The incredible heat wave that is blanketing the United States continues. It is impossible to be outside for very long. Louise doesn’t care how hot it is, she still wants to go for her twice daily walks.
Here are my tips for taking your dog out in extreme heat:
Walk early or late. Before the heat builds up.
Know your dog, especially if they have those cute smushy flat faces, like pugs. Breathing can be hard on them in the heat. Heavy set dogs like Sofie with her massive coat of fur, should be outside for only short periods (20 minutes maximum).
Dogs don’t sweat. Make sure to keep them hydrated. Check their gums and skin for signs of dehydration.
Dogs cool from their paws and belly. Don’t waste water on the top of them.
Jump from one shady spot to the next trying to avoid as much sunny street as possible. If you can’t go from shade to shade then try to walk on dirt or grass or at least move quickly.
The dog understands that it is hot and will be fine with a shorter than normal stroll. (Or so I try to convince Louise.)
Do regular paw checks. Hot paws are bad. Cool paws are good. Water down the paws immediately if hot. Touch your dogs paws at home to get a sense of what they feel like temperature wise when normal.
We tend to take sit breaks in the shade, on the grass or dirt if we can. Sofie likes to dig down to the cool stuff. As long as it is not in someone’s yard, I let her dig away.
Room temperature water is much better to bring than ICE. On a hot day, ice is toooo cold and could have a negative effect. Use your water bottle to cool paws and drink.
Stay close to home. This way if you see the furry struggling, you can get home lickety split (aka – fast).
Sofie wants to plant herself next to the sunflowers and not move. Sounds like a plan to me!
What COOL mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Mom keeps taking us for walks on these terrible hot and humid days when all we want to do is sit in the grass and pant. Doesn’t she understand that dogs are not meant to be outside on days like this. She should move somewhere that the weather is always nice, like California. We hear that you never have to cancel anything in California because the weather is always beautiful. But then again, we also heard the ground shakes sometimes and there is drought and fires and mud slides. I guess a few humid weeks in the Mid-Atlantic may not be so bad after all.
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Sand is so cool. Especially when you have a triple coat of fur like I do. The Osprey platform disintegrated in the water after all these years, so the Sea Eagles moved to the tree over the boat ramp. Mom Osprey does not like that we dogs were playing around her tree trunk. Dad Osprey swooped us, but our Mom was not fast enough with her camera to get a good picture. Life on the river is RUFF..
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
The first days of SUMMER and every family was busy teaching their youngsters to swim. There was a paddling of very little ducklings and also a raft of adolescent ducks on the creek and several gaggles of geese on the river.
We want to help them swim.
Mom says no!
We say “No fair!!!”
It’s summer and we want to splash.
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
There is always some mischief going on in the street that needs to be checked on – no matter whether it is spring, summer, fall or winter. Sofie was looking down the block yesterday for the new little red kit that seems to follow us on our walks. Just what we needed, another red fox in the neighborhood! Noel communed with the solar flower last summer, until someone (who will remain nameless) closed the window on it’s head. Give a cat an open window and she will just get ‘silly.’ Mini Cooper found a stinkbug last fall (which isn’t hard to do on that sunny side of the house) and decided it might be good to eat (was she ever surprised). And Louise looks toward Mojo Risings house, no matter what season, to see if the love of her life might be going for a walk or out in his yard.
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Sometimes we think that Mom thinks we are just statues to sit in the garden with her flowers. It has been raining for 15 straight days now, so getting out, even for a little while, is worth it. Mom had a good crop of iris this year. There is only one peach colored iris amongst the bunch. With so much rain everything is green and soggy. That makes for happy plants, Mom says. And smelly dogs.
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
I have been walking two dogs for so long it is second nature to me. From changing hands behind my back, because someone goes right and then left, or stretching my arms so wide that you would think I was a tree, I have got this down. Yes, those are knots in the lines that you see; I do that on every leash. First, I do that so I can grip the leash lower down at certain intervals when I want to shorten up and, also so that I can drop a leash and step on it without it running right under my foot. A funny thing happens if/when I do drop someone’s lead, they stop and turn around and look at me with a ‘what’s a matter with you’ face. Do you do a leash dance? What’s yours like?
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from Snoopy. Check them out for more mischief.
DogDaz Zoo 