This is me, getting ready to drive from Vernon to Burnaby in the early afternoon. One of the last things I had to do before taking off was to say goodbye to Louise. She is getting pretty used to the routine, which is to say, she turns into one sombre little pup, as she knows that I'm leaving for a while.

My wife tends to have a similar reaction, especially if I haven't been particularly aggrivating during my visit.

But this blog is about Louise, and because of that I should mention that today she went out for her walk, lasted all of three minutes or so, and then promptly ran back up the stairs to the appartment. I guess it was a bit colder outside than she wanted to deal with.

But to be clear, Louise is a huge fan of the snow. She really enjoys it. She just isn't so fond of the bitter cold, which we sometimes get up in Vernon. I can remember times last year when I would have her out for her nightly walk, and would have to stop to warm her paws, as they were getting frostbite. I would know because she would stop, and raise a paw to indicate that it was starting to hurt her. At that point I would have to pick her up, and use the warmth from the palm of my hand to gently warm her paw. Sometimes it would be enough that we could continue, and other times I ended up just carrying her home.

We are in for more cold weather in Vernon this week - hopefully Louise is able to sneak out during the day when it is (relatively) warmer than at night.

Fashionista

One of Louise's favorite stores around town is Zellers. For the American readers, Zellers is very similar to K-Mart. She likes this store because they will let her come in, so long as she is either riding in a shopping cart, or carried. During the summer months this can be very important, as it can get too hot to keep her in the car while we run errands.

But today was a shopping day specifically for Louise. We took her to the store to try on a 'hoodie'. The picture is of her modeling it, but what you can't see is the little hood. (You can see one of the drawstrings though.)

Ultimately, we did not get it though. The fact is, Louise is just too big in the chest and it kept sliding lower and lower. It's tough to find well fitting garments for her. If it is big enough in the body, it tends to be too long, and if it's the right length, then it seems to be designed for an impossibly thin dog. Does anyone know of pug-designed clothes?

It don't look like this anymore

This photo was taken a few weeks ago, when I was back visiting in Vernon. Since then, it has snowed, rained, melted off, snowed again, etc.

Needless to say, the grass ain't so green these days. At least not in the dog park.

But that doesn't seem to slow down Louise too greatly. She is always up for a walk - so much so that unless we are serious about it, we have started to refer to it as a 'stroll' or a 'w-a-l-k' to avoid any misunderstandings. Because once you say 'walk', you better be prepared to put your jacket on.

Rediscovered toy

Last Christmas, Louise got a new toy 'bone' and she fell in love with it. She chewed on it, and carried it just about everywhere. That is, until she lost track of where it was.

We found it recently, hiding under one of the sofas (I think.) As you can see by the photo, Louise was thrilled to have her toy back. Every now and then she will get up, go find it and bring it back to where she was, so that she can chew on it some more, or just play with it. And of course, she also likes to sleep with it occasionally too.