Fairbanks Dreaming: Snow Dog

(by Leslie)

Ziggy, our one-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, was born in Hawai‘i, and up till last week had lived all of her life in Hilo and Santa Cruz.

right after we adopted here, in Hilo

Needless to say, we were a mite concerned about how she would take to the frigid clime of an Alaskan winter. So, in anticipation of our trip, Robin made her a set of fleece booties. (This is the first thing Robin has ever sewed, I do believe.)

notice the Superman motif on the cloth

In addition, we bought on line some orange-colored plastic booties, which are like little balloons. They go on first as a waterproof layer, with the fleece ones on top for warmth. In addition, she has two layers of fleece coats.

Ziggy does not like having her booties put on, but is a good girl and lies still while we go through the daily ritual of getting her ready to go outdoors:

she holds her legs so stiff it’s as if rigor mortis has set in

The first morning we were here we took her outside to go pee. It was almost eight o’clock, but still rather dark. She walked around hesitantly—dunno if it was more the strange booties or the cold snow—but did her business without any problem. She was very happy to go back inside, however.

Later that day we took her on a walk around our neighborhood:

Ziggy leads the way

You can see how cold it is, by Robin’s outfit in this next photo. It’s been between 10°F below 0 and 20°F above since we’ve been in Fairbanks. Robin and I have been fine, though, as the house has an efficient heating system, and we get bundled up good when we’re heading outdoors.

By the next day, after so much time cooped up indoors, Ziggy was definitely ready for some serious exercise. We’ve now realized there’s virtually no traffic in this neighborhood, so we let her off leash at the bottom of our driveway for some racing around, so typical of JRTs. Here’s a video for you to watch:

And finally, today, she really started getting into romping in the snowdrifts. The snow here is exceedingly dry—so dry that a snowball does not hold together, and it’s impossible to build a snowman. I’m not a skier, but I imagine it’s what you’d call “powder.” And it’s perfect for a peppy pup to pounce about in. Here’s another video:

We’ve read that JRTs are very adaptable to different climates, and this appears to be true for little Zig.