The Complexities of Watering

At night, for the past week or so, the dog's water pans have frozen. This begins the complicated version of feeding. Before, when the water remained a liquid, the dogs could get their food either on the ground or mixed in with their water. It all depends on the dog. For instance, Colfax never drinks enough on his own, so I mix the food in his water so he is forced to hydrate; on the other hand, it can be argued that Kobuk drinks an abundance of water, so he doesn't need any encouraging. 

Kayenta: "Is that food you have in your bucket?!"

With the frozen water, I'll have to start shifting over to the winter feeding ritual. In the morning, the dogs will receive a  wonderful slushy! About 30 pounds of food will be mixed with an equal amount of H2O; this turns the food into a puffed up, disgusting-looking, mixture. The dogs love it. It goes down fast and easy. If they're lucky, I'll mix in a little dried meat or vegetables in the buckets as well. They always make a bee line for the meat and usually leave the lettuce for last...figures. After feeding, everyone gets a few inches of water in their pans. Last year, if I knew it was going to be well below freezing all day, I just added more water to the food mixture. Otherwise, when I came out at night, all the pans would be a frozen mess with a whole lot of wasted water.

Pismo's always ready for feeding time

With training starting next week, I'll have to make sure to keep the water receptacles clear. The dogs are going to need water at every break and a pan full when they're done running. Each metal container holds enough water to take care of the dogs for 1 week. However, the colder it gets, the more likely it is to get a few inches of ice built up. It's a major pain to hack through a few inches of ice first thing in the morning. Once the ice gets too thick and that is no longer an option, I'll have to start carrying buckets from the house. Not only will I be working on my cardiovascular with running dogs up and down hills, but I'll be toning my arms with bucket after bucket. At least I won't have to worry about freezing!