It's A Long One...

This one took me a long time to post, partly because it took a while to get through the 400 pictures I took the Sunday it snowed. There are only a few pictures here, relatively speaking...

The three pups and I left early Christmas Eve morning, heading west to see the family. Lunch was with Mom, Ronnie, and Josh and his crew. Kodiak stayed in his crate while he was in the house, and looked like this for most of the visit.


Kodiak did go outside and enjoy his semi-freedom at the end of a 30 foot leash, although he really didn't know what to do about the fact that my niece was often holding the other end.

Dinner was with Dad, Krysti, Ganna, Aunt Merrill, and Josh and his crew. The pups all enjoyed the chance to run around the pasture for a bit. I only let Kodiak run free for a few minutes before putting him back on the long lead. I still don't trust his recall, and I didn't want to risk losing him in the woods.

Christmas Eve was very stressful for Kodiak, but he must have realized he wasn't going to die, because he was much more relaxed Christmas Day. We had a romp in the woods (Kodiak on the long lead) before breakfast, and then headed out before 8am to get back to Raleigh. For the first time, Kodiak actually sat up and watched the world around him, rather than curling into a ball on the passenger seat. He wasn't thrilled when we passed big trucks, but he was much better than he'd been the day before. He even walked a few steps at the rest stop, rather than completely shutting down.

Prior to Christmas, I'd apparently lost my mind and agreed to babysit (for a fee) a dog from the 26th through the 30th. I ended up getting Daisy after work on the 25th because of the bad weather. Daisy didn't seem to appreciate the humor, but I thought Reyna's initial response was pretty funny. She bounced up to Daisy, obviously doing the "Hi, my name's Reyna, and this is MY HOUSE" routine, right before she put Daisy on the ground. Luckily for everyone, Daisy was a very submissive 35lb girl, and was content to spend most of her visit hiding in her crate. She did try to play a few times, but she was very unhappy when she discovered that she couldn't outrun Duncan. Kodiak harassed her quite a bit, but by the last day, they were playing like good buddies. As long as Duncan and Reyna didn't get involved.

I had to work Sunday morning (and did not enjoy the slow crawl to the kennel before daylight), but it was still snowing when I got home. We ended up with 7 inches by the time it finally finished Sunday afternoon. The pups and I had a great time playing in the snow, and I just loved watching Kodiak bound through drifts that were higher than his stomach. I particularly like this photo, because even though the pups aren't grouped together, I think it gives a pretty decent idea of the conditions.


To make life a bit easier on me, I grouped the photos together, rather than keeping them in the order taken.

Here are a few of the pack playing together.





Reyna playing with Kodiak.



Duncan playing with Kodiak (love the one with all the teeth).






Reyna and Duncan playing together.






Moving on to the individual shots...

This is Daisy, our visitor.


Reyna...










Duncan...










And the freakish cuteness named Kodiak. The poor pup was covered in snow balls every time he came inside.













The snow was fun, but we were all happy to see it go. After we'd packed it down pretty good, it basically turned the yard into a sheet of ice. Not nearly as much fun as the soft, powdery snow.