There's only so much snow shoveling we're going to do. So, a time will come each day that we run out of snow on the deck or desire to shovel it (or both). Marley will have to get over himself when that happens. So far, he's been OK after we've had a session of "snow in the face" and go back in the house. But, now that it's winter and has happened more than once ... it's become, in his head, "what we do" as part of the daily routine. And he'd like it to happen around 10 or 11 in the morning.
I had been thinking that if he can't easily find a chunk of hot dog or a dog treat in the snow, I sure didn't want to throw out the Chuck-It ball once, never to be seen again until spring. Then the light bulb came on. Why not make snowballs that fit the Chuck-It! He doesn't have to bring them back, there's plenty of snow to make more of them, I can fling them with one arm.
It was an instant hit. In fact, I had to change the direction I was "chucking" the snowballs because some of them went over the fence! (Side fence, not end of the yard fence) He tries to get under them, but the trajectory is so much bigger that it's harder to anticipate where they'll come down. And once they've hit the snow, they're hard to find since they're the same stuff as what they land in.
I probably tossed 2 or 3 dozen snowballs and he had a blast. He runs further out for them, so he gets even more exercise. I get a different exercise, but no lifting or other motions that irritate my arthritic hip. Another multi-layered win.
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