H&C

11
Jan
2010

5 Comments

Ruby has a ball in the snow

“The first few days of the New Year have been full of snow and fun for Ruby. The village has been virtually cut-off, so training walks have been put on ice (if you’ll excuse the pun) and walks through the snowy fields have become the norm.

Ruby has loved running through the snow drifts, either chasing our two Labradors or being chased by them. She zigzags across the fields as we walk across them, often seeming to cover four or five times the distance that my husband and I complete.

On one of the days we took our neighbour’s black Labrador, Murphy, with us as well, and the sight of the three black and one chocolate dogs playing together against the pure white backdrop was absolutely fantastic.

With all this play, Ruby has developed quite a skill for tracking down stray snowballs and leaping on them from a distance, all four paws landing at the same time, blasting the ball to smithereens! It’s just a relief that the “leave it” command works otherwise we would never have completed any of our snowmen!

It is worth noting that, although there has been less formal training this week, there have been numerous chances to put Ruby’s training into practice, and I am delighted that her recall to the whistle has been outstanding. From the length of a field, whilst running about with the other dogs, Ruby has immediately returned to me on the whistle and “Ruby come” command. Very pleasing.

With a thaw in progress, training should return to normality next week, but it is fair to say that so far this new year Ruby has been having an absolute ball.”