Boomer needed his exercise, and he needed it every single day. If we didn’t get him outside regularly for a runabout, he would drive us nuts with his energy. When it rained it was difficult, because he was a long-haired dog and the house would smell when he got soaked. Katy would say “it’s a rainy day for puppies”. But snow was a different story.
When he went outside in the snow he would prance like a reindeer. When it was 
too cold to stay out and play with him, we would go into the backyard and throw a tennis ball into the woods. He would run to the spot and cram his snout into the snow, trying to find the ball. Every so often he would come back unsuccessful. When spring came, all the tennis balls would start to surface all over the backyard. If he did find it, he would usually bring it halfway back to the house, stop, drop, and roll a little snow angel in the ground.
We would watch all of this happen from the inside of the house, watch for him to make it back into the breezeway, and then go out and throw it to him again.
Eventually he would get huge clumps of snow hanging off the bottom of his fur coat, and in between the pads of his paws. He’d come into the house and lay down (hopefully on a floor mat) and chew them off or let them melt.
He especially loved it when the kids went sledding or when someone wrestled with him in the front yard.
And of course, one of his favorite activities was when Steve chopped wood in 
the backyard, and he would bring Steve the tennis ball over and over again. Either that or he would “help” Steve by picking up some recently cut wood and running off with it!
And of course, he LOVED to be on the pond, especially when people were skating. He made sure to bring down the tennis ball (or try to steal it if we were using it for a game of pond hockey). When the ice was clear he could run for 150 yards chasing down the ball. It was quite comical to watch him try to stop and slip all over the ice!
When Steve snowblowed the driveway, Boomer would walk right behind him, back and forth, back and forth. Eventually he’d go find a tennis ball and Steve would throw it into a snowbank and let Boomer dig it out.
Here are some great pictures of Boomer in the snow!
This picture shows Boomer in his “bull” pose. Looks like he is about to charge!
And our all-time favorite was when we were on a six-week cross-country trip and the Studleys were staying with Boomer. We got a TON of snow that year, and Boomer is covered in it!
Boomer loved to hang around the driveway and play in the front yard after a snowstorm!
