DISTANCE: 6.6 km DURATION:  1 hour 3 minutes

And the award for Most Creative Run Direction Coordinator goes to....Mr Marley!! (And the crowd goes wild). As verified by your run companion Cheryl, Mr Marley you also receive top honours for friendliness, adorability, strength, approachability, listening, and for taking a beautiful picture! For those on the audience who don't know, Mr Marley loves running full speed when atop a blanket of snow. His need to plank is as great as his need to roll around and smoosh his snoot in snow and in Cheryl's hand for a friendly boop and he is just a wonderful and funny creature to be around. Come on up and get your award, Superstar! The scoop: 3 poops and a whole lot of peeing today.  The Scoop: 5 poos, 5 pees.

Runner: Cheryl

DISTANCE:8.5 km DURATION: 1 hour 8 minutes

Today, new DGR Runner Mark joined me to run Border Collie Jersey and Rhodesian Ridgeback Dodge and they became part of my Day 5 challenge to run 12K's in a row. Jersey really wanted us to stay in pack formation so she was herding us from the get go. I have not run Dodge for some time but boy was he chill.   He had that old soul/big teddy bear vibe! The only big excitement for him was when he found a gigantic stick to carry along the way. We found a quiet path along the river valley and then we noticed another keen runner who wanted to join our pack. There was a coyote that ran beside us for a 100 metres or so. Thankfully Dodge and Jersey were oblivious! What a fun way to spend the lunch hour. Both dogs peed but no poos.  Hope to see you two again soon!   Cheers!
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Runners: Ruth and Mark
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DISTANCE:12.2 km  DURATION: 1 hour 4 minutes

​Today, I feel I was a little misled by Ella’s owners description of her opinion on running. They said she ‘loves’ to run. I found out that she LOVES to run!! It was an all caps RUN today with this absolutely lovely girl! We took off around the zoo and to downtown and back, and it seemed like the kms just flew by! I started calling her ‘Ella 4%’ because like the super fancy Nike shoes, I think she made me run 4% faster! She is wonderful on the leash, and luckily, there weren’t that many people out and about anyway. There were lots of squirrels though, but in true Pointer fashion, she pointed them out but didn’t take off after them. She also loves her yard, and bounded around it with absolute glee before and after our 12km. I made a judgement call on her jacket today, and we went without it with the intention of turning back for it within the first km if she started feeling cold or looking unhappy, but pretty quickly I discovered that unless we stopped for a long period of time, being cold won’t be an issue. In fact, once we got back home and were hanging out in her yard, she was literally steaming! I made sure she cooled off and got a big drink of water and a water bowl refill before leaving. I really enjoyed our hour together - she’s a great dog! Thanks for the run Ella! After I turned the app off she pooped once. 

​Runner: Laura

DISTANCE: 9.5 km DURATION: 1 hour 11 minutes

Rossi the snow connoisseur! What a fun run we had today. Rossi was in a very playful mood today. We had a little wrestle before starting our run and as soon as we stopped Rossi was right on the pace; leading the way towards the river. We decided to take the little single trail right next to the river and Rossi's nose was working over-time with all the new and old smells. Making good time along the path, we headed up to Montalban Park to get some off-leash time. There is no happier dog than a Rossi off-leash when there's snow on the ground. He leaps and jumps and sprints around. We had fun playing hide and seek around the large trees, with a bit of wrestling mixed in. Now that everything is frozen, drinks are hard to come by while out running and running is certainly thirsty work for Rossi! He had taken to sniffing and tasting snow everywhere we go. He likes to bury his face in it to check if it's acceptable, then he gets a mouthful to quench his thirst. It makes me laugh because he gets snow stuck all over his face! After a long run and play in the park, we headed for home via the hospitals. Rossi always has a sense for when time is up and often picks up the pace in the last 10 minutes. Not sure if he's keen to get back on the sofa or he just likes making me run faster after slowing him down in the deeper snow .  The Scoop: 2 poos, 6 pees.

Runner: Allison

Having Biggles in our home is always therapeutic!  He is such a big love!  Here are a few of the things he was a big help with: 1) bringing Christmas cheer, 2) helping bake cookies, 3) watching Christmas movies from his favourite basket to snuggle in, and 4) snuggling with the boys while they tried on ugly Christmas sweaters and did on-line Christmas shopping.
Teddy was very excited to see Biggles again and gave him a big tongue lick a few times.  We laughed because as we watched a Christmas movie, Teddy just stared at Mr. Biggelsworth.   Biggles provides him with a lot of entertainment.  When Biggles wasn't helping with Christmas items, he was snuggled deep under a pile of blankets.    Thanks again for the cat therapy!

