With overnight temperatures getting down to the teens this weekend and daytime highs below freezing, it’s a good time for some safety reminders for our furry friends.

Veterinarian Dr. Mark Peters of Jefferson Veterinary Clinic reminds dog owners to keep their canines inside when it’s extremely cold out. However, if your dog needs to be outside, make sure they have insulated shelter and a plugged in water dish to keep water from freezing. With some snowfall predicted to happen this weekend, Dr. Peters offers this advice when applying snow or ice melt to your property.

“If you have that on your own sidewalk and your dog goes out and licks that, it’s possible to get salt toxicity, that can happen. The more likely scenario is if they are on that a lot it’ll dry out their pads and their feet. But just walking across somebody’s sidewalk on a walk probably isn’t going to be a big problem, but continued exposure would be where you want to pay attention to that.”

Dr. Peters adds to be on the lookout for possible hypothermia with dogs, with the main symptoms being severe shivering.