Winter has arrived

Winter has arrived. It started snowing a little on Monday morning, followed by some small snow flakes every morning of the week. I've added a layer of clothing when training the dogs in the afternoon as temperatures are around 0 degrees.

Roads are also getting icy so no more speeding when I'm late for school in the morning. ;-)

It's been just over a month and I'm starting to see the results of hard work. The Swedish guide with whom I now train the dogs has told me that I can start training the dogs on my own. 12 dogs per team over 15 kms of forest and wetland. It felt like passing a grade... It felt good. :-)

Dogs are also starting to respect me, although a specific dog yard is still a problem as I can't get one dog out without the other 3 escaping at the same time! As soon as I approach their dog yard door, they're like Londoners standing at the gate of Victoria Underground station. They will push you and run you over if you stand in their way! The only comfort is that the Swedish guide doesn't always get "one" dog out too. So even the best can get it wrong.

After about 4 weeks of Swedish classes, I'm starting to speak and understand a little but I keep mixing German and Swedish words! And I've been told my English and French are getting worse... Oops... Oh well... Nobody's perfect...