I’m not sure what the weather is doing right now where you are but here in Australia it’s heating up, right up to 40 plus degrees (104 farenheit)!!!!!  This brings my attention to the importance of keeping our fur babies cool this summer, whether they are inside or outside.

Our fur babies don’t sweat like we do through the skin, they can exude some sweat through their paw pads (underneath their feet) but their most effective cooling mechanism is through panting because this circulates the air they need to cool down.

Here are some cooling tips to consider:

1. Plenty of fresh cool water

This might seem like a no brainer but I’ve been to people’s houses where there’s insufficient water available for their dogs as well as seeing a water dish with green moss all over it.  Billy has 4 water bowls, 3 of which are strategically placed around the yard so at least during different times of the day 1 of them will be in the shade and his 4th dish is inside in the bathroom.  It’s cool in there and it’s all tiled so a good spot for it, or you could use the laundry, any place in the house that is cool.

You could go a step further and freeze some water the night before either in blocks or cubes and put them in the dishes before you leave for the day.  Or you could just give them the block of ice to lick, there’s recipes out there also for dog ice blocks.

Tips for when you’re home

2. If you’re able to, bring your fur babies inside to enjoy the air conditioning/fan;

3. Again if you’re able to bring your fur babies inside  to sit on the cool floor tiles of the kitchen, bathroom or laundry areas  or main living areas, this way the cool tiles will cool them from the underside;

4. Wet a face cloth and place it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes, take it out and either place it on your dog’s belly (if this is easier said than done), place it where your dog sits so they can lay on it, or just place it on the underside of your dog, this is the main area they cool down from; ( you could have 2 cloths, 1 on the dog and the other cooling down in the fridge and tag team them;

5. You could also fill a spray bottle up with cool water and spray your fur baby’s belly area, groin area, and under their arms;

6. If your dog wears clothes and they have a really light weighted garment, you could wet it with cool water and place it on them so when they do sit, they sit on the garment and it cools them down from underneath.  Please be diligent here though, only do this if you’re home and the garment is light, the idea is to cool them down;

7.  If your fur baby is a water lover, turn on the sprinkler or hose and cool them down the old fashioned way by hosing them, letting them run in the sprinkler, or fill a container that they can sit in but not too full that they can drown in.  You could also cool them down in the bathtub;

8. If your family has a pool and, again your dog loves water, allow them in for a swim, I can’t stress enough though this has to be only if your dog loves to swim, if they don’t it’s only going to stress them out and scare them otherwise.  Also only do this if someone is there to supervise, water safety is just as important for our fur babies as it is for our kids, and there are life vests available for fur babies.   One of my customers has a Bullmastiff and he knows he’s allowed in the pool for a swim only when they bring the life vest out and he loves it, it gives him confidence in the water to swim on his own and it’s great for his joints.  Whereas before he’d jump in and cling to his owners for dear life, but thanks to the life vest he swims freely now.

9.  Dog friendly beaches are awesome as well if you’re able to take them for a swim, as well as local swimming holes, again though I stress the importance of water safety for your dog, things can change in an instant around water.  Another customer of mine takes their dog out on their boat with them and he also has a life vest as do the kids.

10.  If your fur baby needs walking, I’d suggest walking them before heat of the day, early in the morning or well after the sun has gone down.  A way of testing whether it’s too hot to walk your dog, take your shoes off and walk across the footpath yourself, if it’s too hot for you it’s too hot for your dog to walk on.

Tips for when you’re not home

11.  Make sure your dog has cool shady spots to lay in around the yard;

12.  Plenty of water bowls around, with the ice cubes/blocks in them;

13.  If your fur baby is a sun baker, put dog sun block on them;

14.  If they are inside and alone, same goes, a cool spot to lay and plenty of water.

Billy is pretty lucky, our house is 90% tiles as you can see from the pic, and I work from home so most of the time he is inside either on the lounge, or on the tiles, and I get to check on him when I can between grooming customers.

Generally, if we have to go out we leave him inside as he can come and go through his own door, he is a good pooch, he doesn’t chew on anything, he’s pretty chillax.

I hope this has been helpful to you and your fur babies in our endeavour to keep them cool in this hot summer we’re having.

I’d love to hear if you have any other ideas or tips that you use to keep your fur babies cool, paws on by and leave us a message.

Cheers