The Puppies' First Snow | Farm Stories for Kids

<h1>Transcript</h1>00:00:01Hi friends this episode is about our puppies experiencing their very first real snow.00:00:10It happened last week and at a year and a half old it was their first chance to fall in love with an aspect of winter that everyone here at Foggy Oak Farm already adores.00:00:23That is, if the puppies can get over how scared they are of this mysterious white stuff that keeps falling from the sky.00:00:34Let's learn how Orion and Christoph went from terrified to thrilled, with some help from their parents.00:00:46If you've been listening for a while, you may remember that in June 2022, about a year and a half.00:00:52Ago, our dog Rose had eight puppies here at Foggy Oak Farm. I talked about them in the episode, the disappearing puppies.00:01:02They grew by leaps and bounds, and one by one they left for their new homes. Some went to farms, some to cities, some to towns, and two well, two stayed right here at Foggy Oak Farm.00:01:19Both puppies clock in at well over 100 lbs and are as tall as our six year old's shoulder when they're standing.00:01:29If you stand them on two legs and put their front paws on your shoulders, they're as tall as me.00:01:36Christoff looks like a giant black lab with short black fur and a huge head with sweet brown eyes. He has a tail that curls like a pig's with a.00:01:46White tip and each of his feet end in white.00:01:48Socks with black speckles.00:01:51He got all of the lab from his Labradoodle dad and a nice touch of Great Pyrenees from his fluffy white mom. His bark is all his moms, though. You can always recognize him by.00:02:02The deep.00:02:05When he wants to make you aware of something.00:02:08He sounds mean, but he's actually a big baby, scared of new things sometimes, afraid of even walking across our wood floors, that kind of thing.00:02:20His brother Orian almost doesn't look related. He's a little bull here, but the same height as Christoff. He has a primarily white coat with lots of black interspersed and three big black spots, which is how he got his name after the three stars in the constellation Orion's belt.00:02:39His fur is scruffy and his black head has a big white stripe coming down the middle that arches into elaborate eyebrows, framing his own sweet brown eyes.00:02:50He has long, scruffy hairs under his chin like his dad, so when he comes to greet you, it also unfortunately often comes with a big sigh of slimy wetness.00:03:03From his drool from drinking from both.00:03:07It's often unclear, but my pants look like a giant snail has crawled across them from where Ryan has run into me.00:03:17Orion is typically bolder than Christoff, happy to explore and not afraid of our floors. But this week we ran into something that shook both of them to their core.00:03:31You see, friends. One thing that hadn't happened in their first year of life.00:03:36Was snow.00:03:39And earlier this week, for the first time in their.00:03:42Lives it snowed. Not a lot, mind you. We're in the mountains of Virginia, which is in the southern part of the United States, so we don't get a ton of snow except for the odd occasions when we get 2 feet at once. But for us, this less than an inch of snowfall.00:03:59Was quite the event.00:04:02It had been raining and gross all day.00:04:06I had gotten absolutely covered in mud when I was doing the chores down at the chicken coop, but throughout the afternoon the temperature steadily dropped. We were well below freezing by the time the sun.00:04:19Set and snow began to seem possible.00:04:25My husband and I had been putting the girls to bed and when I came downstairs, the world outside was not the normal calm darkness of a country night, but a wild swirl of cascading snowflakes.00:04:40I found Orion stretched out on the couch nearly asleep.00:04:44Christoff was still upstairs, curled up on a giant bean bag in the kids room.00:04:50Ryan first, I guess I thought to myself as I opened the porch door.00:04:56Ohh Ryan. Come on buddy. Come see.00:04:59The snow I crooned at him.00:05:03Oh, Ryan barely raised his head off the sofa to regard me. He was cozy. He didn't want to get up.00:05:11Come on, buddy. Come on.00:05:14I wheedled walking out onto the porch myself to try and interest him.00:05:19Curious, he roused himself and worked his way off the couch and out onto the porch.00:05:26At first, he didn't notice this now.00:05:29Then he did.00:05:32Woo woo.00:05:35He bellowed out at the swirling darkness.00:05:39Orion, it's snow, I said. It's not scary. Get off the porch and go look at it, he continued, ignoring me as he warned away the menacing mystery debris that he thought very well could be alive and was falling everywhere all around him.00:05:59Oh, for goodness sake. I huffed and slip back inside to go find Christoff.00:06:05Maybe if the two of them were out together, it would be fun and not scary. When I step back inside, I saw Kristoff making his way down the stairs, curious about his brothers echoing and incessant barking.00:06:20Christoph topher. Topher ton. I called him. Come here and see the snow.00:06:29Christoph came gingerly over to me, looking a little skeptical about what was going on downstairs.00:06:37I opened the door again and Ryan paused his barking to look at. Christoph. Christoph pushed past me and stepped out onto the porch as well, where his tail immediately shot between his legs and he assumed what we think of as his nervous posture.00:06:55He thundered, joining Orion's chorus of.00:06:57Woo woo woo.00:07:00I rolled my eyes. They were just winding each other up and absolutely refused