Navigating the Maryland Winter
Valentine’s Day in Montgomery County usually brings a mix of romantic flurries and a lot of frozen, salt-crusted sidewalks. While our dogs, Luna and Oakley, see a snowstorm as an all-day invitation to play, being a professional caretaker means seeing the hidden risks beneath the white powder.
As many of you saw in my [previous post on rock salt], those treatments are a double-edged sword—melting ice but threatening paws with chemical burns. To keep our pack safe during this recent stretch of weather, we’ve had to make some strategic adjustments to our routes.
Choosing the Safe Path
When the sidewalks are a mess, we go “off-road” or “deep-neighborhood.” We look for:
Residential Side Streets:
These areas often have less salt than main roads, where heavy traffic spreads chemicals far and wide.
Untouched Snow:
It sounds counterintuitive, but trudging through fresh, deep snow is often safer than walking on high-traffic paths. Foot traffic turns snow into jagged, icy shards that can easily gash a paw pad—something poor Oakley learned the hard way in our own backyard this week.
The Park Trade-Off:
Local parks are the last to be treated. While it means a slower, more deliberate pace for us, it’s a fair trade-off to avoid the corrosive salt treatments found elsewhere.
The Power of Two
One of the biggest advantages of the Zoomies Power Team is our “four eyes, two handlers” approach. Winter walks require constant vigilance. While one of us handles the lead, the other can perform a mid-walk “paw-flip” to check for ice balls or salt irritation.
This was vital for Luna recently. After she twisted her leg on the uneven ground just as the storm ended, we’ve had to be incredibly strict with her movements.
Being the “Bad Guy” for Safety
The hardest part of our job isn’t the cold—it’s the look on our dogs’ faces when we tell them “no.” We can’t explain to Luna why she’s restricted to a leash or to Oakley why her backyard sprints are paused.
When the Maryland weather makes outdoor play too risky, we pivot. We’ve been getting creative with indoor mental stimulation to burn off that “snow day” energy without the risk of slips or salt burns.
How is your pup handling the ice this week? Are you a “trudge through the snow” or a “stick to the shoveled path” household?
