It's become so cold, so fast (-20 Celsius without factoring in the wind chill) that the dogs are hopping en route to the park, because the roads are copiously salted, and added to the brittle cold of the snow, it really, really stings their paws. Normally this begins to affect them when we get down near minus thirty, but I think it became so cold and snowy so quickly this year that their paws haven't had a chance to acclimate and toughen up. Normally the real cold sets in late January to mid February. Thankfully this is the last really cold day in the foreseeable forecast, at least until Christmas.