Deer Chasing and Frozen Lakes

Both dogs got to visit PetSMART yesterday after our hike in the woods. Since the weather turned cold, Ebony has decided that she'd rather track deer than hike politely in the woods, and after one day where a deer went right across our path and she chased it out of sight, we've had to leash her for our walks. Yesterday I used a 15-foot leash instead of her regular 5 foot leash, but she pulled a lot and I don't want her to learn to pull on her collar, so after the walk we bought a harness to try. It's a regular back-hook harness, as opposed to the front-hook "no pull" harnesses we use for regular walking in the neighborhood. (The front-hook harness would be better except that on a long lead, the leash would get tangled in her feet, where the back-hook harness should make it easier to keep the leash from hitting the ground). I'm looking forward to our next walk so I can give it a try.

Inde, on the other hand, is a delight in the woods. As long as you throw his tennis ball for him, he's not going anywhere! He discovered yesterday that it's interesting when the lake freezes. Problem is, it's not nearly frozen enough to be safe to walk on, so we did have to look out for that. He wouldn't have made it anywhere deep, but I really don't want to have to go in after him.