Do dogs know when the ice is safe?
It never occurred to me to trust a dog's judgment on this. In fact, I was thinking of how I'd keep them off the unsafe ice on my pond all winter, but my experience this past week has made me trust them more. When the ice first froze, the dogs wouldn't go on it. I went walking on a shallow part with Tojo on leash, and he strained to go back onto firm ground the whole time. It was like this for a few days; none of them would step foot on the ice. Then, the day before yesterday, they all of a sudden decided it was safe and went running all over it, playing and everything. I looked up on the internet how to tell if ice is safe, and the conditions of the ice on the day the dogs decided it was safe were definitely the best conditions all week. On the same page, it also said dogsledding is safer than just going out alone because dogs can sense cracking ice. Pretty cool!
So... who wants to go skating on my pond? Bring a shovel. 
btw, pictures of their ice adventure are coming when I get the film processed. Yeah, I still haven't switched to digital even though I said I would (in case anyone remembers). I'm painfully indecisive and just when I think I know what camera I want to buy, I change my mind... oh well.
Comments
Dogs do not always know when it is safe and when it is not. I have a friend whose Shiba died of hypothermia after falling into an icy pond. The Shiba was playing on the safe area but strayed to far out into the middle (about 50 feet) and fell through the ice, people went charging out across the ice (and falling in) trying to get to him, but it took over 10 minutes and his little body could not handle all of the shock and cold. He died in his moms arms on the shore as she was running to the ambulance that was called. A very sad situation. This pond is in a dog park, and the city is to cheap to even put a drift fence around it. Could this have been avoided? Maybe, but the owner is not a bad dog owner, her current 5 dogs are well loved, fed, and cared for, this was just a really tragic accident.
Be careful with your babies out on the ice.
I think dogs are probably more in tune with things like vibrations in the ice and stuff. I mean I bet you would be too if you went on the ice barefoot.
Having said that, I'm sure dogs make mistakes too.
Lynx wasn't too sure about going onto what little ice there was in Big Bear (earlier this year in January). She decided to walk on the frozen water on the lakeside, broke right through it and all her feet got wet! She then grabbed a hugh piece of ice and took on the snow covered land to chew on it! lol.
Yeah, be very careful. Always keep a watch on the dogs. Maybe even have an emergency plan for just in case! Some kind of Prevention action plan...
Last winter my dog was on a coyote trail and my little собачка fell through the ice (It was well below freezing temperatures) I grabbed her collar and pulled her out, and she just shook it off and continued on her way. She is a Lab/Pitbull mix I think.
(BTW, I dont hunt, and if i did i would hunt a dog)