Wow! Another Christmas has come and gone. Here in Black Creek, Wisconsin we received over 16 inches of snow in a season opening blizzard. That makes things difficult for managing the property. Driveways and paths have to be plowed, kennels shoveled out. Shortly after that, a dose of freezing rain left us with a hard, slippery shelf that I hesitate to let dogs run together on.
Tom and I decided to go for a stroll around the property on snowshoes. His are much bigger, the traditional warden snowshoe and worked better on the surface. I have the small ,light weight metal version and they broke through slightly and I ended up following in his wake. We took Quinn along for the walk and even watching him I worried, as he would travel well on the crust and then break through. It made me very happy that I didn't have two dogs racing around with abandon and injuring themselves. The Quinnster was grateful for the opportunity to take advantage of the adventure; perhaps a little too much so! He would routinely turn around, wind up and run back to pummel me, or to throw himself at my feet, ON my snowshoes for a belly rub. Hard to resist!
Ridley, my newest stripey addition (Dutch Shepherd) had her own outside time. Cooper FINALLY got tired of having her harrass him when he tried to pee, and he ground her into the snow. She is none the worse for it. I want her to experience a Quinn correction but will have to wait for better weather. She loves the snow, as well.
She has one very bad habit, which I observed when I picked her up at the breeder... she is a shit eater. This is not an attractive quality and I had been successful at avoiding the issue by picking it up in her pen or correcting her physically, but with my shoulder injury and Tom being in charge of getting her outside, she has had too much unsupervised outdoor time to play with frozen turds. Sorry for the graphic nature, but that's the way it is. This is a horrible habit that can be eliminated by keeping the puppy area picked up but now I have to deal with it.
The hoar frost made a winter faerie land that could not be ignored. To be able to walk in such beauty is something that can not be underappreciated. To live in, and be able to share it with people and dogs that you love is a blessing. This is the beauty of the world that Christ gave us, a shining celebration of His birth.
