‘Stir crazy’ dogs jump for joy with winter warm-up at the dog park

The prospect of warmer weather is putting a spring in the steps of many dogs and their owners this week.

Saskatchewan began to thaw out of the deep freeze with temperatures in the single digits by Monday afternoon. The lure of fresh air that wouldn’t freeze her face brought Caitlin McCarthy and her dog Copper out for a much-needed walk.

“We’re pretty excited. We’ve spent lots of days the last few weeks cooped up inside and not able to take our pups for walks,” she said.

“Our two dogs have been pretty restless the last few days, just lots of pent-up, extra energy and it’s hard to burn that when there’s nowhere inside to take them.”

Her friend Rachel Burke agreed as she watched her dog Josie race around the park.

“It means getting out of the house and lots of activity whereas so far we’ve just been trying to burn off energy inside which doesn’t work out so great,” Burke said.

As the dogs jumped for joy and ran, the wind still put a damper on their two-legged partners’ moods. As they faced howling winds, McCarthy and Burke both expressed hope the forecast holds out for later in the week.

Joey Synk admitted she was still cold as she watched her dog Frodo frolic in the snow.

“He loves it. He has been going stir crazy (with) cabin fever not being able to go outside,” Synk said.

She is also hoping for a bit of a break with even milder weather on the way.