Rocko, January 2, 2012, 17 years old
Today we got our first snow that stuck to the ground bringing with it fond memories of how a senior dog once loved playing in the snow.
Rocko has always loved snow and when he realized it was coming down he wanted to go outside. He stood on the steps with the flakes piling up on him, looking off into the sky.
I wonder what memories were going through his mind. Here are some of mine.
We are in the city now, but when Rocko was young we lived in the suburbs with a driveway that had to be shoveled. We both loved being outside in the cold and shoveling snow. I would tie his leash to a rope around my waist so he could play while I worked. He chased every shovel of snow that I tossed, thinking I was doing it just for his enjoyment.
Trying to find the snowball after I threw it was another fun pastime. He would dig his nose into the snow, looking up with a mound on his nose and a puzzled look on his face.
When Rocko was young, he would sit on the porch while it snowed until it was piled up on top of him. It is obvious the years are passing. To put his butt down on the cold porch would be more than his old bones could handle. I know how he feels, my old bones don’t find the cold as much fun as it used to be either.
I think if he had his way he would have stayed outside and watched the snow all day but finally the flakes drifted away and it was time to come inside.
Rocko is an old dog now, gray on his chin and not as sure of foot in the slippery snow. But in the memory of a senior dog is a time when he played in the snow and loved every minute of it.
A young Rocko playing in the snow, around 1998, 3 or 4 years old