Elbereth's blog: februar 2010

Elbereth's knees are fine. For the last month we have been able to go for longer walks again and I think that running and playing in deep snow has done her good. With February and longer days here, we have gotten a few walks in daylight during the weekdays for the last couple of weeks. I'm not sure she cares about the difference, but I sure do.

As this has been the most perfect winter for skiing that I can remember, we decided two weekends ago that we had to try skiing with Elbereth. Based on how she behaves when we are out walking on foot - and how she has reacted when seeing other skiers - we had concluded that it would be impossible to ski with her this year. But as the snow continued to fall through January, the urge to try the ski tracks became stronger and stronger.

We went to a flat area with no people aorund and started out by me skiing back and forth and Tom on foot with Elbereth on leash. Her behavior improved rapidly from chasing the tips of the skis to not caring, and then last weekend we did the real thing and it went surprisingly well. After tripping over Tom's skis a couple of times, she realized where she had to position herself. She doesn't run ahead pulling him, which is good as she is still too young for that. Sometimes she stops suddenly, jerking him a little (that's why it is him and not me holding her leash). But when speeding downhill, she runs nicely on his side and then she doesn't care about other skiers.