Melting snow walk

I took Max and Maya both out to walk today.  I generally keep Max strictly indoors like Maya, not because he's a fence climber like her, but because he gets overstimulated in the outdoors unless he's on a leash.  In the dog yard or pasture he tends to go into his tail spin routine.  I do take him out there with other dogs occasionally, but he gets most of his exercise on leashed walks with Maya.

The sun was shining for much of the morning and early afternoon and the snow was melting fast.  I decided to venture out onto the trails.  It was tough walking and slow going.  There was still probably at least 8" of snow on the ground, and now it's wet and heavy.  It finally occurred to me to connect the leashes behind my back and let the dogs provide some of my forward momentum.  That was helpful, especially when going uphill.  We did three miles but it felt more like 10.  Max and Maya enjoyed it and we even spotted a couple of deer in addition to many deer tracks.

Adventures don't always have to be in the wilderness.  There was something very satisfying about walking my dogs in pristine snow, untouched by all other than wildlife.  The dogs loved it.  The snow provided a clean slate of scent.  They sniffed every deer track and could probably identify each individual deer.  Noses were busy.

This is Max jumping after a snowball that I tossed
to  him.  He thought it was like any other ball.

When the snowball landed, however, it became
indistinguishable from the rest of the snow.
Max didn't know what to do, bless his heart.

Two roads diverged, but being covered in snow, we could not discern which was the
road less traveled by; Maya said "go left", and that made all the difference.

At the bend in the trail where Maya is looking
there are two deer, who stood frozen until I
yelled at them to move.  The picture to the right
is a close up showing the deer.

I saw them before the dogs did because the deer were
frozen.  I stopped to take a picture and then yelled to
move the deer out of the way before the dogs really
focused in on them.  The dogs responded when they
moved but not much before that.

Deer spotting

The stream was partly frozen but it's only
ankle deep anyway, so we crossed.

Making it up to Maya

Several people noticed that Maya was conspicuously absent from the snow dog pictures from the last few days.  The reason for that is that I do not let her out to the pasture or even the dog yard any more.  She hangs around for a bit but then climbs the fence and goes off on her own.  Worrying about that dog has aged me like a straight man with teenage daughters and I just decided I didn't need that level of stress in my life.  Dogs are creatures of habit and Maya has gotten used to it.  I make it up to her with almost daily hikes (which are good for me too), and taking her with me wherever I go, whenever possible.

The snow put the hiking on hold so I needed to make it up to Maya.  Clay went to work on Sunday so Maya and I drove with him to the brewery in Scottsville.  I helped shovel the sidewalk in front of the brewery and then hung out for a little while.  Maya and I came back home but we went back later in the afternoon and stayed until closing.

Monday afternoon Maya and I went up to Pleasant Grove for a walk.  The roads had been plowed, once anyway, and they were pretty walkable.  I tried venturing off the road onto the trails, but the snow is still very deep and made walking very slow and laborious.  I soon decided to backtrack and just stick to the roads in the park.  We did about 2.5 miles.  Maya spotted deer tracks in the snow and wanted to follow them, but I convinced her to stick to the roads.  It wasn't very far and it wasn't very fast, but it was one-on-one time doing something that we both enjoyed and that makes her happy.

 

Sun and snow

There's nothing prettier than a sunny day after a heavy snow.

Lola and Commando

Theo and Commando

Commando watching Lola and Theo down the hill.

Lola

Commando

Max (with log), Trooper and Commando

Gigi had no use for the deep snow.

Max

Trooper playing with Commando

Lola and Theo playing tug with his basketball

Theo dug that ball out of the snow and he knew just where to find it.

Lola and Theo (left), Max (rear) and Commando and Trooper (right)

Theo the Great

Reluctant snow dogs

Jasso was not at all bothered by the snow.

The forecasted snowfall has been considerably downgraded, and no one in this house is complaining about that.  It's still snowing today, however, and the wind is really blowing so there's not a lot of enthusiasm for going outdoors to play.  Vince looks worried and goes outside frequently to check on things, but he isn't staying out for long.  Jasso will get up and go outside whenever I open his crate, but he doesn't wander far and is happy to come back in.

Vince seems to worry about the snow
like he worries about a lot of things.

I thought that Commando would surely want to play in the snow, so after breakfast this morning I took him out to the dog yard with Theo and Trooper.  Theo was the most excited about it, and Trooper wanted to romp in the snow a bit too.  Commando played with them for a bit, but as soon as I went back into the house he wanted to come too.  In fact, he climbed over the dog yard gate a couple of times to get back to the house.  I was somewhat surprised, given his youth and the fact that he's always lived as an outdoor dog until coming here.  I guess that now that he's had a taste of the easy life, he's found that he likes it and has no desire to go back.  Can't say that I blame him.  He may be smarter than he appears.

Commando and Trooper

Jasso checks out places where he might find
food, regardless of the snow.

Commando and Trooper

Theo was the most excited by it.

The snow is light and dry but I've been shoveling the
boardwalk frequently for the dogs and for me.

Trooper (rear), Theo (middle) and Commando

Theo and Commando

Commando and Theo