is short and boring on purpose. Out the door, to the patch, the cue word you have been using on every walk for years, a treat when the job is done, and back in. Two minutes. A dog that is allowed to wander in a whiteout will not go, and will not come back either; a dog on a six-foot leash with a person holding a light goes quickly because there is nothing else to do.
Timing is the skill. Nor'easters come in bands, and there are lulls between them when the wind drops and the snow thins. Watch the radar on your phone and go during the lull rather than on the clock. Before the first band arrives, take a long break, because the next good chance may be two hours away. Feed a little earlier than usual on storm days so the after-dinner break lands before the worst of it.
- 01
The afternoon before: shovel or tarp the patch, clear the path, stack the kit by the door.
- 02
Before the first band: a proper walk or a long yard break, and an earlier dinner.
- 03
During the storm: watch the radar and go in the lulls, not on a schedule.
- 04
Every break on leash, even in a fenced yard, with the headlamp on and the cue word ready.
- 05
Two minutes at the patch, a treat for the job done, no wandering, straight back in.
- 06
Inside: rinse or wipe all four paws, check between the toes for ice balls and salt, dry the belly and chest.
- 07
Small, old or sick dogs: keep a pee pad or a turf tray in the mudroom as the backup for the worst hours.
Where it goes wrong
Where it goes wrong: the open door, the drifted fence and the salt lick
Opening the back door and letting the dog out alone is the mistake that ends in a search. Dogs lose their landmarks in blowing snow, fences drift over so that a five-foot fence becomes a two-foot step, and a dog that panics in the wind runs the wrong way. In a storm every dog is a leash dog. The second mistake is waiting for the storm to end. A dog held for twelve hours will go on the floor, and then the storm has cost you the housetraining too.
The third is ignoring the paws. Ice balls between the toes, salt from the road, and skin cracked by the cold all show up as a dog that licks its feet at 2 AM. Rinse, dry, check. And the fourth is the deep snow itself: a small dog in snow above its chest cannot squat. Shovel the patch again between bands if you have to; the patch is the plan.
- Never off leash in a whiteout
- A drifted fence is not a fence
- Do not wait for the storm to end
- Rinse the salt every time
The Cape Ann version
The Cape Ann version: wind off the water, salt on every road and the ordinance that still applies
A storm here is a coastal storm. Wind on Eastern Point, along the back shore and on the Rockport line can be strong enough to take a small dog off its feet, and the roads are salted within hours of the first flake, which puts salt on paws well before the plow comes. The National Weather Service in Boston posts the watches and warnings for Essex County; when a coastal flood warning is up, the walk along the Boulevard or Good Harbor is not a walk, and the yard is the whole plan.
Gloucester's dog regulations do not pause for weather. A dog off your property must be leashed, and the clean-up rule applies on a snowbank as much as on a lawn; bag it and carry it home. The same holds in Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea. When a storm changes our day at 210 Eastern Ave, the Dogtown app and the front desk are where we say so; check the app before you drive, and call if you are unsure whether a window has moved. If you rely on the Pup Van, ask the front desk that morning whether the route is running.
When to hand it to us
When to hand it to us: the indoor play floors and a midday break from our walkers
On a storm day that is not a stay-home day, the building is the answer. Dogtown's indoor play floors run when the turf is iced or drifted, the groups stay the same 7 to 10 dogs, and bathroom breaks happen on a schedule with a handler holding the door. A full day is $42 and a half day $33, and enrichment such as the sniff room ($7) or a puzzle game ($7) does the tiring that the yard cannot on a day like that.
For a dog at home while you work, a visit from our walkers, 20 minutes for $25, is a bathroom break with a person on the other end of the leash and a photo and note afterwards. Availability depends on the address and the season, and storm days are exactly when you should ask early. If a dog has been straining without result, is passing blood, or has swallowed ice melt, that is a vet call; out of hours the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn is open all night, and the ASPCA poison control line takes the ice-melt question too.
- Indoor play floors when the turf is iced
- A 20-minute at-home visit for $25, booked early
- Straining, blood or swallowed ice melt: the vet
At Dogtown
Storm-day options
Indoor floors and a handler on the door, a walker at your house at midday, and the enrichment that tires a dog when the yard cannot.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
How long can a dog hold it during a storm?
Is a fenced yard safe for a dog during a nor'easter?
Does Dogtown close in a nor'easter?
How bad is the road salt for paws?
My small dog refuses to go in the snow. What now?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- AVMA cold weather animal safety
- National Weather Service Boston
- Gloucester dog regulations
- ASPCA animal poison control
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Storm outside, dry floors inside.
Book the free evaluation now, before the season, so a storm day can be a daycare day on the indoor floors.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
