Ice (as in Freezing Rain) and Labs Don't Mix

Our winter storm brought more snow followed by freezing rain again this week. Yuk.

And the canine crew doesn't like it one bit. Frankly, ice-crusted snow breaking beneath their feet hurts. Shards of frozen rain poke into their pads like blunt tacs do our bare feet. And, as if that weren't bad enough, when the snow doesn't break beneath them, they have to endure the Bambi-splay slipping factor (think Bambi and Thumper on the frozen pond).

Poor Rudy pulled a Bambi-on-ice yesterday -- completely splayed like directional points on a compass. That's because he's a pup (4.5 months old now), and he's too light-weight to crunch through the ice crust, and his joints and ligaments are loose and oversized with puppy growth, so he's still puppy-clutzy. Bless his little heart -- the sweet little guy was stuck all splayed out like that and didn't have a clue what to do (no, I did not take a picture of his wipe-out; I was focused on rescuing him).



Rescue him I did, of course, and then he was fine -- romping where the big dogs had crunched up the snow so he could get traction.





Ice can be treacherous for Labs, just like humans (think of my 85 yo mother who slipped on ice delivering cookies to her neighbors and broke her hip this Christmas Eve). It's something we don't think about because Labs are such hearty souls. But despite their adaptability and intelligence and willing-to-try-anything robustness, we still need to look out for them.

I forget sometimes.

Then they remind that they, too, have limitations, and they, too, need us every bit as much as wee need them.

Sometimes they figure it out for themselves, though. Instead of romping on ice now, our Rudy-Puh-Too-Tee, smart pup that he is, has decided he'd rather stay in and chew on my snow boots.




What an imp. Sweet imp. But an imp all the same. And a completely lovable imp at that! (hehe)

Who could resist those oversized ears and big brown eyes? (My how he's looking like Elsie these days!)

That doesn't mean he gets to chew up my boots, though. He kept them only long enough for me to take a picture or two. Then I swapped the boot for a nylabone -- something with which he was quite happy, thank you very much.

Besides, ahem, I was only looking out for him, as I'm supposed to do. Eh?

'Til next time,
Joan