Ollie And The Mud

~ beetleypete

I have written before about the amount of mud we have to endure on our dog walks. Following the frequent heavy rain we get in Beetley, the mud persists until it is either frozen by a long period of extreme cold, or finally dries out sometime in late May or June.

I have become an expert on mud. I used to think there was just ‘Mud’, but there are a great many varieties.

There is the obvious churned-up ‘surface’ mud. You look ahead of you, and can see a muddy area. If it cannot be avoided, you squelch through it with a depth of just a couple of inches appearing on your boots.

Then there is the ‘slick’ mud. It looks black and oily at first glance, and is rarely deep. That’s because it is sitting on firmer ground, and hasn’t sunk in. Close to the riverbank, this type of mud can often be left behind after local flooding. Walk on that at your peril, as it is as slippery as an ice-skating rink.

The other one best avoided is the ‘boggy’ mud. What might just seem like very wet grass can conceal mud up to three feet deep. That can not only get over the top of your boots and inside them, but also deliver enough suction to pull the boot off completely as you try to extricate it from the quicksand-like grip.

Despite all this, Ollie returns from our walks relatively clean. I have to wipe his paws on one of his dog towels, and clean off some splashes under his belly. Given that we have just spent almost two hours trudging through all the types of mud listed above, you would imagine that my dog would be caked in it up to his hips.

There are two reasons why Ollie can avoid the worst. For one thing, his relatively low weight stops him sinking in too deep. At 28 kilogrammes, (Just over 60 pounds) he is able to distribute that weight over all four legs instead of two.

And there is the way he walks. Best described as ‘prancing’, he does the whole dog walk on the eqivalent of his tiptoes, adding a bounce effect from his strong leg muscles that prevents him from sinking in too deep.

Unlike me, Ollie seems to have been perfectly designed for mud.

79 thoughts on “Ollie And The Mud”

  2. I’d never thought about the different types of mud, but I’ve definitely come across all the ones you mention (I’ve never lost a boot, although I’ve ended up carrying what seemed like tonnes of extra weight on each foot). I’m sure it does wonder for lower body training, but it’s a pain.
    I’m sure having short hair also helps keep things at bay for Ollie. My friend’s labradoodles did carry a fair amount of mud back (although I agree than less than their playing around all over would grant).
    Keep well and take care with all the slippery mud and everything else.

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  7. P.S. Pete, I just re-read your 2018 review of The Graduate and I not only agree with all of your thoughts (especially regarding the Mrs, Robinson character), but also with your thoughts on Mike Nichols Carnal Knowledge. Though when Art Garfunkel is saddled with a great director, he is not bad. Back to Mike Nichols though 🙂 For me, his greatest film (and his only greatest film) is the 2003 HBO miniseries Angels in America. The only thing he directed that I absolutely love 🙂

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  12. Ollie is quite the character. Glad he is light on his feet. I wish our Dane was. She loves nothing better, than finding water standing in a hole, and enlarging it. She gets it all over, blowing bubbles in the hole up to her eyes. Then it’s like washing a school bus.

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  15. When I take MoMo for a walk in a local park that borders on the bayou….she first wants to get in the mud at low tide…..and with her big feet she handles it well as does Ollie…..amazing how attracted to mud these pups are. LOL chuq

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    1. I have had to take my feet out of wellies in the past, then try to retrieve the boots whilst perching on one leg like a flamingo. Now i have a long stick to rest on, just in case.
      Thanks, Stevie.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. He gets dirty of course, but not very muddy. The mud comes off easily using his towels and kitchen paper. He is too heavy for me to manage in and out the bath now, so I take him to a local dog groomer to be washed. She also cuts his nails, and cleans his ears and wrinkled face. But during full lockdown she is not allowed to work. His last bath was the week before Christmas. He can’t go too often, as frequent washing irritates his skin. And he has to have special shampoo for that too, bought from the Vet at a considerable price. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Ah, the famous ’50 Words for Snow’, Sarada. 🙂
      Okay, here’s a first try.
      ‘Churned’.
      ‘Slick’
      ‘Sucking’.
      There are other types of mud too, including ‘Silty’.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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