UPDATE: They gave up. They shut the garage door and went back in the house. This is a once in decades snowstorm, the biggest I have seen since coming to Chicago in 1975. Pure whiteout and still coming down hard. The dogs are confused because I didn't let them out after their breakfast. Crash, the yellow lab, could have managed it, but Butch, the pudgy little puggle, would have been swamped. The snow is halfway up the deck door.