If you are stranded in a blizzard with your dog, stay in the car, run the engine about 10 minutes an hour with the exhaust pipe clear of snow, and crack a window while it runs. Carry water instead of relying on snow, and put the leash on before any door opens. These steps come from NWS, Red Cross, and state DOT guidance for people; the dog layer is what changes once the engine is off and the cabin cools.
If your dog is showing signs of hypothermia or you suspect carbon monoxide exposure (unusual depression or lethargy, vomiting, weakness, labored breathing), stop running the engine, get fresh air into the cabin, and call your vet or ASPCA Animal Poison Control at (888) 426-4435 as soon as you have any signal or can reach help.
Stay in the Car. That Part Doesn’t Change With a Dog Aboard
Every authority here agrees on the first move: stay with the vehicle. NWS says it flatly. Wisconsin DOT’s stranded-driver guidance says “It’s generally safest to stay buckled up inside your vehicle”, because the vehicle protects you from both the elements and other vehicles losing control nearby. Red Cross adds why you should not wander off looking for help: you can become disoriented in blowing snow fast enough that even a car 100 yards away can be lost.
A dog has no better sense of direction in a whiteout than you do. A loose dog in that disorientation is at least as badly off, lower to the ground and unable to read a road sign. The car is still the safest place for both of you.
The Engine-Running Protocol
NWS says to run the motor about 10 minutes each hour for heat, and while it runs, open a window slightly for fresh air to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Red Cross describes the same routine, adding that the exhaust pipe needs to stay clear of snow and the window you crack should be on the downwind side. Wisconsin DOT adds that you should run the engine only for brief periods, and make sure the exhaust system is working properly and is not blocked by snow before you do.
Before every restart, dog or no dog:
- Clear snow away from the tailpipe (reach out a cracked door if full exit is not safe).
- Crack a downwind window slightly once the engine is running.
- Run the heater roughly 10 minutes, then shut the engine off to conserve fuel.
- Repeat on that hourly schedule rather than idling continuously.
Carbon monoxide does not check who is a person and who is a passenger. ASPCA’s guidance on pets and carbon monoxide names vehicle exhaust as a common exposure source and states the prevention rule plainly: never run engines in a closed area. A tailpipe packed with snowdrift while you are stopped in a blizzard is functionally that closed-area condition, funneling exhaust back toward the cabin. ASPCA also notes carbon monoxide sits at roughly the density of room air, so a dog curled up low in the back seat is not meaningfully safer than a person up front. If your dog seems unusually depressed or lethargic, weak, or starts vomiting while the engine has been running, stop the engine, crack every window you safely can, and treat it as an emergency, the same as you would those symptoms in yourself. Call your vet or ASPCA Animal Poison Control as soon as you can reach help.
The generators and carbon monoxide guide covers the same CO-and-pets mechanics for a generator running near the house. The stuck in evacuation traffic guide covers the same fuel-as-survival-budget logic for a car stopped for hours in mass-evacuation traffic.
Why Shared Body Heat Is Not the Whole Answer
Red Cross tells stranded people to take turns sleeping, huddle together, and wrap in whatever is available (blankets, floor mats, even newspaper) to trap body heat. A dog curled against you in the back seat helps.
It falls short because a stopped car loses heat. AVMA describes a parked car in cold weather as something that “becomes like a refrigerator, and can rapidly chill your pet”, and singles out young, old, ill, or thin animals as most at risk. That is AVMA’s general warning against leaving pets in cold cars, not written for a blizzard specifically, but the mechanism is the same: for roughly 50 minutes of every hour you are not running the engine, the cabin is cooling.
AVMA also flags which parts of a dog take the hit first: paw pads against cold surfaces and, for short-legged breeds, bellies close to snow and cold upholstery. Short-coated dogs, AVMA notes, “feel the cold faster because they have less protection” than a thick-coated breed. An insulated coat or blanket fills that gap, doing for the dog what your own coat and blankets do for you.
Water: Carried, Not Melted From What Is Falling
NWS’s winter storm guidance says eating unmelted snow will lower your body temperature, which is why survival guidance treats snow as a last-resort water source.
Cleveland Clinic explains that melting snow costs your body more energy, and therefore more internal heat, than the water gives back. Staying warm is already the whole game in a stranded vehicle, so that is a bad trade. Cleveland Clinic also notes that freshly falling snow and the first layer on the ground can carry more airborne pollutants than snow that has sat a few hours.
The same heat cost applies to your dog. Carry actual water, stored somewhere it will not freeze solid against a door or window, and treat snow as an emergency-only fallback.
Tethered Potty Breaks: The 100-Yard Rule Applies to Dogs Too
Red Cross tells stranded drivers not to leave the vehicle to search for help unless assistance is visible within about 100 yards, because disorientation in blowing snow can turn a short walk into an emergency. That guidance is written for people, but it applies to letting the dog out to relieve itself.
A dog off leash in a whiteout can lose the car just as easily. It is lower to the ground, where visibility is often worse, and blowing snow and wind make finding its way back uncertain.
In practice:
- Leash on before the door opens, every time, no exceptions for “it’ll just be a second.”
- Keep the leash short, working length, not the full extension of a standard 6-foot lead.
- Keep the break short and close to the car.
- If visibility has dropped to whiteout conditions, wait for a lull. A dog holding it another 20 minutes beats a dog loose in a whiteout.
If your dog does get loose, the guidance in the car breakdown guide applies: do not chase, do not call out, and sit down and let the dog come to you if it circles back. Pursuit pushes a scared dog further away.
Visibility: Being Found Matters for the Dog Too
NWS and Red Cross both give the same visibility checklist: dome light on at night when the engine is running, a brightly colored cloth (red preferred) tied to the antenna or door, and the hood raised once snow stops falling, as a signal that you need help. Wisconsin DOT adds that the dome light makes it easier for rescue crews to spot you.
None of that guidance mentions pets, but the same logic applies in the moments you and the dog are briefly outside the vehicle, during a tethered potty break or while clearing the tailpipe. A reflective or hi-vis element on the dog, the kind the breakdown guide covers for a highway shoulder and our reflective and LED gear guide covers for the dark, makes a low, easily overlooked shape more visible in poor light.
Build the Winter Layer That Lives in the Car
The gear that helps is whatever is already in the car when the storm hits. A short list that earns permanent space:
- An insulated coat or blanket sized to the dog, doing for them what your own coat does for you once the cabin starts cooling.
- A self-warming or reliably powered warming pad, matched to what your vehicle can support without draining a battery you need for the next engine restart.
- A jug of water plus a collapsible bowl, stored separately from anything that depends on the engine running, and somewhere it will not freeze solid against a door.
- A leash clipped somewhere accessible, not buried under the rest of the kit, so it is on before any door opens.
- Copies of ID and vaccination records that do not depend on a phone with signal, in case a dog does get loose.
To build the fuller list by scenario, use the pet emergency kit builder. The pet emergency wallet card covers the ID half of that last line.