On thin ice

On the weekend Drew and I went for a walk in the conservation area with Penny. It was a lovely day, not quite as warm as it has been, but the snow was falling lightly and things were freezing over again. It had been at least a week since we'd been out there and we all needed some fresh air.

Once we got into the park a ways, we let Penny off the leash like we usually do. She sometimes bolts away after a duck but she comes back shortly for she never likes to be out of sight of me for very long. Anyway... she's a pretty perky thing and as soon as we had her off the leash she ran around like a crazy thing.... and yes, as you guessed she found a pond that she must have thought made a good skating rink.

With her usual frantic enthusiasm she was all over that pond ... and despite us calling her back, she kept on until she found a weak spot in the ice. The ice crumbled beneath her with a cracking pop and down she went into that ice cold water. Now Penny isn't a water dog at the best of times... actually the worst punishment we give her when she totally looses it is to spray her once or twice with the water bottle and that normally keeps her in line for the next half hour. So imagine the poor thing falling through the ice into the water.

I was pretty scared about loosing her, so Drew did some bush crashing to get to the edge of that pond. We couldn't even set a foot on it without it breaking through. Poor Penny wasn't having much luck either.... when she tried to get up on the ice, it often broke under her weight, so when she wasn't struggling she was hanging on to the edge and getting colder. The poor thing is not a large dog... maybe 17 lbs so despite me having put a coat on her, she can loose that body heat pretty fast.

Fortunately there were lots of broken branches... and long ones even, that Drew could break free, but they were still to short to reach the dog. He started sliding out long branches around the edge of the ice, so if Penny tried to lift herself out again, if she caught a branch with her paw it would spread her weight out more and not break, allowing her a chance to climb out. It wasn't long before he had the edge ringed, but she didn't immediately see the brilliance of his plan.

After about 5 minutes, I was getting worried, and had made my way to the edge of the pond as well. I was even starting to think about swimming for her. Actually Drew was thinking the same thing if this lasted much longer... he's taller and the better swimmer so if it really came to that, he'd go in.

Fortunately however, Penny did eventually manage to pull herself up on the ice.

BUT THEN REFUSED TO COME OFF THE ICE!

She hated being cold and wet and so she ran around rubbing her wet face on the snow trying to dry it off. It was only luck that saved her from going in again... but after 5 min. I managed to coax her off the ice finally. Even that was a bit of work for as when Penny got near the edge the ice would start to crack, and she would back off again.

But eventually we got her into the car, and quickly back home and into a warm bath.

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