We gotz SNOW! (photo heavy)

[izzysmom]

Yesterday a snowstorm decided to blow through the area, and by the time I got home from work a fair bit of the cold fluffy stuff had accumulated. I took the dogs out to the local field and Izzy had a blast, flying through the drifts after his toy. So this morning I decided to take them out again, but this time toting my camera in the hopes of snagging a few shots. Below is what I got (amazingly hard to take pics too, when one is wearing 15 layers of clothing and mittens that make one's hands enormous). Warning: I took a lot...

First, Kaya sporting her Christmas present (poor girl shivers now when it's esp. cold - today is -30 deg.Celcius with the wind chill today):







Izzy, woofing for his disc



And playing with the disc...wheeeeeee!

























Snow-face







And finally, I took some pics of Izzy doing some herding. He actually comes in handy because Kaya, at 15, has lost a fair bit of her hearing. So whenever she starts to wander off I say, "Izzy...bring Kaya!" and point...and off he goes to bring her back. Works like a charm.


Giving the command



The chase is on!



Catching up



Blocking



And bringing her home







Well done, Izzy! LOL...I am always so tempted to say to him, 'That'll do Izzy...that'll do'.

[only-borders]

Very nice, that'll do Izzy, good job.

[Tassle]

Aww - looks fun

[GreensMom]

These are great photos! I love that Izzy brings Kaya back for you.

[Oenoke]

Looks like Izzy had fun in the snow. I think Kaya was trying to go home to the warm!

[trickytrip]

You have some fantastic January contest shots is there!! And it is always appropriate to say "that'll do" to a BC who has done the job correctly.

[izzysmom]

Thanks everyone! Oh, Izzy had a blast...and yep, Kaya decided she'd had enough and was headed home when I sent Izzy after her. (As you can tell from the last pic, she doesn't take so kindly to being herded from a young whipper-snapper, but she's all bark and no bite when it comes to the Izzter. ) We did leave about 5 minutes later though, as it was bitterly cold outside. My hands were frozen and Kaya was starting to shiver, despite wearing a coat. I just got back from getting groceries (another proud moment over Izzy...I can now leave him uncrated for an hour or so and he is actually good!) and it hasn't warmed up at all. ugh. Yep, as I said in another thread...I hate winter; but must admit, it's tolerable when I'm able to watch Izzy having so much fun in the snow.

Oh, January photo pics...I never even thought about that! Will have to pick one out and submit it.

[SpeckledBC]

Love this photo Your other dog is super cute

[bensmom]

Great pics. Kaya is identical to my Ginger, (Carolina dog), who I lost around this time last year. Thanks for sharing the pictures. mary ann

[Hollythebc]

Great photo's, i love the 10th one and the 19th one too.

[Toddsmom]

Love them all! Though I'm not too keen on snow, I sure do love seeing snow pictures! I love how Izzy bring Kaya back to you! And that'll do will always work when he's done a good job! Though Kaya doesn't much appreciate it, it is a very handing way to keep her safe! Gives Izzy a job, keeps her safe...what more could you ask for? Looks like Izzy absolutely adores the snow!

[izzysmom]

Quote:Love this photo Your other dog is super cute

Thanks! The golden dog is my old girl, Kaya. She's an Australian Cattle dog mix and has been with me for eons. I got her when I was a volunteer dog walker at the Humane Society...hadn't planned on ever getting another dog, but when I met her it was strange, like I literally 'recognized' her spirit somehow. And she reacted the same way to me. Yet even after meeting her I still wasn't convinced about getting another dog...but then I learned a few months later that Kaya was being considered for euthanization, as they were going to rule her as 'unadoptable' because of her separation anxiety and other dog issues. There's no way I was going to let that happen to her and so decided to adopt her. And I had a heartstopping moment on the Monday I went in to say I wanted to take her, because when I got there she wasn't in her cage, and I thought they had gone and done it. Can't begin to describe how I felt in those few minutes, literally sick to my stomach, but then as I was walking out toward the door - the dog room was shaped like a large 'U' - I discovered her, moved to the very last cage before exit. And so (after an argument with staff who didn't want me to take her because my son was away at the time and couldn't meet her first, argh!) they finally relented and she went home with me. We've been together ever since.

