Maddie

Our 10 year old Lab, Maddie, has moved with us three times (poor dog); Houston to LA, from one house to another in Long Beach, and Long Beach to Calgary. Although she was born and raised in Houston, she hated going outside there because it was so hot. She loved Long Beach - much cooler weather and a dog door which enabled her to go in and out as she pleased. I'm sure it was a shock to her to be loaded up in the car for three days and find herself in Calgary. At first she loved it here - interesting yard to play in and smell - lots of squirrels to chase (and to eat I'm sorry to say), off-leash parks galore!



But, when it began to snow a couple of weeks ago Maddie took one step outside and gave me the "what the bloody hell is this?" look.



As the temperatures dropped, Maddie flat out refused to go outside. While she is mainly an indoor dog, this becomes problematic, as you might imagine. We have tried everything - bribes, throwing her outside, dog boots - the dog will not do her business outside. Here she is in her dog boots (we got the cheap ones - they have ones that look nicer than my hiking boots).

I have become the dog poop/pee clean-up expert - not a job that I was interested in having. Thankfully, the weather has warmed up and she has been more amicable to going outside. But, it's only November - I'm afraid it's going to be a long winter.