Nurhan's take:
Last weekend Kin and I went looking at cabins. Now there's several motivations for getting a cabin, a big one is that I love to ski and be out in nature, Kin (like almost all dogs) loves to be in the snow, but he really can't handle long ski trips, and to be honest I wouldn't want to take a dog on the trips that we like to do. But when not doing top tours or skiing into cabins it would be good to be able to take a ski trip for a couple of hours. Having Kin there is more organisation involved with going skiing in the winter. Having a cabin makes it easier to take ski trips. Also there is an economic consideration, in Norway you get a rebate on your income tax for the more money you owe, debt free, my income tax approaches 50%, with a huge loan this drops down into the thirties! Bizarre but true. So looking at a reasonable (low priced cabin) actually works out as a good investment for mind, body, and economics.
Last time Kin & I were at Gilja was March last year: http://kin-newfie.blogspot.com/2011/03/kins-first-ski-trip-nurhan.html at that Kin was coming up to being four months old. Now Gilja is a bit on the low side to get good snow for most of the season, but it's a no through road, and the cabins are not too far to walk from the road, which is a consideration with a young/old Newfie and also when there is deep snow. Conditions at Gilja on Sunday were amazing, ~ 40 cms of fresh, beautiful powder snow. I say beautiful if you are on skis, if you are a long haired, giant breed like a Newfie, you are not so keen on this.
As the going does tend to get quite tough.
And then when you do get to the cabin, you're not even allowed inside!
My criteria for a cabin runs like this:
- snow in winter;
- no through road/little traffic;
- close enough to the road that Kin can make it to the cabin especially in advancing years;
- not so close that he's likely to play with the traffic;
- something to do there in summer (climbing, paddling, flying, fjell running);
- short drive 1 1/2 hrs max, otherwise you limit the use that you'll make of the cabin;
- preferably no ferries to get there;
- close to water so Kin (and I ) can swim in the summer;
- proximity of neighbouring cabins;
- allocated parking-as this can be an issue with snow cover;
- time/duration of direct sunlight;
- cost is obviously an issue, I'm down at the affordable end as opposed to the GDP of a small to medium South American Country end;
- condition of cabin;
- development plan for the area;
- and for an owned cabin, water, sewage, and electricity could be nice.
Norway has a very 'liberal rule' when it comes to dogs, they have to be on the lead in all of Norway from April to September, and in some areas, this is extended to all year round, this is also a large consideration as the fewer folk around and the less sheep in the summer, the more option your dog has to be a dog (as opposed to a bored, animal limited by the owner).
Kin's run like this:
- food;
- sleep;
- play.
The plan was to go and have a look at two cabins, however, Kin went on strike and we ended up returning to the car - talking of which, there were so many folk there that parking was an issue, the normal parking areas hadn't been ploughed (as this kind of snow here so early on in the season is quite rare), and lots of folk weren't too considerate, which did put a damper on the day before leaving the car.
Thus the car was parked down the hill after forcing through an area that had been ploughed prior to the weekend's snow. Had been following the weather forecast and it was predicted to switch between snow and rain for the last four days, so the snow should have been compacted, however as all paraglider pilots will tell you in this part of the country, the weather forecast lies, and given the snow it's been below freezing for the last few days of snow fall and thus the great conditions for skiers, and the not so great for giant hairy breeds!
And I forgot the wax for his paws:
which given the conditions led to ice bits forming not just on his coat but in between his toes and pads, no harm done this time, but can't have been comfortable for the little chap.
So on the way back we stopped off at Bråstein so he could swim. Drop 400 meters and the paths become compacted ice, which was so great.
Still this is quite an effective way to remove ice from between the paws... however it does tend to lead to:
ice forming on the coat after the 30 minute walk/skid/fall, back to the car.
* is there any other kind of bureaucrat?
Reference one of the greatest lies in the world:
I'm from the government/Commune/... I'm here to make things better!
Nurhan's take:
Now most of the ski/mountain trips that I go on I wouldn't want to take any dog with me, let alone a Newfie, indeed Edward Whymper, who first, controversially climbed the Matterhorn (back in the 1800s {three of his 'guides' were killed during the decent}), in his old age, exemplified that he wouldn't be venturing on any too strenuous trips by getting a Newfoundland dog! (Which seems a bit sever an indictment!). But early season snow really isn't good for such a heavy, hairy dog as a Newfie.
Should probably diversify onto St Bernards at this point. There are two types of St Bernards, long and short haired. The one's that are renown for mountain rescue are the (smaller) short haired St Bernards. The long haired St Bs (I believe) came about as the short haired ones (that are recorded at the time of the Roman Empire as having been guard dogs), were suffering from some form of illness that was killing them off, so they tried to breed them with Newfies, which led to the long haired variety. The long haired variety looks like a supersized brown & white Newfie (and are generally the heaviest dogs in the world). The reputation for Mountain rescue and the the name comes from the St Bernards Pass, which had a Hospice built by Monks to aid travelers using the high mountain pass between Switzerland and Italy; after the storms the monks would go searching for trapped travelers and the monks' dogs liked to join them on these trips (what dog doesn't enjoy playing in the snow and being useful). These were the short haired variety. All long haired breeds suffer from snow balling in the fur and weighting them down.
