Ready To Run

Get this pup off my treadmill!

Although Argus is not being actively campaigned this year, we try to keep all the dogs in good condition.  I like to think that my house dogs could go from sofa to show ring, with only a bath and perhaps whisker trimming.  I keep them all at the correct weight, and they get walked every single day.  Even when the snow is deep and the temps in the deep freeze, the dogs still get walked, if only around the block.  After I broke my ankle last year, Argus had to use the treadmill for real exercise, but Ron took over and walked him around the block everyday.  It's important for both their physical and mental health.  Trotting is the appropriate gait for conditioning a Dalmatian, especially for showing.  Heavy duty running is fun, but doesn't really develop the long easy trot that is a Dalmatian heritage, the one that allowed him to go with the horses for 8 to 10 hours a day.

Argus found a prize last night, a pound of butter still in the wrapper.  Must have dropped from someone's grocery bag.  I let him keep it and he carried it home with him and buried it in the snowbank at the corner of the block.  If I had called him to me and he had tried to hide what he had in his mouth I'd have known it was his favorite find, a cigarette pack!

Took my first fall on the ice last night but no damage done other than a slightly sore wrist this morning.  After the broken ankle ice event of last February, I have vowed to be extra careful, and fortunately the roads have not been very slippery this year.  I managed to find a bit of ice last night and am reminded that I need to wear my the ice grippers on my boots.  They aren't perfect but they help, and Ron Always wears them in the winter when walking dogs.  I find they slow me down, but another broken ankle would slow me down a lot more!

Chicken & veggies in the crockpot overnight, so the kitchen smells heavenly.  Broccoli salad in the fridge too.  I felt domestic last night, must have been the weather.