Chloe has been with us for almost 3 months now. We can’t believe how fast the time is going!

She is settling into our routine, without getting obsessed by it, and we are starting to learn more about her personality and quirks. One of her current quirks is a bit of a fear or phobia of walking the neighbourhood from the house. We aren’t completely sure when or how this developed but we think it was a combination of occurrences. We have construction going on behind our house and we have come outside at the exact moment they made loud, abrupt construction noises. The other two things that happened in the neighbourhood were the sound of gunshots (but I’m sure it was something else like fire crackers) and a neighbour screaming “did you get a new dog? Congratulations!” from her front door, both of which sent Chloe fear running back to the house.

Well, she has benefited by the fear because now she gets taken to even more parks in the area for her daily walks. Hmmm. I wonder how that worked out in her favour?

During some of the cold snaps that we experienced in December and January, we were taking her for several shorter walks with running spurts. She’s quite fast and she was pulling Chitra along at the Greenwood Area grounds.

One gorgeous morning we set out for a hike along the back trails at Lorne Henderson Conservation Area. The sun was breathtaking that morning and it wasn’t terribly cold so we could enjoy a more leisurely walk with lots of sniffing.

We made several trips to the loops at Marthaville Habitat. She always gets really excited by the wildlife trails on these trails.

Here’s another day at Lorne Henderson. She was staring at the water that was gushing up into the overflow area of the park. It was making a very interesting noise that she seemed strangely fascinated by.

Yet another day, after some of the snow melted, that we ventured to another part of Lorne Henderson for one of her walks. There are quite a few different ways you can get several kilometres in, depending on the water levels.

This particular part of Marthaville Habitat we have dubbed “poopy alley”. Over the past 11 years that we have been bringing dogs here in the winter we have noticed that many people bring their dogs here to poop and then they leave it. Most of the people who bring their dogs to this park do not keep them on leash, even though it is not an off-leash park. As a result, it is not uncommon for their to be lots of poop along the trails, wildlife disturbed and unexpected meet-ups by dogs barreling through the woods. I cringe every time I see a dog off leash and their owners yelling “they’re friendly” as the dog runs straight at ours. Please keep your dogs on leash, for the safety of your own pet, wildlife, the environment and out of respect for other dog owners and their dogs.

We made a trip up to Strathroy Conservation Area that has some great trails in town. It was still pretty cold so Chitra often ran ahead with Chloe to burn off extra energy.

Where’s the snow? This picture was taken back in late November, soon after we adopted Chloe. Wawanosh Wetlands is another great place to walk your dog, but again, too many people do not pick up after them and they let them off leash!

Don’t let the sunshine fool you – this was another extremely cold day. Notice all the layers Chitra is wearing? And check out Chloe, she’s got three layers of jackets on plus her boots. If you’re cold, your dog is probably cold too!

The past three months have been difficult with the extremely cold temperatures but we have taught Chloe to run up and down the stairs at home to help get her enough physical exercise. She’s is also doing obedience training at home, playing games to help her bond with us and focus on us, plus part of every meal is given to her in treat balls. All of these mental exercises are just as important as the physical ones, so be sure to integrate some into your routine and play time with your pets.

Stay warm!