It’s officially HOT in the northern Sacramento Valley where I live. These are more or less normal temperatures for July in this part of California; it’s even hotter another 60 miles or so farther north in Redding, a town that often makes the news for the day’s record high temperatures in July and August.
Up until just a day or two ago, my dogs have been pretty comfortable. The low 90s are not so bad. This tips over into not-very-fun territory at about 95 degrees. That’s when we head for the water.
Despite the drought, we are fortunate to live close to several bodies of water to cool off in. We don’t much go to Lake Oroville, though we live right below it (yes, close enough to have had to evacuate when “that dam thing” happened some years back). We tend to go to the river that fills the lake, but downstream of the dam, where the water is quite cold (coming, as it does, out of the bottom of the lake), or to the “Lake Oroville Afterbay,” a very large, shallow reservoir that warms a portion of that river water so that it can better be used for agriculture.
Thank goodness, all of my dogs love to swim, even Boone, the newest member of our pack. As I write this, we’ve had our hottest day of the summer – and we’ve made the five-mile trek (in my air-conditioned car) to the Afterbay twice today.
In this weather, I make sure all the water bowls in my house and office are full of fresh, cool water, and provide buckets, not bowls of water for the dogs to drink outdoors. (The water in even very large bowls gets too warm outdoors in heat like this, even in the shade.)
It’s cooler in the house and cooler yet in my office, but until the thermometer hits 95° F., my senior dog Otto prefers to snooze in his shaded and properly dampened sandbox. Every morning, I shovel and rake it smooth, fluffy, and level, then wet the sand thoroughly. Then Otto gets in and digs the first of his napping holes. As the sun changes its angle over the course of the day, he’ll change positions and dig another hole, and I’ll adjust the umbrella to keep the box in full shade. Today, we hit 95° by 1 pm, and he reluctantly joined me, Boone, and Woody in my office.
When I went into the house at about 2 pm to make myself an iced coffee, I saw our young chickens had taken over Otto’s damp sandbox. Well, that’s fair. They aren’t joining us in my office, I swear!
Though the young dogs will romp and play chase games at the lake or river, I discourage any exercise at home in this heat until the sun sets. Then I’ll throw fetch items and let Woody and Boone play keep-away on our front “lawn” (a pretty motley lawn, kept barely alive with water restrictions due to the drought) – and occasionally spray them with water from the hose. Why dogs who love to swim hate being hosed so much, I don’t know, but when they are wet, they play much more raucously and without getting overheated, so I tell them to tough it out (and give them treats for coming to me, even with the hose in my hand).
© Nancy Kerns | Whole Dog Journal
All of these water-based solutions work so well for cooling here because it’s a DRY heat. I don’t know how you folks in humid parts of the country survive when it’s so hot.
How are you keeping cool?
We live in upstate NY and are effected by climate changes increased summer temperatures like everyone else(!) and humidity. It quickly gets too hot during the day for outdoor play or romps. we are fortunate to have AC and cool hardwood and tile floors. My wife will do a woods walk/run or neighborhood walk at 6 a.m. for a hour or so each day and in the afternoon I take Willie (our JRT mix rescue) to play frisbee at a local stream or reservoir. If for some reason I’m unable to take him for a swim I fill the kiddie pool and play frisbee in the back yard with frequent lie downs in the pool. It’s not nearly as fun as a good swim , but it gets the job done and keeps him from overheating. Willie LOVES to chase and swim after his frisbee. I put a life vest on Willie during actual swims. He’s a very strong swimmer but his mouth is water level retrieving the frisbee and the vest keeps his mouth a fraction higher. I worry about him ingesting or aspirating water, subsequently, the vest. Hotter weather keeps me on alert for toxic algal blooms and anxiously checking the DEC website for notifications( thanks to people in the area who report them!). Of course Willie’s drop ears make him at higher risk for ear infections, so each day that he swims he gets his ears flushed (I use Virbac Epiotic Advanced and recommend highly) . He hates the flushing but I remind him it’s a small inconvenience for being able to swim almost daily, with the alternative being an ear infection- which means no swimming at all. On the rare occasions that I have to walk him down a country road near our camp, I make a point of walking way over on the grass so his feet aren’t burned on the pavement- and what does he do? Tries to pull me back towards the pavement -arggh! If only he knew how much thought goes into his comfort and safety – silly boy.
