Barking blondes: Snow can be the greatest fun or total nightmare for dogs

• By Joanne Good and Anna Webb
• Notebook
• Sunday, 20 January 2013 at 4:00 pm

Snow can be the greatest fun or total nightmare for dogs. Depending on the breed, like us, their enthusiasm differs. Some rush out to leap like deer horizontally up and down in the stuff whilst others, including our own little darlings, Molly and Matilda, recoil from it.
This week we had a bit of an embarrassing moment in the block where we live.
We are fortunate that this is one of the few mansion blocks in central London that allows dogs. Realising how rare this is, all the owners and pooches in the block are on their best behavior when in the hallways and on the stairs.
For the six years we have lived here, all has run quite smoothly amongst the canine community, until yesterday.
We awoke to the silence that can mean only one thing, it has snowed overnight and from the look of dread on dogs’ faces, they knew it as well.
After struggling to get them both into waterproof dog coats we headed off for the morning constitution, down the main stairs into the lobby.
We’d all but dragged their stubborn bull breed bodies towards the front door whereupon it opened to reveal what looked like Darth Veda. Dressed head to toe in polar expedition gear, complete with walking poles, hat and snow goggles is the bloke from number eight returning with his paper.
Matilda the bulldog stood stock still, the fur rising up on her back. Molly, the bull terrier flattened her ears and bared her teeth (we are proud to say teeth of a two year old).
We could read the signs. The bloke from number eight couldn’t. He loves our dogs. Unfortunately, as he lean forward to pat them he forgot, that they have never before seen him in this guise.
We will leave it for all you dog owners to imagine what happened next. Let’s just say it’s taken the delivery of two bottles of wine and an invitation to dinner, to calm things down. Oh… and a couple of plasters.
Dogs are natural communicators. Their language is global – they ’speak’ through body language and read us humans in the same way.
If we cover our bodies and eyes and scent, they are confused. So even though Molly and Matilda were familiar with our neighbor, he had, in an attempt to keep warm, confused them. All communication signs had been hidden.
It doesn’t matter if you’re speaking Chinese or French the dog you’re communicating to will read your body posture, facial expression first and foremost. This coupled with a tone of voice i.e. happy, cross or indifferent helps get the message across. Dogs understand commands which have been built on body/hand signals first.
Dogs obviously find it easier to read one another.
They rely on small eye movements, head turns, tail carriage, body posture and ear movements to convey how they feel to other dogs.
However, due to the exaggeration of features in breeds such as bulldogs the flat face means some dogs have trouble ‘getting’ a Bulldog’s meaning. This is exacerbated by Bulldog’s not having a tail, a great communicating tool.
Tail docking has now been banned in the UK for six years.
Apart from having their own global language dogs are also born bi-lingual. After years of domestication they have learned to read our faces in the same way as humans. That is by looking at the right side of our faces. This is what we also do to each other, look to the right. Not the left.
So again, meeting a human with a covered face can be very confusing for a dog.
For all you lucky people whose mutts love to frolick in the snow, this is just a word of warning.
Rinse their feet when you return home. All this salt and grit is a godsend for us but is as strong as acid on the dogs feet. It will burn their pads so best to bathe it off.
Finally, this week’s pic is an example of what happens when your dog refuses to walk in the snow. Molly, as you can see, decided to climb a tree!