We have a pug, so if there’s more than an inch or so, I have to shovel at least a little area. As long as it hasn’t been blowing from the east, the eaves along the back of the house protect a narrow band from accumulation, and she’ll squat there. When we had a substantial snow at the beginning of January, I shoveled a path from the garage door along one flower bed, up the steps to the deck, and along the deck to the back door. That way, I could let the dog out and she’d have a short stretch to sniff, piddle, and poo before coming to be let in.
Way back when our border collie/lab mix was alive, she enjoyed a bit of a romp in the snow, but we’d have to meet her with a towel when she came in so we could de-snow her.
Yeah, we have a fenced yard, so no need for us to go out into the snow!
They have the snow in their fenced area trampled down. They go for at least one walk every day in the woods where they’re off-leash. They LOVE running through the snow.
When we get a big dumping of snow, they go out and forge through until it’s trampled down again. If we were to get over 2’, we’d probably at least shovel out a starting out point for them.
Pluto has to bear winter’s hardships and perform #s 1 and 2 no matter what frozen matter covers the turf. It wasn’t fun for him and us last winter during our succession of ice storms, but a good half foot of snow is playtime and an opportunity to sniff at the tracks of other beasties.
If I’m ever a guest at your place and need to use the facilities, I think I’ll pick a handy spot in the yard.
You guys are all lucky. Women really got the “short end of the stick” with that bodily function. Try going for a hike and all you can think of is “I hope I won’t have to pee until we get home”. My husband will sometimes purposely pee outside just because.
I’ve never seen the process up close, but when we go on long kayak trips, drinking beer as we paddle, my gf will take occasional pee breaks. She paddles to the shore, gets out, and discretely does whatever it is women do.
One time she encountered stinging nettles while on a pit stop. She came running into the water, screaming, her feet/ankles/calves on fire.
When I was in Korea I first encountered bathrooms with the porcelain lined trench, not a stool. As a woman I couldn’t figure out how to use it. Then, when my military unit went out in the field the other gal and I got desperate when we were stopped along the road. Suddenly we just pulled our pants down and how to squat came naturally. Talk about relief, I hadn’t peed my pants since I was being toilet trained.
