Mid west snow storm

[HemiCuda]

Any other mid wester's get caught up in this weekends huge snow storms? The top of our chows heads are pretty much all we see when they go out but they love it! we have been in the negitives all weekend long! and into this week apparently! I kinda missed auddymays page on the storm but i'm kinda wondering about the after effects felt all over! for instance the closest city to us had an accumulation of 11" in one night we had to dig out in front of our door just to get out and the whole time my boys are looking at me like ......... Woah!......... ...... .... .......... ......... PLAYTIME!!!! considering they like to tunnel and i am short, it was fun to keep an eye on who was where under our blanket of snow but when they came in hemi (red) looked like a creme boy and zeus (black) looked like a panda bear

[chris]

We didn't get SNOW but we got the COLD.... No school for 2 days now.
Steel loves laying on the freezing stoop...

[Breathless]

[furballchowbaby]

We had some schools around us close because the temps were in the negatives. We still had school, but they couldn't get the buildings warm. My daughters school is newer ('98) and her room was 62 all day yesterday and today. They let them out an hour early today because of the snow storm... it took an extra hour from them to get home.

We have 6" on the ground and it's still snowing... just a dusting for you northerners!!

[jerseyp]

I live in Erie. Pa, about 8 blocks off the lake. Anyone who lives near the great lakes knows these 3 dirty words - lake effect snow. I take my dogs every day off leash to the woods, but I take my young chow golden for about 2 hrs (to MG]http:/get my exercise and so he burns off all his energy. We've had 66 inches of snow, almost all in January and February - it's snowed for 19 straight days. It's also been super cold -from 0 to about 9 degrees (today it wamed up to 9 degrees). It doesn't bother Ty (my dog's name). He takes off a lot but usually for only 5-10 minutes. The last 3-4 days he took off right when I was ready to leave and for longer times. Last night it went down to 2 degrees and the wind chill factor was 25 below. He ended up taking off on a deer scent (tracks were all around) for 25 minutes before he returned - he knew we were about to leave the woods and I'm sure he does this on purpose. I have never seen him shiver (even when he fell through the ice last year - he still insisted on walking for another hour even though his outer coat was totally frozen). Anyways, it was a little walmer (5 degrees when we headed out but no wind) so I took my camera. Here is our daily adventure.

Walking down the hill to the lake.

Building an igloo.

Ice on the face - Ty's response - What's the big deal?

A herring who looked frozen - look closely. Ty was about 10-15 feet away and it didn't fly away. When it did fly it looked like it coull barely get off the ground and only went about 50 feet.

Another shot of the herring.

Ty on the bay of Lake Erie against the wesern sky.

Ty on the bay against the eastern sky.

The last direction I saw Ty disappear (and I'm not about to follow).

He's back - 20 minutes later but dogs will be dogs or maybe it's supposed to be chows will be chows.

Classic chow eyes.

Can't he be like a normal dog and walk on the path - it's that damn chow blood. My vet called him one of the most feral dogs he has ever met - and then added the friendliest feral dog he ever met (Ty has no problen at the vets).

Ty at the end of the walk meets his buddy Clayton, a huge lab at the end of their walks. Clayton's owner is as crazy as me except his dog doesn't stay out that long in this weather. Clayton also stays on the path (like a normal dog) That is Ty's and my daily life after work, (except their are usally a lot more dogs out) and he also gets to go on the shorter walk with my other dogs. I get my excersise and don't end up with cabin fever. I hope the snow and cold stops sometime soon but chows relish it. Hope you enjoyed.

[vicster605]

BEAUTIFUL PICS!!! I'm from the south and NEVER get to even see snow, so LOV seeing and hearing about it..............
Your Chow doesn't even look like he thinks it's the least bit cold out!!! And to think I didn't want to take Kearra for a walk cuz it was 58 and I thought it was cold haha

[sit_by_the_beach]

jerseyp, beautiful photos, I live near L.Ontario but not close enough for a walk, my chow girl loves to roam in the woods and comes back covered with burrs. In one of your photos, it's a blue heron? I hope he's o.k. I heard a lot of water birds are in trouble because of the freezing weather coming in so suddenly. Birds gotten stuck in freezing ice.
furballchowbaby, I'd imagine mine looked something like that as a pup, Mikki was 4 yrs. old when I adopted her.
Karin

[Auddymay]

Beautiful photos. Lily stcks her head in the snow like your guy, too. Funny to see!

[furballchowbaby]

Wow those are amazing photo's! I'm impressed with you for going out in the weather. I'm sitting here right now debating on whether to go out and shovel the driveway and it's 16 here!

