It’s getting colder out there by the day, which makes it harder to go for my daily walk.
I’m trying to exercise more and eat healthier these days. The only problem is that when my feet get cold, the cold just seems to go right through my whole body and I never seem to warm up.
The human body is not built for the cold.
Dogs, on the other hand, have apparently adapted well over the millennium to the cold. I didn’t know this until the other day when I was out walking, and happened speak to a woman who was out walking her dog.
I commented on the cold weather and happened to query if her dog minded going for a walk on such cold days. She told me, in fair detail, all about an article she read concerning dog’s paws and their whole circulatory system, and how they have adapted over time to surviving outdoors in the cold of winter.
According to a recent study published in the journal Veterinary Dermatology (which I was able to find on the Internet), the internal structure of dogs’ paws is constructed to help prevent their feet from freezing while outdoors in cold temperatures. Though the pads of dogs’ paws may lack the warm fur that covers the rest of their body, they posses a built-in, intricate heat-transfer system that serves to immediately warm blood cooled by exposure or contact with snow and ice.
Dr. Hiroyoshi Ninomiya, of the Yamazaki Gakuen University of Tokyo, Japan, and a team of scientists that used electron microscopes to observe the feet of domesticated dogs, found that within the footpad, each dog had veins that were extremely close to arteries.
This closeness of the veins and arteries ensures that heat is able to be conducted from the circulatory system to the area that is experiencing cooling.
In more simple terms, as a dog steps outside and its feet begin to cool down rapidly, the heart is able to pump warm blood to the feet quickly by utilizing the artery that is in close proximity to the neighbouring veins in the footpads.
This unique circulatory adaptation ensures that dogs do not freeze, as the blood is warmed up before returning to the body.
This evolutionary circulatory system adaptation does not exist in humans. In order to venture outdoors in the winter, we humans must rely on warm footwear, plain and simple.
Now take something like the traditional kamik or mukluk worn by the Inuit, which utilized up to five layers of seal or caribou skin, depending on temperature, to cope with the snow, ice and freezing temperatures of the far north. It worked and still does, not that you see too many people wearing the real thing.
Modern footwear, by contrast, can be made of a plethora of natural and/or manmade materials to protect and insulate one’s feet from the elements. The stores are full of boots of every description. Some are good, some are but a fashion statement. All I know is that a good pair of winter boots should be waterproof, have good traction and fit well.
The problem with having to buy winter boots is that good ones are expensive.
One cannot help but envy the circulatory adaptation of canines.
Anyway, I think I’ll head on over to thrift store and see if they’ve got a pair of real leather Sorels kicking around. Up until 2000, they were made in Canada for Canadian winters, with leather uppers and felt liners. Add a pair of heavy wool socks and you’re set for winter. If not, I can always start saving up for a new pair.
Maybe I can put them on hold and buy one boot at a time.
Either way, I don’t plan on heading outdoors this winter without proper winter boots.