But if you can drive to the cabin (or it's not a strenuous walk through deep snow) then the Newfie will love it. The above picture is Kin lying outside the cabin. There's approx. a metre of snow around the cabin, and this is a drive to cabin. Kin & I went to a cabin at Sageneset http://www.sageneset.no/ along with Ingunn, her three boys, and her dog.
Kin loved it. He took to throwing himself off the ploughed path and flopping into the deep snow where he'd thrash around ineffectively for awhile before floundering back onto the ploughed path! Another favorite was to roll over and over in the snow, making deranged snow angel dogs! Did have to rescue him from the snow when he'd managed to break through into a stream bed beneath the snow and had to be very careful with streams and rivers as if he went into them I'd have two problems: (1) all the snow would stick to him and he'd have some problems moving far; (2) he could get swept under something frozen.
When we got back to the cabin Kin wanted some peace and quiet at a good temperature (~ -7 deg C/19 f), so I thought I'd clipped him onto a lead tied to the cabin, in actual fact I clipped him into Zorro's lose lead, but he still stayed curled up outside the cabin, if he did wonder off he came back.
During the night Kin slept next to my bed. He did wake me up once during the night, by banging his head into the beams/mattress under the bed; he managed to get himself stuck under the bed, by pushing himself under with his front paws, but he could not push off anything to get himself out again, he was lying at a 090 degree angle to the bed, I had to get out of bed and pull him out by his front paws, he had a bit of rolling to get small enough to get under the edge of the bed!
Now Zorro & Kin generally play well together, Kin is surprisingly gentle with Zorro (either that or he hasn't realised that with a flick of his paw he can propel Zorro into next week), but taking them both for a walk in the snow, I had to have both of them on the lead, as I had to stick to the ploughed trails/roads, and every time Kin tried to poo, Zorro attacked him, which really did put the big chap off his game! Had to return to the cabin, put Mr Zorro inside and then Kin could attend to call of nature un-hassled!
Kids got on well with Kin.
and obviously with their own dog Zorro, who's looking tired after playing out in the snow. Good time had by all.
Postscript note, talking of rescue dogs, this vidclip shows the kind of rescue work that Newfies excel at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28NMj0fdDM4&feature=related
Nurhan's take:
New Years Eve, and like many folk I'd take Kin & Zorro, to Bråstein to get them to un around and be tired for an evening that's normally filled with many bangs. In the car to and from Bråstein, I'd worn ear plugs and played firework noises obnoxiously loud from the car's stereo system. The above picture shows Kin & Zorro, after returning from Bråstein and having eaten. This was shortly before we all went to Ingunn's (Zorro's owner) for New Year's Eve celebrations.
{As an aside, I asked the pet shop how many 15 kgs sacks of dog food I bought for him in 2011, he's eaten 16 sacks!}.
The day before managed to sneak off and went skiing in a new area for us:
Steep soft snow up from the road, we should have used skins, but by the time we came to this conclusion the terrain was not conducive to stopping and putting them on (pic show's Svein).
We found a place out of the wind, and with a couple of minutes with a shovel and a bivvy shelter, stopped for a welcome bite to eat out of the wind, on our own tailor made 'sofa' complete with foot rest, tea holder, and back rest.
It's interesting how age changes us. Ten years ago, I would have skied with just a light (normally a HH Lifa) thermal, and a wind layer on top, today was big hat, wool thermal (Helly Hansan Warm), fleece, & a wind layer.
Irritatingly I managed to twist my ankle the next day taking Kin (and Zorro) out at Bråstein, so now I have one painful ankle that's shaved and taped; and hopefully will be pain free by the weekend.
Initially it seemed like the firework phobia prevention had been a complete success. Come ten to midnight we ventured out to watch the fireworks and I took Kin with us, and initially he was fine. Often with animals (and people) something subtly changes and the change is noticeable (even if the cause isn't), and then it's just a case of waiting for the dust to clear and seeing the 'new lay of the land', that you are no longer able to influence. On this occasion there was no doubt as to what changed his composure, despite Stavanger sentrum being a, private firework free zone, some twat let off a banger practically right next to Kin. It made me jump, Kin's reaction was more pronounced. Situation should be salvageable, if you show no worry/reaction, so I took him for the walk back to the house without trying to calm him down at all. I now wish that I'd left him in the house with Zorro. When back at the house he seemed fine (as did Zorro who'd been in the house the whole time).
Shortly after the above picture was taken, Kin went out to sleep in the garden, there was a loud bang (someone close by setting off fireworks). I opened the door and he came charging in (I'm tempted to say, "as though someone let a firework off, under his arse", but sadly that's a little bit too close to the truth) and hasn't gone out in the garden since. I'm still waiting to see the 'lay of the land' after the New Year's Shift...