[jerseyp]

In reply to sit by the beach. Sorry, it was a blue heron - I just misspelled the word (herring)- I don't know much about birds but a lot of beautiful birds migrate across the bay - it is part of their migratory route and often they stay on the bay and penninsula of Lake Erie. I do think the bird was in bad shape. Ty (my chow) walked right up and was about 10 ft away - a small inlet of water (ice) was all that seperated them. The herons have always flown away from him and will never let him get that close (just 4-5 days ago Ty chased one off and it made a loud squawking sound and flew off over the water). The other curious thing is that Ty didn't chase it - he always chases big birds but I think he knew something was wrong with it. When I got closer the heron finally flew but it was crooked and very low to the ground and it flew at the most 50 ft. The problem is that it was unusually warm in December and the beginning of January. The birds that flew south started flying back north and we are seeeing many birds that are usually not here this time of year. I saw many flocks of Canadian Geese flying north at the time of the warm spell. Trees were also forming buds and even a few flowers bloomed. This is now a big problem for the birds. I do not know what I can do about this but I will call the Audubon Society and also get some bird feed to lay out in the area. The only silver lining is that it's supposed to get at least in the low teen and possibly 20's in a few days. It's not a good shot but here's a picture of how close Ty got to the heron.

Ty was curious but didn't hunt it like he usually does.

Another shot of the heron - you can see all the ice that has formed ont it.

Ice forming on Ty has no ill effect whatsoever.
Thanks for the compliments on the photos, Ive see a lot of great photos of great dogs on this site. Hopefully the next set of photos will be of the spring thaw - I just hope Ty doesn't migrate north with the geese.

[precious's mom]

Thanks for sharing the pictures! They are beautiful! I love seeing Ty playing around in the snow. And the scenary! Simply gorgeous!

Poor bird - he's literally almost frozen to death.

Missi & Precious

[HemiCuda]

yeah, it's now the third day into our covering of snow and we just got some of the schools open, we are about 30 mins from lake MI so lake effect hits us all the time but i haven't seen it this bad in a while, its like they were taking their time with the plows and salt trucks! They had a story on the news about a plow truck that actually caught fire from trying to keep up with the weight of the snow! As soon as i get a camara i'll have to get some pics up to, those were all beautiful pictures!

[Judy Fox]

Brilliant pictures and we have snow forcast for tonight so in the morning we might have a snowy lawn for M & M to skip around in - then by lunch time it will have gone!

[sit_by_the_beach]

Judy, I hope M&M get some snow to frolick around in, even a dusting is better than nothing, southern Ontario didn't get much, Buffalo had alsost a metre of snow dumped on them.


jerseyp, the blue heron flies south by December before the lakes, rivers freeze up. They live on fish, small birds and small rodents.

Maybe you could call a wild life organization? I don't know if the heron is under protection, most likely this one will not survive. One more month of ice covered lakes and streams.
Karin

[jerseyp]

Sit by the beach, thanks for the info. I sent an e-mail to the Audubon Society for Presque Isle (the name of the bay, penninsula and beaches of Lake Erie in this area) and am waiting for a response. I hope it's not too late because I didn't see the heron today and I have seen a heron (don't know if it's the same one) almost every day at this spot. It was dark by the time I got there today and hopefully tomorrow I will get a better look. One positive is that I did see a fish in the inlet of water that's about 75 feet long before it hits the lake (it comes out of a water plant so it usually doesn't freeze but in this weather half the inlet is already frozen). This is where the heron was yesterday. I will do a thorough search over the weekend because I do my walks with Ty in the early afternoon as opposed to after work on the weekdays when it's gettin dark. And for all you chow owners who don't get snow, if its possible, take a vacation up North where there is snow. The first time your chow steps out in the snow will be an unforgettable experience (for your dog and yourself).

If Ty could speak he'd say "Come on down little squirrel, I just want to talk" (and he'd be lying).

[Princess]

Wow, Ty is beautiful!!!!!!!
Most amazing thing.. he runs off AND COMES BACK on his own!!!!!

I love the picture with his head in the snow! so cute!! I wish we had this much snow here... however it has been snowing for 2 days now.. we'll see what happends

Olga

[jerseyp]

Went down to the spot where I saw the heron with Ty and we found it. Ty was sniffing the air by the inlet of water that runs out into the lake and it was lying dead in the water toward the end of the inlet that was already almost frozen. When Ty came upon it two days ago they just stood and stared at each other from 10 feet apart and it still blows my mind that Ty didn't hunt it - he always chases whether the animal/bird is standing still or moving. I don't know if there's a rainbow bridge for birds, but hopefully the heron finds it. Better yet, maybe he'll come back re-incarnated as a chow chow and never have to worry about freezing to death.

[precious's mom]

Poor birdie

[bama]

I love the photos. I'm with Vicster, I live in the deep south, snow would be a freak incident around here. Ty is so pretty, looks like he's having a great time.
Thanks for the pics.

Oh, wonder why that heron just didn't fly south for the winter? I would have!!!

Judy,...........
Looks like Milly and Mabel are on the lookout for some snow!
The photo is adorable!