mud-puddling

The weather has definitely been winter: snow, rain, sleet. And underfoot: mud! thick, oozing, slippery. Mud!And one of our boys, Khen, seems to love it. The first of our two Lethal Aussie residents (white, and almost completely blind and deaf), he splashes and digs and roams in his run, to the extent that from paw to underbelly, white quickly transforms to black. But his huge smile never diminishes!Khen has transformed in himself since his arrival a couple of months ago. He is large, maybe 90lbs, and strong, and walking him was very difficult, as he pulled, sightless, here and there. He also escaped , what - 6 times? - from his run in the first day, by chewing through the wire. For his safety, we covered the lower half with thick plywood and the gate with tin, making his presence almost invisible, except when he stood on his long back legs, his beautiful snout sniffing through the wire, trying to detect your precise location. But the plywood also kept the sun from effectively drying the ground out.When you enter his run, his sniffer seeks you out and he leaps with joy - his paws reach almost to my shoulders (I am 5ft 9"). And whatever was on his paws (mud, and you know what else it could be) smears on your coat, but with such exuberant joy, its almost OK!Well, even though he still leaps - too much happiness to contain - now, if you firmly stroke his long body, he will sit before going out the gate, and on his walks, with leash correctly on his neck, he stays gently right by your side, the entire way. He has obviously settled in and learned to trust, becoming less anxious.After the recent weather, his smallish run was one of the worst - black mud and puddles - from his constant playing and running, and searching/digging/pouncing for his toys when he misplaces them.We decided to move him to a larger, drier run. We re-shuffled the field a little - causing great interest amongst all the residents - and placed a thick layer of straw on the ground of his new home. And we decided to see how he went with exposed wire, no plywood defence.Well, I walked him today - clear blue skies - and how joyful he is. The sun was streaming in the whole huge yard, his paws were light brown only to short-sock length, and he was roaming back and forth, tail wagging. Still mud-puddling where he could, but it is so very different: the space so open and large. He has not tried to escape, and now he doesn't have to jump up to sniff out what is going on. He is part of the visible family.I love this dog! Admittedly, his eyes, 3/4 sheathed with white inner lids, opaque eyeballs visible only in the very corners, are at first a little odd to behold. But his smile, and the way he tilts his magnificent head when he knows you are there, and pokes his broad pink-tipped nose to the fence, wagging his tail! And even the leaps of joy, mud and all. He is so exuberant, it is infectious. With a little more training, he will make someone the perfect, loving, playful friend; when that time comes, I will be a little bit saddened to see him go