Baby, It Was Cold Outside
Well it's no surprise to anyone reading this in New England that we had a particularly tough winter this year. But fresh off my vacay in the Virgin Islands during which most of the snow melted from the parks, I'm more willing to look back at my photos and enjoy them (although I hear word that more of that white stuff is on it way ... Boo!!). And hopefully you will too (click on the photos for larger versions of the images)! Gunner got a new sister! Lola is also a Portuguese Water Dog, although the more traditional black with white. Lola & Gunner get along like gangbusters. They are always running and wrestling. Lola doesn't seem to know or care that she's smaller than most of the other dogs ... She loves to run with the boys!!
The snow got so heavy that the entrance to the woods kept getting smaller and smaller. Not that this created any problem for the pups, but I almost lost my hat a time or two!
Here's a close up of Lola so you can see firsthand how adorable she is. And note how nicely she is sitting! Lola works with our good friend and trainer, Dan Cavalletto. Actually many of my pups (including my own) have worked with Dan. We highly recommend him. Check him out at www.cavcanine.com.
And now for a fashionable post ... Here we have Roger (a Cavapoo) and Thor (a Coton de Tulear) sporting the latest in winter jackets for the fashionable gentlemen. Roger is one of the only dogs I know that actually LOVES to put his jacket on. Thor appreciates his puffer vest for keeping the snow balls off his belly. Both fashionable AND functional!
Remember when I said Lola likes to run with the boys? Well Gus loves to run to me (he's quite the Mama's boy). In this instance, Lola decided to accompany him. This shot was taken right before they bowled into me!
Gus loves the snow almost more than anything else. So needless to say this winter was a veritable playground for him. He was in heaven. Every now and then, I decided to test out how deep the snow had gotten by traipsing off trail. This was at the end of January. So much snow!!!
Even Cali was brave enough to go off the trails! Note that she and Roger have matching jackets ... They are quite fashionable! Cali has come such a long way since she first started coming. What a brave girl she is now!
Sampson appears to have decided to eat his way through the snow. He must be pretty full after this winter! Sampson is a big lab and look how high the snow comes up to on him!
Katie is so pretty but she's not above frolicking in the snow up to her armpits!!
After more off roading, Aslan takes a moment for some quiet reflection. Aslan recently celebrated his twelfth birthday! He keeps me company on the trails and helps keep the youngins in line. Such a good helper!
In this next photo, Katie is demonstrating how deep the snow is using her body. She's an average sized Golden Retriever and all you can see is her head!!
Aslan and I are checking out how deep the snow is. Yep ... It's about thigh high. I'm 5'9" and most of this winter we couldn't go off the trails much because one step off and it was up to my knees. Two steps and it was up to my thigh. Well, some of the smaller dogs, like Gunner, were a little luckier once it got super cold. The top of the snow iced over and they could prance around on top. Show offs!
Cooper loves to roll around in and on top of the snow. And the depth of the snow certainly didn't stop him this winter!! Although in this picture, the extra exertion of getting through the deep snow seems to have gotten to him and he's now using it as a place to rest his head.
Eventually the snow froze so much that even the big dogs could run around on it! Then the fun really began ...
All in all, despite the nasty weather we had a pretty fun winter! I only had to cancel playgroup a handful of times or shuffle around to beat the snow. But we are very glad that spring is on its way. Green fields, running streams and warm sun! Bring it on!!!