Mischief Monday - Not As Much Fun As You Would Think

Several weekends ago (before the big sickness), I had the bright idea that I would take the 2 dogs alone snowshoeing. I did this before, but that is when we were trying Zaphod off leash (until he showed us we couldn't 100% trust him to stay with us, although he always came back). It was a nice day (-8C/17F   -15C/5F  with the windchill) and I thought it would be a good way for us all to get our exercise. The Man wasn't interested so I set off to try it (in the safety of our yard).

Problem one: I forgot to put Hailey in her harness meaning she was able to really pull.

Problem two: Hailey was so excited to be out there she just wanted to play with Phod and they kept getting tangled around me.

Problem three: When we actually started walking toward the deep snow, it became clear that neither of the dogs were thrilled with this choice of activity.

Problem four: While Hailey was pulling, Phod was trying to get out of the hard work of walking by walking behind me, which meant he kept standing on my snowshoe. It is hard to keep walking with a 70 lb dog on your "foot".

Problem five: They kept stopping in front of me to look around (and I think hope I would turn around) and I kept having to try and coax them to go forward.

Problem six: With all the stopping and starting and them going in front and behind, we kept getting tangled up. We spent more time untangling ourselves then walking.

Overall, none of us had a very good time. We were all thrilled to be back in the house 20 or so minutes later. We were all exhausted. The snow was deep and we did go up and down the hill. I know we will try this again, both on harness. We will likely stay in the yard (because I know we can get home from there). I will see this last adventure as a work in progress! Now that winter is fortunately all most over, it will be something to work on winter 2016-17.

The snow is starting to melt! Spring is on the way!