Snow in 2010

January 2010

We had a lot of snow in the winter of 2010 - a lot for this part of the world, anyway. At that time, we had four dogs – two Dalmatians, Frodo the Faller and Buddy Liver Spots, and two working Labradors, Jenna and baby Gus. 

Buddy Liver Spots and Jenna

They loved the snow. The air was crisp, the smells enhanced, the sensation under their paws different – soft and cold – but they didn’t stay out long enough to get chilled. It was cold, but there was no wind to pinch their ears and noses.

 Gus in a drift

Where the snow had drifted, it was easy for the Labradors almost to disappear, especially Gus, as he was only a few months old and still smaller than tiny Jenna, the little dog with the enormous paws.

 Gus checks . . .

Jenna retrieving, plumy tail waving as ever.

'Follow my leader'

The ball almost luminesces

Frodo often sniffed and licked Buddy's face. He was very fond of him.

Frodo, my Velcro dog, always kept close to me, but also adored Buddy, who was almost blind by then, having recovered from meningitis. Buddy enjoyed his walks but was kept on a long lead as he had a habit of wandering off at speed in the wrong direction, and then worrying because he had no idea where he was. The more he worried, the faster he trotted.

January 2026

This is the snow we've had so far this year. There may be more later on. 

We have had some very heavy frosts and a little fog. Heavy rain is forecast but will probably pass us by.

Looking back

 

Looking back

Frodo the Faller

Dalmatians have short, white eyelashes to match their short white (and black or liver) coats. Frodo had a somewhat piratical look. Strangely, there was another Dalmatian in our road at the time who was called Pirate and who had an even more pronounced eye patch. 

Dalmatians are pure white at birth. The spots develop in the first six to eighteen months. Some Dalmatians are born with coloured patches. The fur on such patches is coarser than the rest of the silky coat. At one time, decades ago, such puppies were destroyed at birth, but now it is realised that they are perfectly normal and make very good pets. They can never be show dogs, that's all.

I wondered what had been happening in this domain ten years ago. Why ten years? I don’t really know. It doesn’t seem possible that ten years have passed. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, while at other times it feels like another lifetime.

So, here is the link to Frodo the Faller – he really was a trooper and a great favourite with all who knew him, including many vets.

Winter, fifteen years ago

 

Winter, fifteen years ago

Frodo the Faller

We haven’t had an appreciable snowfall in Berkshire for many years, Occasionally, we have had enough to shut the schools, for health and safety reasons, whereupon families dig out their sledges and skis and head for the nearest hills. It’s bonkers!

 Jenna 

It used to be the case that snow fell and covered everything in a thick blanket of deadening white. Crunching through the snow was almost musical, boots squeaking against the crystals. The air burnt one’s nose and throat with cold, and exposed ears tingled. After the snow, the ground remained hard for months in the winter, resounding like a huge drum to footfalls.

It’s always a pleasure to walk with dogs, and see their enthusiasm as they read the landscape. Snow brings fresh excitement and smells. They plunge and leap and nose the unfamiliar white stuff, sometimes eating a mouthful, or finding small mammals underneath, which skitter away as fast as they can from questing muzzles.

Puppy Gus, Jenna, Frodo the Faller, Janice, Buddy Liver Spots, January 2010

Fifteen years ago in January, we had a substantial snowfall. We had at that time two Dalmatians, Buddy Liver Spots, who was blind by then, following an almost fatal attack of meningitis, and Frodo the Faller, and two black Labradors, Jenna and her half-brother, puppy Gus. We kept Buddy on a long lead, as he would otherwise set off purposefully at speed in the wrong direction. The lead allowed him a measure of independence if he wanted it, but he didn’t stray far.

How many dogs can you see?

There are two - Jenna on the left and puppy Gus almost completely covered!

Buddy Liver Spots and puppy Gus

Frodo the Faller and Buddy Liver Spots

They had such fun in the snow!

This year, we have had one paltry snow shower, with heavy frosts most mornings recently, and some fog. I’m not wishing for terrible weather conditions, but it does seem that there is a developing trend for the seasons to become more or less bland. I could live to regret my words!