Quote:Great pics. Kaya is identical to my Ginger, (Carolina dog), who I lost around this time last year. Thanks for sharing the pictures. mary ann

Oh, I'm so sorry about your Ginger...it really is so hard when we lose them, isn't it? I'm dreading that day with Kaya. She turned 15 at the beginning of last fall, so she's getting up there in years. And while she seems to be in great shape (aside from a few fatty tissue lumps, a bit of arthritis and a fair bit of hearing loss), I also know how quickly a pet can go downhill. I lost my big grey 16-year-old cat two years ago, very suddenly; he was fine in the morning when I went to work, but when I got home I found him disoriented, walking in circles. Rushed him to the vet who determined that he either had an inner ear infection or it was a brain tumour. Took him home, sat up with him all night trying to get him comfortable - despite the meds he was put on, he still was reacting - and by the time morning came he was extremely light-sensitive, and had developed a 'twitch'. So I rushed him back to the vet's and made the decision to humanely end his suffering. It was just so fast...I didn't have time to prepare for it. But he was a great cat - he too, like Kaya, had a pretty amazing rescue story - and I really am so grateful that he was with me for as long as he was.
I do have to ask about your Ginger though...what is a Carolina dog? I've never heard of that breed. (lol...I'll google it and see...)

Quote:Great photo's, i love the 10th one and the 19th one too.

Thanks! Turns out the last one is my favourite too. That snow stuck to Izzy like glue, and he didn't even notice. (Actually I kind of like the shots too where the snow is rimmed around his eyes...makes him look like he's wearing white glasses.)

Quote:Love them all! Though I'm not too keen on snow, I sure do love seeing snow pictures! I love how Izzy bring Kaya back to you! And that'll do will always work when he's done a good job! Though Kaya doesn't much appreciate it, it is a very handing way to keep her safe! Gives Izzy a job, keeps her safe...what more could you ask for? Looks like Izzy absolutely adores the snow!

What I find amazing is that I didn't really teach Izzy to herd Kaya, beyond pointing (repeatedly at first ) and telling him to go and bring her back. I guess he knew what I meant because I always tell him to 'bring' his ball when I toss it for him...but the herding part is pure instinct with him. It's been very handy, because in the past I've had to go chasing after Kaya whenever she's decided to go wander off and explore - often she can't hear me calling her, but I'm also convinced that despite her audio difficulties, much of it can be selective hearing. So now I just send Izzy after her; he lights a fire under her bum and gets her moving back toward me.
Oh yes, and he adores the snow! Doesn't notice the cold at all, and rolls around in it, snowplows through it headfirst, just has a blast. It's more entertaining watching him at play than anything you can find on tv.

[cyman1964uk]

Lovely pics of two beautiful doggies. The shots where there's snow spray everywhere are the best for me - show how much fun they're having (or at least Izzy's having)!

How deep is it there? Will you be expecting any more? Still none here

[jossiemarie]

awww there is meant to be snow headed our way but I doubt it will get as deep as yours, I love the pick of izzy rolling in the snow too cute

[izzysmom]

Thanks Simon and Jossie Marie! Simon, I would guess that the snow here is probably around 16" or so (or about 40 cm....after all these years I'm still not used to Canada converting to metric). We've only had two real snowfalls so far this season (the first was on Christmas Day); we got quite a bit of accumulation the second time around. However, it doesn't come anywhere close to what we got hit with in 2008. To give you an idea, here's a picture I took of Kaya back in '08 one morning in the backyard. The fence she's next to is 6ft high at the top; the snow that she's sitting on is how deep it was throughout the backyard. And we still received more after that pic was taken. I forget now how many cm we came to setting an all-time record for snowfall, but it was very close...maybe 5 or 6 cm off overall. That was the year snowplow drivers were in their glory. We'll be getting more before this season is over, that's a given...but thankfully not nearly as much as we got that year.