I have a soon to be a year old service hearing dog, Mabel a Schoodle (Schnauzer Poodle mix). We live in CT where it has those hot, humid and hazy summer days. Mabel’ hair (not fur) is shaved and it does changes her activity level because it is cooler for her. Mabel is a walker and we go early in the morning on roads that are still shaded. Mabel wears a cooling vest (she is use to vests because it identifies her as a working dog). I wet it with cold water, squeeze out the excess water so it is just above damp. Mabel loves it and it helps keeps her cool as she walks. During the walk, I rewet it with the excess water from her special water bottle that you squeeze into the top which is a water well. She has her own water bottle that the bottom has an inch of solid iced (put in freezer at night (it is safe to freeze water in it) and then I filled with cold water. After the walk, we play ice hockey with ice cubes, she chases them and them licks and eats them. At the pool, Mabel is not a fan but it put her on the stairs to cool off her paws. We have cooling pad strategically placed in the shaded areas, where she relaxes as I swim in the pool. My husband wets the grass with water jugs so we preserve our well water and provides her another escape from the heat. I also use umbrellas to provide shade. Mabel’s comfort is my major priority.
Howdy from north of Atlanta, where my pro weather station regularly records temps over 96F by 11am, humidity from 89-99% with no rain anywhere, and heat indices over 105 for weeks on end….going outdoors feels like getting into a steam room and slapped with a boiling, wet towel! We limit the outdoor activities to very early morning and a later evening poop walk, as our yard isn’t big enough for outdoor play and our street regularly fails the heat safety test of putting the back of your hand on the pavement and holding it there for 7 seconds ( if you can’t do this, the pavement is too hot for your dog’s feet). Yes, my two Australian Shepherds are VERY underexercised right now! But when they come in from those walks and head straight for the elevated mesh platform beds that sit over the floor vents and stay there for over an hour, it’s all we can safely do for exercise. No water buckets here – my 6year old would happily pick up the full bucket and then run laps around the living room, spraying water everyplace (just as he did when he was a puppy, which is why we use the heaviest large ceramic bowl I can find for their water, to prevent indoor swimming pools).
We have 1 water play option we haven’t yet tried this summer – heading down to the Chattahoochee River and playing some swimming fetch on the boat ramps. The Hooch water is a balmy 54 degrees, as it comes from the bottom layers of the reservoir many miles upstream – cold enough to support Rainbow Trout! Unfortunately, there’s another factor besides the chilliness that has kept us away this summer – reported bacterial levels upstream. As the Hooch is the main source for Atlanta’s drinking water, these are monitored daily and unfortunately have deep elevated for most of the summer, thanks to the beginning of a drought. In past years, I’d keep a close watch on the color of my dogs’ gums and tongue (getting pale when too chilled), and condition of their paw pads and toenails (waterlogged feet running on rough concrete can injure paw pads or even quick their toenails). When conditions were ok in years past, this was THE BEST summertime outdoor play! I’d come home with wet, tired, and happy pups that dried off mostly before we got back home.
Hi Nancy, we are almost neighbors, I live in Roseville. And yes, it’s hot as blazes here! After buying kiddie pools that barely last a season I bought a HUGE plastic stock tank. This sucker holds about 700 gallons (not a typo). I fill about half full. My Lab and Lab Golden LOVE it. I put a cinder block in the pool and steps for a hot tub outside the pool so they can get in and out more easily.
We at the end of So Cal on the coast so keeping cool isn’t as much of a problem. When it gets into the 80s or even tops the 90 mark I find my dogs snoozing on the north side of the house. There is a concrete walkway there that is always in the shade. The house faces east west so there is always a nice breeze coming from the ocean in the evening, even if there might be wind from the dessert on the hottest of days. They have also learned to lay on the concrete right next to the ventilation openings for the foundation crawlspace. The air under the house is always cool and so as it gently blows out it is almost like AC. I have been making them sleep outside at night when the temps have been dropping into the high 60s because it is much cooler than the bedroom, which even with the windows open might not get lower than 78 on the hot days. They have five gallon buckets I keep filled in the yard and I will use them to water the plants and then refill with cold water. There is also plenty of shade and they will dig holes in the dirt under the shade but mostly they nap on that cool concrete next to their “doggie AC”. I can also put them in the car and take them to the dog park which is very close to the ocean so even on hot days there is a cool breeze and plenty of shade. Freyja is half Siberian sled dog so I used to worry about her but she seems to be a bit insulated and the heat doesn’t seem to bother her. She was rescued from Hesperia and I know it gets up to three digits there so she may think the weather is perfect here.
The wet sandbox idea is brilliant! I suspected that coolness was the appeal of digging those nesting holes in my back yard. Now that it’s verified, time to find a few bags of beach sand!