We were later than usual getting out for our afternoon walk with Jackie and Jillie. An overcast day, it had been snowing all morning in great puffy bursts of snowfall. That changed to volumes of light, continuous snow for a bit in the early afternoon. Despite which those earlier robust flurries appeared not to have made much of an aggregate appearance on the ground.

For one thing, the temperature had soared again to the freezing point. For another it was windy with gusts up to 50 kph, dissipating the snow accumulations and in some instances actually melting it. Mild enough that our puppies had no need of their boots, and a light winter coat was all that was required, so dressing them for their walk presented no time issue.

The snow that had fallen was interpreted somewhat differently on the forest floor. Though hardly voluminous it represented a fairly decent cover for the ice that has dominated the trails lately. On the other hand, the wind had done quick work of the snow that fell onto tree branches, clearing it completely, denying us the beautiful sight of snow-limned trees and shrubs in the forest understory.

Jackie is never deterred in his forays through the forest, and no reason to be yesterday, as he made off for his usual spots off-trail to sniff about the forest floor, discovering as a reward things we will never be made privy to, but obviously satisfying his sense of adventure, one not quite shared by his sister. She, on the other hand, mostly remains on the trails, ever on the lookout for others doing the same; determined to intercept the passage of others, her vetting giving them permission to proceed on 'her' territory.

We first came across two middling-sized hounds, one on-leash, the other, smaller one free to roam and who wanted to play, only to be greeted by the shrill barks of our two inveterate ravine caretakers. They did, in the end, have a short romp together, before the others continued on their way and we prepared to take an alternate route that would take us on a longer circuit.

At that point we were at the top of one of the many hills in the ravine with sightlines down to one of the bridges fording the main creek, and we watched as a bull mastiff made his speedy way up to where we stood. We've seen him before, in the company of a black part-Great Dane, and eventually their human companion catches up, long after they've more or less surrounded us with their considerable size and weight. At our initial meeting their powerful presence struck fear into Jackie and Jillie, mostly because the large dogs are curious and get up very close and personal to anyone they encounter.

They're quite distant from any kind of control of their walker, a young man who seems to take no interest in knowing what they may be about, obviously reasoning that anyone out there can look after themselves. The bull mastiff elicited no great alarm in our pups on this occasion but wanted my husband to take note of his presence; he's an emotionally needy animal and likes to be petted and spoken to.

I could feel the great tail slamming behind me back and forth on my hips, moved aside, reached for my camera, began to turn to face my husband and the beast, and the next thing I knew was an embrace of the forest floor. I was wearing cleats, I am firmly acquainted with the condition of the trails in winter and though a slight figure am confident on my legs despite my age. The dog had simply moved into the vacuum I had created and his muscular back end proved too much for my own sturdy balance. When I fell the feeling when my body hit the forest floor was one of comfortable recline, so no harm done.

When the young man did catch up he happily informed us that the black dog which had arrived in his presence, had just delivered six pups a week earlier and we could see her swollen, extended dugs. It was obvious who the sire was since neither of the dogs have ever been neutered. Eventually they went on in the same direction as ourselves, but at a considerably speedier pace.

And then we came across a long-time ravine-hiking friend, another young man with his two little terriers, now getting on in age, but as spunky as ever, so Jackie and Jillie had two little friends more akin to their own size to communicate with, paying no heed to us as we spoke in an admiring trio of the lean muscularity of such large and powerful dogs and our friend showed us the latest photographs of coyotes beyond his backyard fence. He's a fireman, and he described how, on the occasional early-morning call he'll set out to the fire hall and on the way in the dim early-morning light he will see numerous coyotes prowling the silent roads.

These are larger-than-normal breed coyotes, he explained, the result of ordinary coyotes breeding with grey wolves, their offspring larger, a somewhat different colouration and gradually having become semi-urbanized. He set up an automatic wildlife-tracking camera on his back fence to record such visits then views the results afterward. Quite fascinating.