to leave the porch. I tried walking down the steps into the snowy grass myself. No dice. Christoph cautiously came down 2 steps, felt the snow fall on his head and practically bolted back up to the porch.00:07:21Oh, Ryan. Never even pretended like he was going to follow me. Looking at me with a disdainful skepticism that I felt was entirely unwarranted, given my very good intentions.00:07:34I threw my hands above my head in resignation.00:07:38Fine, I said. Fine. You don't trust me, but I bet you'll trust your dad.00:07:46I stomped up the stairs and went back inside yet again to fetch their dad, Lori.00:07:54Laurie, I called Laurie, come show your puppies what snow is.00:08:02I heard a long-suffering from the kids room upstairs and then the reluctant heave of Laurie's body as he dragged himself up from where he was curled on their.00:08:15He appeared at the top of the stairs, looking at me curiously and gently wagging his tail.00:08:21Come on, buddy. You gotta show them, I explained.00:08:25Lorry reluctance forgotten, pranced down the stairs and rubbed himself along me like a cat.00:08:32OK, cat, dog, I chuckled as I stroked his head.00:08:36Let's go. And Lori and I walked to the door where we found the puppies still firmly planted on the porch, Orion barking at the snow and Kristoff cowering behind Orion.00:08:48I opened the door and Laurie launched himself outside like a rocket, hurling himself off the porch and into the snowy yard.00:08:55He sprinted around the perimeter and came back to run in circles around the trampoline and a paroxysm of delight until he paused and threw his front half to the ground, leaving his **** and tail in the air to waggle as he looked at Christoff and Orion in a clear invitation. Come get me his gaping mouth.00:09:16Wide eyes demanded. Come chase me and with a.00:09:20Gentle woof.00:09:21He took off on his mad dash again.00:09:24Orion and Christoff exchanged a glance like is it really safe? And as one appeared to decide that it was off, they shot after their father into the swirling snow and inky darkness.00:09:40Laurie and Christoff are so dark that it was hard to make them out in the snow, but I could see Orion with his white coat a little better. They had caught up to Laurie and began chasing him with all their might.00:09:54Occasionally they would stop and begin a ferocious wrestling match, throwing themselves down into the snow as they rolled and rolled and bit at each other's tails and ears.00:10:05The play was interspersed with delighted and playful barks, and I turned to go back inside.00:10:11The puppies were clearly no longer scared.00:10:14That's when I saw Rose, who had been asleep in the office waiting at the door, her ears perked and her eyes light with curiosity.00:10:23She didn't know about the snow before, but she knew now.00:10:29Rose is a Great Pyrenees and Great Pyrenees were bred to be livestock guardians high in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.00:10:39Typically all white with a thick double coat. They prefer cool and cold weather, and they especially love snow.00:10:48Rose doesn't tend to play as much as our other dogs as the top dog and mom of Orion and Kristoff. She has a certain amount of control and discipline that she wants to maintain, but when she plays, she plays hard.00:11:043rd and fresh falling snow is her absolute favorite time to play. She sprang outside like a puppy and ran full tilt at the tangle of Laurie and the puppies. She dove into them and initiated a rough and tumble round of chase where she ran as fast as she could away from the boys.00:11:24Who, with their longer legs and younger bodies very quickly caught up with her and played their favorite game of pull Moms Tail bite Moms Legs, causing her to turn frantically back and forth as she wrestled them.00:11:39When she crashed to the ground as Laurie and the boys had before her, she rolled about in the snow with the puppies clearly having the time of her life. It was her first snow with her puppies, after all, and perhaps she wanted to make it just as special and fun for them as it was for her.00:11:59They were all in their own world. I couldn't get them in until they had played without pausing for at least a couple of hours.00:12:08When they finally agreed to be called inside, they were panting, soaking wet, covered in rapidly melting snowflakes, and, yes, transcendently happy. The snow lasted through the night, and when I got up in the morning and came downstairs, I was treated to the sight of both my daughters romping and the light dusting of snow.00:12:28With the no longer exhausted, still transcendently happy dogs.00:12:34They all played until the very last moment when my girls needed to leave for school and by mid morning the snow had melted entirely, as if it had never been.00:12:45We're all hoping for a real snowfall this winter, but in the meantime we'll have the amusing memory of seeing the puppies experience their first snow from terror to tentative interest to delight.00:12:59Many of us are heading into the holiday season and this is going to be the last episode of Season 2, though supporters will also be getting their monthly bonus episode.00:13:10I appreciate you so much for being here and listening.00:13:14I hope you are cozy. If it's cold and cool, if it's hot and I hope you enter the new year knowing how very special and loved you are.00:13:25That's it for this season and this year and we'll be back with season three in a bit.00:13:31Thanks for being here.

The Puppies' First Snow 🐶❄️| Real Farm Life Stories for Kids

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