With the coming of spring, the dogs and I have been enjoying the warm weather. Warm weather means more walks, which the dogs are extremely excited about. Especially since it means warm-weather walks go towards some of their favorite things - you guessed it - water.
Even if there isn't much water, just mud, they need to stop and examine it - and sometimes roll in it. Raiju especially seems to love rolling in everything.
On one of our walks, looking to see what wildflowers were starting to bloom, both dogs took off running, which was confusing since I hadn't seen any rabbits, and they normally stay rather close. It only took a minute to figure it out though. The recent rain had restored one of their favorite places - a large mud puddle. Needless to say, by the end of their play, both dogs were rather covered in mud, and I was damp from their shaking.
I always have to keep an eye on the dogs on our walks, as they like to explore everything. This includes getting far closer to ravine edges than I'd typically like, or deciding to scramble down an area I would not want to travel, and then simply turning around and running back up as if it were no effort at all. Once in a while they realize that they can't figure out how to get back up right away, which means they have to run around for a bit before finding a path up to wherever I am. Thankfully they seem to know where it is and isn't safe to scramble, and always emerge unscathed.
After the walks, it's time for the dogs to recharge their energy.
Warm weather also means spring outdoor chores. For me, that included repainting our swing set. This can be challenging, especially with the winds out here. But I found a calm day, and got to work... only to realize I hadn't thought about one other challenge - my big white dogs, who don't like not having access to me.
I quickly discovered that my painting would need to be even more careful, so that I wouldn't accidentally end up with spotted or red dogs. If they weren't standing against the swing set to reach me, they were laying down beneath me. At the end of the day, I had to accept that there was only so much care I could have taken, and that a few small spots on their back and tail (since they had to wag it through the paint...) were the best I could hope for.
And now for the news I know you are all waiting for. Assuming all goes well, we are expecting a litter of pups at the end of May. I will be posting much more regularly once the puppies are born, so you can all enjoy watching them grow up. Feel free to subscribe to this blog if you want an email notification the minute I post about the new pups!
コメント