10:02 PM
| Sunrise at | 9:01 AM | in direction | 130° | Southeast |  |
| Sunset at | 4:07 PM | in direction | 230° | Southwest |  |
Today was the last day until February, 2013 that the sun remained above the horizon for more than 7 hours. Which is why it is all the more important for me to walk daily while the sun is out. To that end, I have taken Cutter to work with us so I have a companion (and motivation) when I walk at midday. Then too, the oldest dog, Mira Bai, gets first choice on the couch with Gary during TV time; Aria and JayJay have agility classes once a week. He needs his special time. We put a portable cloth crate made of lightweight material in the back seat of the Ridgeline and put a blanket in the bottom of it so he had his spot and could conserve body warmth. Some surprising results have come from this venture.
Yesterday the temperatures hovered around -12F or so at midday. When I opened the car door, he shook off and we headed out. As we walked along a path that leads out of the parking lot up to the family residence section of campus, we came across the remains of a fairly good sized bird. I could only imagine how it came to meet its end there on the path, since I rarely find evidence of birds bird being caught unaware in winter. But the remains were there without contest. Even though only scraps of feathers and skin remained, Cutter went right for it. I shooed him away and thought we were done with it only to see him take advantage of the flex-lead and go right back. Worried thoughts of parasites crept into my mind. Guess I will check with our vet to see if that is likely. When we returned, he showed some willingness to get back in the car, a real departure from his usual approach to these contraptions.
I found myself comparing walking with Cutter to walking with Niwot (the standard by which all dogs are measured), walking with Kabir, walking with Mira Bai when young and walking with my two active dobermans. All of my dogs have been willing to venture ahead, behind and reach the limits of the lead until trained otherwise. While Mira was closer to Cutter's attitude when I walked her, she still felt free to stray from me. JayJay and Aria have a whole different thing going on. Aria will pull to the end of the lead and expect me to come with her. At some point she will circle back around me. JayJay will travel to the end of the lead and then, good protector that she is, take that as her clue to circle. Walking with JayJay requires that I let her circle around me constantly (to be sure no one can get me from any direction, you see). She meets the Working Dog Criteria for dobermans on that score perfectly.
Cutter usually walks beside me or behind me. He has yet to reach the end of the flexible lead on the few times he has gone ahead. At times he forgets himself and starts to trot ahead of me and then it's as if a switch goes on in his head and I see him catch himself and hesitate, then wait for me. I encourage him - Aliy is always talking to her dogs and giving them support for the work they do - to see if this signals that he can range more, but so far he has had none of it.
He does not like the loud car noises. Twice I was switching the hand that held the lead and the bulk of my mittens caused me to drop the handle. Each time he came to me when I opened my arms and called. Obviously, I worked on the technique for switching with bulky mittens after that, but I was grateful that he came to no harm due to my clumsiness.
Today when I walked down to the car, it had held at 10 degrees colder than yesterday, @ -22F. The temperature moved from mildly uncomfortable to one where I really needed to be dressed for the walk. Although Cutter was one of the dogs most likely to get hot and uncomfortable when it was warm last spring (his dam hailing from regions north of here), this fall he has not been out training. He does not seem to have any start at his winter coat. When I left him in the car, even in a portable crate with blankets, he was shivering when I took him out of the car. Was it cold or a little anxiety?
We walked and he seemed fine in motion, but any time we stopped, slight shivers were visible. I mulled over the situation. What is the chief difference between staying in our car and being on the end of a lead by his dog house? He has shelter in the car, a crate and blanket. Should he be able to handle this? I know that Lindy Hop, my daughter's big thick haired husky, can withstand the cold at lower temperatures, but I don't know at what temperature they stop leaving their shorter haired dogs in the car. He made it from morning to noon. Would he be okay from noon to 5 PM?
The bottom line was that it seemed if I left him for the afternoon he could develop hypothermia. My options were to drive him home to the garage pen and crate, walk 5 minutes each way from my office to the parking lot to start the car and run it until the car interior warmed sufficiently to ward off the cold for a while, sneak him into the office against all university regulations, or ...
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| Cutter pulling the wool over everyone's eyes |
He did get into the office for a short time, while I put the wool sweater I keep handy on him. When I came to start the car at work day's end, he was not shivering and his body felt toasty under the sweater. Tomorrow I will put one of our thicker dog coats on him that has batting and check on him every two hours to see how he is doing. I am not 100% sure leaving him in the car is really any better than leaving him at home in his pen in the garage, but I hope it is. I already look forward to midday when I can walk with him. I want his companionship until my son takes him south.
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