Snow Dogs!

[Tracy A.]

A stormfront move into the Cincinnati area this morning, and it's been snowing pretty well for about 5 hours here. This is our first decent snowfall of the year, and being the Cairn Mom I am -I'm in Photo Shoot Mode... They boys have really only seen snow a few times, and last year at that.

We go out into the back yard, and all is going well, I have them on their Flexi leads with Harnesses.... getting lots of cute photos- They are having a ball.

We head into the front yard and they go into Tracking mode on a set of tracks in the front (I'm not sure what it was, perhaps a deer or a large dog)

We had back into the back yard, they walk towards the pool patio which is large.

Before I go any further I have to say a few things-

1- They boys are never in the backyard without being leashed/Harnessed-

2- This summer we are fencing in the in-ground pool, as we complete our fencing project.

3- I've taken the boys around the pool leashed for over a year now... in fact we didn't open the pool this past summer- Neither has ever showed any interest, and i've made a point of not letting them set foot on the tarp/waterbags and have corrected them....for over a year now..... With all this said, they have seen the pool with water on the cover, and slushie snow/water mix sitting on the cover.

Mettwurst for no apperant reason Leaps into the pool. As I am freaking out, Hauling him in via the Flexi Leash...he is swimming like nothing is going on. Happy Dog....

I get him out, he want's to jump back in. Now I'm dragging him inside, he is soaking and wanting to play in the snow some more. I'm thinking he'll go into hypothermia. He didn't want to come in. Poor Bratt didn't understand...

I've dried Mett off, and set him infront of the fireplace and lectured him. ( Like it's going to do any good)

I am in What If mode.... What if the Harness broke, What if the water bags didn't hold the tarp inplace... What If... What if...

This ends the debate Steve and I had about how to go about introduing the boys to the Pool this summer when we open it and swimming lessons...etc...at least for Mett

I'm thankful that the back yard is large enough that I can keep them away from the pool area for the rest of the winter.... Until we get the fence up this spring. I swear, these little dogs have given me more gray hairs....

[Toby23]

Oh you poor thing, I'm suprised you heart didn't just up and quit ! Last weekend I was at my brother's house and he has a pool and twice the ball Toby was chasing went into the water, and I was fishing out the ball with the net, praying that Toby wouldn't go in after it !

[mrskti]

traci, i got both dogs the life vests. Dori doesnt go in the water alone, she'll only step out onto me while i'm floating on a raft....where Ellie Mae is a dang fish! SHe swims so quietly, she sneaks up on us at times, scareing the crap out of me. And you can hear Dori coming a mile away, she is not an elegant swimmer by any means!!!! But I digress....get a couple of the life vests, they're very reasonable and will take the worry out of it for ya.

[Scully'sMom]

Mettwurst for no apperant reason Leaps into the pool. As I am freaking out, Hauling him in via the Flexi Leash...he is swimming like nothing is going on. Happy Dog....

I get him out, he want's to jump back in.

I'm betting Mett's thinking - so what's wrong with this - it's FUN Mom!!!!

I would have had a heart attack right on the spot. These little ones are fearless - I'm glad everything turned out well.

As an aside, everytime I see Mett and Bratt's names, I think you should get a third one - Liverwurst! (DUH - guess you haven't heard that one before)

[Eliz222]

Mett and Bratt are soooo cute! I'm glad everything turned out ok!

We were in the hot tub a few days ago and Finch almost jumped in! She didn't get a good start, thank goodness, and didn't try it afterwards...whew! They are fenced in on our deck and they love coming up to us for "kisses", but they have never tried to jump in...until now. Yes, they do give us grey hair! LOL!

[Darcy's Folks]

Oh no!!!! I would have gone gray too over that!!! I'm glad everyone (except for your hair) turned out alright!

[Tracy A.]

traci, i got both dogs the life vests. Dori doesnt go in the water alone, she'll only step out onto me while i'm floating on a raft....where Ellie Mae is a dang fish! SHe swims so quietly, she sneaks up on us at times, scareing the crap out of me. And you can hear Dori coming a mile away, she is not an elegant swimmer by any means!!!! But I digress....get a couple of the life vests, they're very reasonable and will take the worry out of it for ya.

Hi Terry- Last spring I bought two life vests for the boys, but since we didn't open the pool last year we never used them. I may upgrade, I saw a better style one in the UPCO catalog recently. Thank you for the suggestion

As an aside, everytime I see Mett and Bratt's names, I think you should get a third one - Liverwurst! (DUH - guess you haven't heard that one before)

I had always thought that if we got a 3rd dog we'd name her Knackwurst or Jagerwurst (Jager in German loosely means Hunter)- My husband Loves Liverwurst and feeds it to the boys all the time.... But I think Two is perhaps my Cairn limit.... I fear 3 may do me in.

[Nikki]

We live about half an hour from cincy so we got lots of snow last night also my two were pouncing on it like they were catching the snow!!!

I couldn't even get them to come inside at all! I had to tell them I had cheese like three times before they would come in!

[OzGirl]

I'm glad it all turned out okay (except you need some more hair dye). The water must have been freezing cold, makes you wonder how he was having fun.

The pics are great, looks like they were having a blast before the swim.