Weekend at the Cottage

 I've spent the weekend at the cottage with my boyfriend, his parents and our dogs. It has been a fantastic weekend!

Beautiful Link!

Mads, Link and I got there already on Thursday evening, since both Mads and I had the Friday off. We got there late in the evening, so we didn't do much that night. But it felt so good to wake up at the cottage the next morning, so it was worth driving there in the dark.

Mads' parents Danish Swedish Farmdog named Scott.

 Mads, Link and I went out for a walk and some light jogging (to get Link used to pulling when wearing a harness) at lunch the next day, before Mads' parents and their Danish Swedish Farmdog named Scott, came to the cottage. We jogged on the road by the lake, and after a few kilometers we went out on the ice on the lake and walked back to the cottage. It felt almost like spring in the air! The sun was shining and there was hardly any wind.

Link pulling! At least a little...

Link and some "ice sculptures" by the road.

Link making "doggy snow angels" on the lake ice.

 The Saturday was spent mostly outside. The roof of the cottage was heavy with snow and ice, so we had to remove that. Well, I shouldn't say "we", it was mostly Mads and his mom that did the work. Link worked hard too, carrying around big blocks of ice and digging in the snow. But I'm not sure it helped getting the roof cleared...

Mads, his mother Merete and Link working

 Me and Link also went out jogging a little that day. He is really getting the hang of it now, but I could tell he was a bit tired from all the digging and playing. That didn't stop him from resuming this when we got back to the cottage.
 

Link and Scott playing after Link and I went jogging.

Scott.

 The only bad thing about this weekend was that I cut Link's claws right before we went to the cottage. This meant that as he spent most of the Friday and the whole Saturday outside playing and on walks, he wore down the claws too much. When I checked his feet on Saturday evening, he had worn down all the claws to the quick and was bleeding from some of them on his front paws! He had not shown any signs of pain during the day, so I hadn't checked earlier. Poor Link!

Link with bandages on his front paws. He clearly thought I was crazy when I put them on.

So note to self: never cut Link's claws before a weekend at the cottage! I gave him some painkillers (Prescribed by the vet for Link after the surgery, not the same kind we humans use! Human painkillers are often poisonous to dogs!) and only allowed him out when "nature called" on Saturday evening.  On Sunday morning he wanted to go outside again, and he can be very persuasive, so I put some light bandage on his front paws and let him go outside. It worked for almost 1.5 hours, then he managed to get one of them off. I tried to have him stay inside the cottage after that, but he just wanted to go outside all the time. So we decided to head home earlier than planned. It wasn't any fun to be at the cottage when we couldn't be outside with Link.

 Link outside with bandages on.