Pet Sitters: Ruth and her boys (Ryan, Eli and Teddy)

DISTANCE: 9.5 km DURATION: 1 hour 24 minutes

Good Morning Mira! So, I had this dream about you last night and I wanted to share it.  I showed up as always but to my surprise your family decided to adopt 5 more pooches!😳 I was in a bit of a panic because I didn’t have enough leashes but, for some reason I had Christmas lights on my truck so I took them off, attached everybody together and away we went. Soon to be flying in the air! Oh my what would Freud say?!?!!!😂 Anyways, Mira was an absolute delight today and I had a fantastic time as always. Thanks for being such a joy Mira! 1 poo and many pees today. CHEERS!

​Runner: Tracy

DISTANCE:  7.6 km DURATION: 59 minutes

​Getting festive with Kona and Winter Today on our run we were on the hunt for Christmas decorations. Now this is a little trickier then Halloween decorations. Christmas decorations tend to be more inflatables and lights so during the day, it is not the best time but Kona and Winter managed to find some. We even found a mailbox for them to mail their letters to the North Pole, not sure what they said as I couldn’t read the dogs' handwriting. The runs themselves were great as we didn’t encounter really any slippery spots, mostly because we stayed off the paths and on the sidewalks people have cleared. Both dogs ran really well. Kona has her sniffer going strong today to the point she didn’t even snuggle as much. She was so busy smelling everything. Winter started off hopping through the snow piles but quickly realized it was slowing her down so then she stuck to the sidewalks. I’m excited to see them tomorrow. The Scoop: 1 pee for Winter and that’s all.

Runner: Scott
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DISTANCE: 8.8 km . DURATION: 1 hour 1 minute

Nell and I had a nice run today. It was warm and sunny! Nell started out speedy fast but stopped today to smell things which was unusual. On our way back, there was a black cat in the middle of our path that was still as a statue and dared us to pass her. We went into the snow bank to get around her to avoid confrontation.  The Scoop; 1 pee.

Runner: Ali

DISTANCE: 8.5 km . DURATION: 2 hour 20 minutes

Charlie and I had a delightful time on our shlep through the frozen terrain today. My friend enjoyed last week's route so much that he figured we should do it again. Perfect! Less thinking for me😂 (no comment) It was another search and rescue for Charlie’s sticks today. Because they were so far and few between, my friend just wouldn’t give up every time he lost his precious treasures. Not to worry but all that sniffing and digging around in the snow made his beard grow bigger and bigger. Dare I say, he started to look like jolly old Saint Nick! If he was a dog and had dark hair.... okay that was a bit of a stretch.😆 On our way back we had to make a few necessary stops to remove the snow balls in between this little poopers toes. They were huge and looked rather uncomfortable but of course Charlie is never one to complain.😊 Thanks for a great time today my friend! 2 poos and many pees. Cheers!
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Runner: Tracy

DISTANCE: 7 km . DURATION: 1 hour 33 minutes

Despite the frigid temperatures, my gal pals and I had an amazing time!😊 Believe it or not we made it down to our party destination rather quickly and it was me and only me who slowed things down. I watched (in jealousy) as Mona and Reilly galloped gracefully “ Along Frozen Pond “ see what I did there? 😬 I had some issues falling but it didn’t hurt as there was so much snow. On my last fall, I looked up and couldn’t see the gals anywhere. My heart sank. I kept calling them turning and looking! Well guess what? These little hooligans were behind me the whole time!😂 That was karma coming back at me for doing the same thing to my dad when he had a patch on his eye not that long ago.😈 After that we made our way back to where we started. Thanks for a great time ladies! I’m going to keep my eye on you two tricksters.👁 1 poo and many pees each. CHEERS!

​Runner: Tracy

DISTANCE: 7.4 km DURATION: 1 hour 10 minutes

Feliz Navidad Bowie. With that salutation, Bowie gave me a kiss. After some time chatting & getting towels & treats ready for our post run, it was time to venture outside. I needed my Icebug running shoes today and I always leave them outside because of the cleats. When I opened the door Bowie peeked out and was hesitant to go outside. At first, I thought it may be because of my bright yellow running shoes. No, that was not it. Bowie, I promise we will have fun. Within 3 steps, Bowie was loving the snow. I think she did not want to leave the toasty comforts of home at first. We did loops of Dalhousie. On our first one, the spunky monkey came out in Bowie. She grab the leash and started to jump around. Oh, I see, it is play-time. At the half-way point, we stopped in at ’Casa Michelle’ to warm our paws up. Actual outside time 1 hour & 10 minutes. Henry (my husband) was home and very happy to meet Bowie. Time to head out for out second loop and finish with a bit more play-time in the park. Bowie was pretty focused on finding a bunny. She would go for full city blocks with her nose down in the snow; tracking the scent of a rabbit. Time to hit ’tu casa’. See you next week Bowie🐾.  The Scoop: 7 pees, 1 poo.
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Runner: Michelle