As an experiment, yesterday I found an old tea towel which I soaked in cold water and rubbed down my dog. He really enjoyed it, rolled onto his back with 4 legs waving in the air while I cooled down his undercarriage and armpits. I am going to repeat the exercise today and tomorrow. It is not as hot down here in Cornwall, a lovely stiff cooling breeze, as up country but I have decided to stay at home for today and tomorrow which he will hate but will have to put up with.
A Coolmat, damp towels to lie on, ice-cubes in water bowls and access to a cool, dark space are all useful indoors, where it can also get dangerously hot for dogs.
We have a Spanish Water Dog that hates water, although being tennis ball obsessed, I can usually force him to go in the river to retrieve one on our early morning walks. Not that we have any water in the river right now. He is getting hosed down twice daily at the moment - I run the hose until it’s cold then give him a really good soaking, especially on his chest, belly, paws and pads. He hates that too, but it’s important to reduce heat stress on the vital organs. Paws can overheat just being in the garden, reducing efficiency of the sweat glands in the pads, so watch out for that if your garden is a stony, dry desert like mine currently is!
Our dearly departed girl used to just go and belly flop in the swimming pool to cool herself down, so a doggy paddling pool is also great, if they will use it.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I was at some traffic lights today at about 4.30pm. Just as they turned green, a dog owner crossed in front of me carefully staring the other way to check for traffic. They had one dog on a lead and another under the arm. Presumably one dog had refused to walk the pavements at the hottest time of the day. Completely oblivious to danger for themselves and their pets
I'm not taking our dog out today as even early in the morning it was in the high twenties here. I think there is to much residual heat in the ground to risk it. It was fine yesterday morning but I didn't risk the evening either. Yesterday I had all the windows and curtains shut and although it was 37c outside the indoors didn't get above 25c. She still came out with me in the garden for a while but I kept her in as much as possible and will do the same today. Our next door neighbours dog that comes from the Mediterranean was actually in the hottest place it could find, on the concrete, belly up, sunbathing, much to the annoyance of our neighbour that was trying to keep it cool.
Same here... dog was out very briefly in sheltered park yesterday very early, but not since. The air was already like an oven being switched on at 6 30am.
Her one brief flicker of happiness was being outside earlier and finding some of the hanging baskets down in the shade of the buddleia. She's been wanting to poke around in those for ages but they were out of reach!
The parts of the lawn that the drought has dwindled down to nearly bare earth are now at 2pm too uncomfortably hot to walk on barefoot. It's insane.
I kept my dog indoors on Monday and Tuesday. He hated it but needs must. I have a large garden with lots of hidy holes for the cat to sleep the day away and the dog to take a stroll if he wants. I relented Tuesday evening and took him to the Village Green at 8.30 pm. It was like Picadilly Circus there were so many dogs being walked. It had cooled down a bit and they all enjoyed meeting up with each other. I have just come back from a regular morning walk, both of us needed towelling down we got were so wet from the drizzle. Lovely to be able to breathe again.
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It is not as hot down here in Cornwall, a lovely stiff cooling breeze, as up country but I have decided to stay at home for today and tomorrow which he will hate but will have to put up with.
We have a Spanish Water Dog that hates water, although being tennis ball obsessed, I can usually force him to go in the river to retrieve one on our early morning walks. Not that we have any water in the river right now. He is getting hosed down twice daily at the moment - I run the hose until it’s cold then give him a really good soaking, especially on his chest, belly, paws and pads. He hates that too, but it’s important to reduce heat stress on the vital organs. Paws can overheat just being in the garden, reducing efficiency of the sweat glands in the pads, so watch out for that if your garden is a stony, dry desert like mine currently is!
Yesterday I had all the windows and curtains shut and although it was 37c outside the indoors didn't get above 25c. She still came out with me in the garden for a while but I kept her in as much as possible and will do the same today.
Our next door neighbours dog that comes from the Mediterranean was actually in the hottest place it could find, on the concrete, belly up, sunbathing, much to the annoyance of our neighbour that was trying to keep it cool.
Same here... dog was out very briefly in sheltered park yesterday very early, but not since. The air was already like an oven being switched on at 6 30am.
Her one brief flicker of happiness was being outside earlier and finding some of the hanging baskets down in the shade of the buddleia. She's been wanting to poke around in those for ages but they were out of reach!
The parts of the lawn that the drought has dwindled down to nearly bare earth are now at 2pm too uncomfortably hot to walk on barefoot. It's insane.
I have just come back from a regular morning walk, both of us needed towelling down we got were so wet from the drizzle. Lovely to be able to breathe again.