Hi, every time I have gone into the BWCA in the winter I haven’t encountered much slush since I go early in the winter. This time I have an 8 day trip planned a little later than normal for me and my dog at the end of February (correction/edit January). I’m concerned about the amount of slush I’m hearing about on the lakes. I called up Hungry Jack Lodge and the nice lady there told me that they’ve gotten reports of 12” of slush in nearby lakes. So my concern is that it looks manageable for a human, but I’m more concerned about for my dog since she’ll bust through the snow and more than likely be walking in the slush the whole time and would she come home with all 4 legs in good working condition?
So my question is for those that go when there’s slush on the ice, do you worry about bringing your dog and what precautions do you use?
Thank you, Josh

Spring, summer, and fall I would not think of going up there without my dog, but I leave him at my sister's for winter trips. Slush is certainly a component of that decision, but overall he is just not a great cold weather dog. Just doesn't spend enough time outside to build up a great coat.

It sounds really bad up there right now, but a lot can change in a month. If it stays bad, however, you might want to consider not taking him. For a dog that isn't use to it, walking around in 6+ inches of slush for some time sounds hard on their feet.

Thank you Jaywalker for your thoughts on this. I wish it was easier for me to leave her behind, but after all these years I've come accustomed to if my dog cant go, than neither can I. Because I have no experience with her and slush in very cold temps, and cant find any experiences of others dealing with slush and there dogs I think we may end up canceling it.

I was a little clumsy with my typing. Were suppose to head up at the end of January, in a little less than 2 weeks from now. At this point I'm a little hesitant to go. I'm concerned that the ice will form on her feet and legs causing damage to her. Shes been out in a couple of -40F overnight trips with me before cold tenting, but the slush is new to us.

Do people use dog booties to get around this problem? I wouldn't think Mushers Secret would help in this situation?
I wonder how the sled dogs deal with it? Or are they just that kind of breed that slush even when it freezes to there legs doesn't cause a problem? I'm guessing that most sled dog teams don't deal with slush that often after they get a solid trail built up, so maybe its a short lived problem for them.

Wait till like March and depending on additional snowfall the slush may be frozen up.

I thought about sled dogs too. There's a musher or two on the forum - maybe they will pipe up. I know I've seen videos of them in slush or crossing open rivers, but mostly they are on hard packed trails. They also have very high metabolisms cranking through up to 10,000 calories a day so they probably can just deal with brief periods of wet feet better than most dogs. The booties are mainly there to prevent ice balls from forming between the toes. I'd think in slush they would get immediately wet and possibly even fill with water making things worse - but thats just my assumption.

Like Pinetree said, maybe its just a matter of waiting and hoping. Looking at the forecast, I doubt the slush will get lots better in two weeks. Two other thoughts if you are determined would be to either stick to an established trail which should be hard packed even if there is slush in the area (provided your dog will stay on the trail), or try skirting around the edges of the lake rather than crossing. That would add a lot of distance, but might help you get there. Good luck.

Thanks guys for your thoughts. I called up to Hungry Jack Lodge on Sunday and they said the slush is still very bad. There hearing complaints everyday about it. I spent part of the weekend looking for doggy rain boots, but I couldn’t find any that I thought were good enough or tall enough so I think I’m going to postpone going. For me it’s hard to go in March because it’s already warming up in the cities and then my body has internally changed to spring thinking, so maybe now we’ll have an extra week for a summer BWCA trip, we’ll see. But thanks again for your insight.
Josh