The mysteries of yellow snow

“Don’t eat yellow snow.”
There are words of wisdom that echo back from my childhood.
Well I have not eaten any, ever, but my dogs have definitely made their fair share of the stuff.
One thing about the tinted snow banks is one can truly gather how many other dogs there are in town.
It seems every single building, snow bank, hydrants, tree, fence, etc., has been marked.
For my two little Shih Tzus the height of some of the markings in the snow are unbelievable. They look up and sniff and sniff and sniff. It must be like a contest in their heads. They stretch their necks up as high as they can and analyze the yellow snow.
Sometimes they lift their leg and pee down low trying to cover the other marks. Others they try to climb up the snow bank and be the biggest dog on the block.
Their sense of smell often puzzles me when it comes to the yellow snow. They can sniff a spot for several minutes before they attempt to mark it. Then sometimes they will sniff it and choose not to mark it.
Then the other day one of them decided to do just what I said I have never done; he ate yellow snow!
Yuck! I tugged him away from the snowbank and told him not to do that. What did he smell? What made him want to eat it?
Oh well I will never know the the mysteries of yellow snow.
–Until then, Ken