Chasing Snowballs - Greyhound Winter Games

Adele may be chasing pavements but it's fair to say when there's snow around, Mina is definitely fond of chasing snowballs!

I normally wrap the hounds up in their coats and keep walks fairly short when there's snow. Mina even gets to wear two coats; she tends to feel the cold very badly, so has an undercoat and a rather red (and aptly named) blizzard coat as her top coat.  However, no matter how cold Mina loves two things about the snow - snorting it, or catching snowballs.


The snow at the weekend meant we had a chance to play one of her favourite games... Catch the snowball! She loves it,  and hopefully the video shows this (Watch out for Jasper's nose making an appearance at the end)




We had great fun in the playing field and I was very careful with the snowballs I threw (I didn't want them to contain any hard lumps of ice). The snow was very powdery and ideal for a game of fetch.

Share your tips for snow time fun for chance to win Crufts tickets

What are your favourite snow time games with your dogs?
Please do leave a comment and share - I've two pairs of tickets* to giveaway to Crufts to visitors who leave a comment on my blog!

*Terms & Conditions:
Giveaway is open to UK residents only.Prize consists of one pair of tickets to Crufts for each of the two winners (tickets are valid for the day of the winner's choice).
The winner is responsible for arranging their own transport to and from the NEC.
Closing dates for entries is Tuesday 28 February 2012
Winners will be notified by email and/;or via my blog posts

Gateaux and Gatherings

Today was G day for greyhound lovers in the UK as it was the day of the 5th Great Greyhound Gathering (or GGG as it's affectionately known). The GGG is organised by the Retired Greyhound Trust and brings together retired racing greyhounds from across the country.

I missed the first ever GGG but have been for the last four years and it's always a greyt day. This year had the added excitement of meeting some of my and Jasper's Twitter friends. (Jasper has his own Twitter account - @JaspertheHound - he's a very intelligent hound).

Spot the Dog o Nine Tails bags

The skies were a tad overcast and I'd packed my waterproofs along with Jasper and Stevie's raincoats too. The heavens opened not long after we'd arrived and we quickly saught shelter under my friend, Lisa Rees', store - Dog o Nine Tails - which meant I just had to buy a new bag.

Hounds & humans meet for tweet up (pic courtesy of: @blueskinnydog)

Once the rain clouds had cleared and several tweets, texts and phone calls had been exchanged we met up with our Twitter friends: @MaxiSaluki @Dino_Matic @BarneyGalgo @blueskinnydog @RoloHound @ceddergreyhound


It was so nice to meet the hounds and humans behind the Twitter avatars. The hounds were all impeccably behaved & greeted each other with the doggy equivalent of human handshakes aka the greyt butt sniff!

Dino's 'humum' kindly made some delicious pasties for the humans and I brought along some homemade liver cake (gateau de foie) for the hounds.

It's for hounds, not humans!

It seemed like the liver cake/gateau de foie was a hit, so especially for @blueskinnydog, and hounds everywhere, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
500g (1lb) liver
500g (1lb) organic porridge oats
2 large free range eggs
2 cloves of garlic* (crushed)
3 tablespoons natural yogurt

Instructions:
1. Pre heat the oven to 180o (Gas Mark 4)
2. Grease and line a 30cm square ( 12 inch square) baking tin
3. Whizz the liver in a food processor until smooth
4. Add the crushed garlic, egg and oats and continue to whizz until smooth
5. When mixture is smooth stir in the natural yogurt
6. Pour into baking tin and bake in oven for around 30 – 40 minutes
7. When cooked should be firm & light brown colour
8. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly before turning out of baking tin
9. Cut into small bite size pieces and keep in fridge for up to a week or up to 3 months if frozen.

*Garlic is part of the Allium family, such as onions, which are toxic to dogs. Small quantities of garlic, such as in this recipe, should be fine.  If you are worried, omit the garlic and add in some grated, smelly cheese instead.

Only another 364 days to go until the next GGG.... we're already on countdown!

The Lurcher in Red

The winter chill is continuing apace and the sub-zero temperatures have meant that the hounds aren't being walked as often as any of us would like. The pavements in the village are still covered with inches of compacted snow and ice, which makes any kind of walk rather hazardous.

So, you can imagine my joy when my parents agreed for Mina to come with me on my travels 'down sarf.' There was zero snow and lots of opportunities for long dog walks, or so I thought....

Today, we had a smattering of snow - about 1½-2 inches - but enough to turn the rather hilly roads and pavements into a slippery slalom. Luckily, I had thought ahead and packed Mina's winter weather gear. Her aptly named 'Blizzard Coat' came in very handy and she looked very smart with her red snood (think Anna Karenina, but in dog form). I couldn't resist taking a few photos...



Mina, the lovely lurcher in red



Mina, giving it her best "This isn't a Tolstoy novel, you know!" look

I'm not too sure whether Mina was impressed by her snow gear, but it certainly kept her warm and with Mina's track record for accidents and mishaps, the last thing I want is frost-bitten ears!

I'm hoping the snow melts over the weekend, so we can catch up with friends, have some great walks and on Sunday, lunch in a dog friendly pub.  In the meantime, whenever Mina's togged up in her snow gear, I still can't resist humming "The lurcher in red" to the tune of a song, that I'm not really very fond of... The Lady in Red!

The First Snow of Winter

It's true - us Brits like nothing more than to talk about the weather.  As we live on an island where extremes of weather are fairly rare, any type of weather that is either too cold or too hot tends to make headlines.  This year, we've had very early snowfall in November meaning the roads grind to a halt, schools close, children dust off wellies and under-used sledges and us adults don our best snow-garb and get out there with the other 'big kids' and our dogs!

The hounds' favourite playing field

The hounds also seem to like the snow and the early snowfall this year has coincided with Mina becoming cone-free after the tail incident (see: previous post - Mina the canine catastrophe).

We've only had a few inches of snow, so it's not too deep for the hounds and they can enjoy a bit of a run and frolic in the snow.  I always worry that deep snow and icy pavements could mean broken bones, so I'm very careful where I let them walk and run.

I still want to enjoy the cold weather and want the hounds to enjoy their walks too, so here are my top tips for keeping the hounds safe and warm on winter walks:

Well wrapped-up against the cold

Coats -  Greyhounds have thin skin, very little fur and very little body fat and tend to feel extremes of temperature, so make sure that they have a waterproof, warm, fleecy winter coat to keep them protected from the elements. I like the coats that have a turn up to protect the neck. Alternatively a greyhound snood helps keep their necks warm.

Salty paws - Rock salt and grit may keep the paths and roads snow and ice-free but left on our pets' paws it can be a real irritant. When I get home I wash and dry the hounds' paws to make sure no grit has got stuck and that they can't lick anything that might be toxic.

A happy & cone-free Mina, enjoying the snow

Deep snow - Greyhounds have fairly delicate bones (in rescue we often come across cases where an owner has let their hound run free over uneven ground and the poor hound has ended up wtih a broken leg), so running in deep snow and on icy surfaces could be a recipe for disaster.

Dark nights - The old addage "Seen and be seen" really does ring true for winter walks - both for me and the hounds. I wear a reflective jacket and carry a torch. The hounds each have an Ancol Safety Halo (available from £3.99 at PetPlanet ) although I am saving up for the rather fab Leuchtie LED light collars available exclusively from Collarways 

Steaming hot mug of tea and open fire - When the walk's over, there's nothing better than putting my feet up with a good mug of tea and watching the hounds snooze by the open fire.

So, time to put my feet up and enjoy that cup of tea. Wherever you may be when you read this, I hope that you're safe and warm with your dogs at your side.