Frodo the Faller

The Final Adventures of Frodo the Faller – a Trooper to the End

 The introduction of two beautiful Somali kittens to the Crowthorne Crew in February resulted also in the introduction of ringworm. It is not caused by worms but by a fungus belonging to the Tinea family. It creates intensely itchy spots which are very painful when scratched. Bertie and I seemed to be the worst affected but naturally Frodo had to share the experience. At the same time he had another outbreak of sarcoptic mange (canine scabies) on his shoulder, four months after the first attack.

He had also been experiencing recurrent stomach upsets. Courses of antibiotics and a change to an hypoallergenic diet helped – his appetite was unaffected – a greedy Dalmatian is greedy to the endJ

However, it was clear that he was slowly deteriorating. His system seemed to be breaking down and each new problem or setback took him longer to overcome. He began to sleep longer and longer, sometimes as long as eighteen hours, and each time I hoped and prayed he would quietly slip away but he wouldn’t. The mange on his shoulder broke down within two weeks into a wound that refused to heal, despite antibiotics, and it was clear that he would soon be in a great deal of pain if it were left to attack the underlying tissues and expose the bone. So, with great sadness, we let him go. We were comforted by the knowledge that he had spent so much time with the vets that he was never afraid of visiting them and so his final moments were with people he trusted and who loved him.

Frodo was hard work when he first came home with us at five months old. He liked all our family dogs but any unknown dogs were a challenge and he would always make the first aggressive advance. Even in his (short!) show career he would attempt to take lumps out of other dogs as he galloped past them. For that reason and also because he never really liked shows we stopped subjecting him to them. In any case, the small rings at dog shows don’t really allow dogs to show their full potential. There is nothing finer than seeing a healthy animal at full stretch in the countryside.

Eventually Frodo learnt to be more trusting and in his final years he bore the attentions of puppies and other dogs with grace. He was such a special dog – he had so many problems but he bore them all with stoic determination. He was my Velcro dog, never happier than when he had me in his sight. Indeed, when we went walking together he checked on me every few seconds. Sometimes I would hide from him and he would rush back, a concerned expression on his face. His relief when he ‘found’ me was palpable. He was gentle with small children, the other dogs and the cats. Anyone could steal his food from his bowl as he ate and he wouldn’t murmur, quite unlike his Labrador companions! He was the top dog but never lorded it over the others. If he wanted a particular bed he would loom over the occupant until he or she moved. Naturally the cats refused to move and so he would climb in and lie down on them. They moved then!

Like all Dalmatians (or was it just ours?) he was an inveterate thief and we had to hang the rubbish out of his reach as normal bins were no defence against his raids. The medication he took twice daily to try and control his epileptic seizures made him ravenous, constantly seeking food, not always from an appropriate source. He started to eat Frankie’s books because they had miniscule applications of food on them – toddlers are so apt to deposit tasty morsels everywhere! His tablets also caused him to ‘leak’ and thus he wore wraps or ‘loin cloths’ which added to his dignity rather than diminishing it. He was much admired, even in old age, in the forest, my elegant, loping boy. In latter months he wore a harness which enabled us to lift him if he got stuck somewhere as occasionally his hind legs let him down and he couldn’t extricate himself from whichever flower tub or bush that had trapped him.

He taught us such a lot. We learnt how to comfort him after he had had a seizure and was unaware of his surroundings – how frightening that must be. We learnt how to lift him into the car for the journey to the forest where he loved to walk. We learnt to be patient when he had ‘accidents’ in the house because he couldn’t move fast enough to reach the door. He was a fastidious dog and hated to be dirty.

We miss him – it’s only been four weeks – and I have not yet broken the night-time listening habit that developed after his seizures began, ten years ago. I am sure Bertie misses him, too, for he spends much time wanting reassurance from us.

So ends thirty years of Dalmatian companions. I think we shall not have another – all four of ours had different health problems, though the first, Cariadd, was the strongest and the longest-lived.

Our last walk together . . . 

 Frodo was fun, a character and a wonderful companion. He gave such love, such trust. Sleep well, my boy, in starlight.

 Frodo - Washakie Lord of the Rings: 06.12. 2001 - 23.03.2015