Ice, Ice Baby!

Brrrrrrr it's cold out there! I stupidly didn't look out the window this morning before getting ready for our morning constitutional at 6:45am so opened the front door into the pre-dawn darkness and stepped into a slippery white mess! The snow and sleet which fell last night was now a half inch sheet of ice.

I have some steps I need to get down to the garden path so rather than go back in and hunt for my ice grips I decided to let Cora off her lead and trust her to take her time and not run ahead. Thankfully she remained at my side as I held tight to the railing and slowly descended the few steps, and I'm glad I never risked keeping her lead on, her pulling, and us both ending up a**e over elbow!

Once we got back in I picked up the ash bucket and scattered the wood ash on the steps, the path and driveway (while wearing my ice grips of course!) so our subsequent outings today should be slip-free, at least until we get out down the lane.

It got me thinking though - For those not fortunate enough to have fields, dirt tracks or forests within spitting distance from their front door, how do you deal with this kind of weather when taking your dogs out? I'd particularly like to hear from those with less than perfectly behaved pooches, or puppies in training! How do you stay safe on untreated pavements/roads?

Let me hear your wise words for winter!

Hi Ash, I am so lucky in that I in the far south and although it is frosty this morning we have nothing like your weather yet

Your post reminded me of when I was a child. You know even down here we had weather like you're describing then but not now. Global warming?
Anyway, my Father always spread the ash bucket over the path and steps We haven't even got a fire now so not sure how I would get on!

Take care, we don't want any broken bones!

Hi Ash I think I am lucky in that I live on a no through road which goes into the fields so it doesn't get very slippy. The draw back is the mud carried by the tractor tyres which goes everywhere. There is always something, You can't win can you

Hi folks! I am also relatively lucky in that our lane leads into a small paved street, from which I have maybe 100 metres at most until I reach the open park and woodland which runs behind my house (wish the OH would let us knock part of the garden wall down and put in a gate!)

The ice today was nothing like it is likely to get later into the winter. Certainly it wasn't as bad as the worst icy moments of the last few winters when we got down to about -20C here. When it's really bad that 100 metres could well seem like a mile, even without a dog!

The snow is fun though, so long as your cupboards and freezer are well stocked, 'cause the cars can't move for days. I do remember though, seeing people bringing groceries back from the town on kids sleds!

I chuck them in the car which is parked on the drive and then drive to the country park, open the boot and side doors and off they go. We then do the same in reverse to come home, no leads involved at all. We live on a hill and the drive is also sloped so we always have salt and grit in the garage just in case.

I fortunately live on a road that has no pavements so I always walk on the grass verges when its icy, but on the road if its not. We have 20 acres of fields all around us which is great except they all lead to rivers!

I have to go over one single lane road bridge though and last year for the first time in the 17 years we've lived here someone decided to salt the bridge and the roads approaching it. I wasn't happy as it meant walking the dogs over salt/grit which can dry up and make their pads sore. It meant that I was having to wash their feet when coming back from a walk Hopefully it won't get salted this year. I'm down south so the weather is rarely as bad as up in Scotland etc.

With Rocky I would let him out in the garden first - where he would have a crazy 5 minutes running up and down the garden, hopping over the patio wall etc

Edit: Moved pics to the thread: Pictures of your dogs in the snow! to save hijacking this one

Then once he had got all the excitement out of him we would venture out. As the roads are quieter in the snow, and most dogs are more fascinated in the snow than anything else (so less aggro) it wasn't so bad.

Re slipping, the good thing about a big dog is they can just pull you along

Awww such beautiful photos Azz! I can't wait for cora to see her first proper snow! I'm a bit of a smothering mother with her at the moment always scared she'll hurt herself careering into something if she slips on the ice.

We've been training her to ring a brass bell to let us know she needs out to do her business, otherwise I would have let her just go in the garden.
We still differentiate at the moment by always having a leash on her before we open the door if she hasn't rung the bell. She's pretty good at it to be honest, but sometimes in the morning she seems more concerned about getting her brekkie than doing the loo, and I like to feed the cat before we go out so she can eat in peace while Cora and I are either in the garden or a short 10min walk round the field. Cora then gets her brekkie, I get my brekkie, and then I catch up with emails when Cora takes her post brekkie nap! It's a dog's life indeed!

Thanks for the kind comment about Rocky - I love that second photo of him, his personality really shines in it - for me anyway.

Hey that's a really good idea re the bell! I think I am going to use that for my next dog Tho... I hope there won't be any danger of it being abused, by thinking I'm the butler or something

How has the cat adjusted to Cora? It took Cheetah ages to ages used to Rocky.

What lovely pictures of Rocky in the snow Azz!