Like the rest of us, my dogs spend more time inside in the winter. Since two of my dogs have to be on a leash for "outings," I have to be out there with them. My trips outside tend to be as brief as possible when it’s really cold.
I’ve noticed though that there seems to be a minimum level of canine sniffing that must transpire on any excursion outside. My theory is that the "sniffies" inside get boring, so outside all kinds of exciting smells must be inspected and catalogued before we can return to the house.
As a human with an inferior sense of smell, I refer to all this canine olfactory activity as "dawdling." I can accept some dawdling, but my acceptance declines in proportion to the temperature outside. If it’s a lovely sunny day, I can be patient with a bit of dawdling. (You could make the argument that the human is dawdling herself, avoiding returning inside to work.)
However, when the temperature drops, dawdling activities must be curtailed. In fact, I think that Leia may even be starting to realize what the "no dawdling" command means. The concept is sort of abstract for a dog, so I don’t really expect her to know what I mean. Undoubtedly, she’s probably really only responding to my tone of voice. But maybe she really does get that "no dawdling" means, "get on with it; I’m cold!"
Or maybe not.