more of Sakima's WinterWonderland photos

[johninny]

dogs' 1st deep powder snow - enough to make me act like a puppy!

[ BOTH Xander and Sakima appear together in all but 2 photos - Xander galloping and Xander air-biting snow ]

[johninny]

dogs ''HUNTING'' and ''GATHERING'' in the snow

[johninny]

Saki and Xander playing HIDE & SEEK in the snow - even Sakima as a SnowGhost [ actually a weird photo taken in sleet/snow at night ]

[Karin]

Wow... all super photos. I want to have as much fun as they are having. ENJOY winter!

[Stacy_R]

great photos! I hope we get some snow soon!!!

[Dutchringgirl]

they look like they are having a blast !!!

[feraloup]

Love, love, LOVE all of these photos!

I especially like the Xander-ninja one! Moko, too, does these high crowhops and it cracks me, up, kept thinking I should post a description in the anecdotes thread. He pops up and over his playmate, then ducks under their belly to grab a leg on the opposite side and pull it under them. Makes Maiyou and Freyja both insane 'cuz they never know where he's gonna be or strike next!

The joyousness and exuberance is so clear and delightful to behold in these captured moments you've shared.

[Karin]

Hey John.

Do you remember how you set your camera. I'm assuming it is not a point and shoot but something with more varied capability. Speed? Appeture? Film speed? I always just seem to get black blobs of dog on my photographs.

[Raven]

If there were ever an Ansil Adams of Dutch shepherds, John would be in the running.

[Dutchringgirl]

That would be so cool to have Ansil Adams of DS's !!!!

[steph90]

Love these pics. They're having a freaking blast. Do they get that excited whenever they're out in snow so deep? I cannot imagine Kodi would ever be calm. And he would probably always smell like wet dog from rolling around and digging burrows in the snow Does this happen? I wouldn't know, I've only seen snow once!

[johninny]

hi Steph, yes, Kodi would roll around in and burrow through the snow; DS are very quick to investigate and figure out all of snow's properties upon 1st introduction. that first meeting of dog and snow is always magic. Autumn [ feraloup ] over in ''anecdotes'' has just posted a beautiful but typical description of a single DS pup's interaction with snow [ must see what she wrote]. but even at 12 years old they become puppies again with every ''good'' snow.
wet dog smell not so much ---- too cold normally, though multiple DSs given enough time can work up quite a ''sweat''. also, the snow tends to sit ON them rather than permeate them. for me with more than one DS, the great BENEFIT from a really good snow cover is that after wrestling, galloping and tumbling at high speed, etcetera, they come back in CLEAN!!!! -rather than dusty or, even worse, muddy. intense amounts of dust and mud is something i seldom dealt with as a 1 DS household; now it is routine and the bane of my existence.
''Do they get that excited whenever they're out in snow so deep?'' --YES!!!! true for even one lone dog - at least if he has an audience and some encouragement. however, with 2 or 3 DS, i find they are like that multiple times every single day with or without snow [ a fact i absolutely HATE when it is rainy and the ground wet ---- multiple young DS will MAKE their own mud if it does not exist already!]. the only difference is that the deep snow changes the manifestation of their excitement a bit -- more goofy, more social - as they marvel among themselves at the extraordinary change of physical properties that snow represents in their environment. and aside from snow's tactile and other physical properties, the air is different, the sound is different [ both very exhilarating even for my dull senses !], so imagine how significant a good snow cover must be to dogs with their elevated senses. and most of all, the smell; fresh and clean; everything gets covered over [ tho not wiped out ] so the result is less ''white noise'' for their super-sensitive olfactory senses - somewhat of a clean slate where important old smells and new surface smells scream out to the dogs. from that point of view, it must be an absolutely extraordinary experience for a dog.

btw, if you have never experienced true cold with Kodi, you might be amazed at how simple cold temps - even without snow - can bring out the puppy energy and attitude in him.

[Dutchringgirl]

my girls get so excited too with the snow, new places to go sniff and more mice to go find and chase around the yard. Then they get to go look for the tennis balls and toys that are buried in the snow. Cold = puppy ?? oh you bet, not so much for Thalie, she is pretty even no matter what the temp, but Sadie, oh holy cow !! in the fall once the temp drops, she is a ball of fire, non stop running around ! The deep snow is the best, then they have to really hop around and it poops them out for the afternoon.

[ThatSaltyDog]

Aww, awesome pictures!!! They're really having a blast!
We are having our first snow storm at the moment, and once I get home after my stay at work, I will have to get some pictures of Atticus in the snow as well.

[Raven]

Snow is the equivalent of doggy crack.

A dog's first snow is the best!

[Stacy_R]

Snow is the equivalent of doggy crack.

A dog's first snow is the best!

And I-CAN'T-WAIT!!!!!

[Raven]

Stacy,

Make sure your video cam is loaded with charged batteries come the day! I still watch videos of Thor's first snow and smile....

[icvanstra]

Fun photos!

[Stacy_R]

Stacy,

Make sure your video cam is loaded with charged batteries come the day! I still watch videos of Thor's first snow and smile....

absolutely!!

[Rob C]

Haha these pictures are great!