by White Dove 6 Replies latest social physical
I'm thinking that the only time I'll be able to exercise my dog is after sundown at the dog park. The pavement will be way too hot for her paw pads, too. Thinking of getting booties for her.
Does anyone have suggestions for walking a dog in the desert in summer?
Is there no way to go early in the morning? Take advantage of the coolest part of the day if you can, sunrise is much cooler than sunset. Try to find a cooler surface, anything but hot black asphalt. Use whatever shade you can find. Give them plenty of water, often: before, during, and after the walk. Remember, if you're hot in light smmer clothing, it's really hot for any creature wearing a permanent fur coat.
They don't call them the "dog days of summer" for nothing!
And don't forget to garden hose spray them down to keep them cool too. They love that. Hey, maybe that's a solution to your walk. Hose them down good before you go on your walk, the evaporative effect of the water on their coats will cool them down by 15-20 degrees....
portable doggie bowl, chilled bottles of water.........
Like in humans offer hydration more often as the temps rise......
Here is nice article......
Early Mornings
During the height of the summer we are up at 5:30-6am to walk them and its a short walk as well. Maybe 30 minutes max but it really depends on the dog.
Early sounds good. Must use bottles of water to hose down puppy as we are in an apartment. But that is a really good idea. Portable water, too.
Got it! Thanks!
Since we take our doggie to the desert southwest for our yearly vacations, and, being a black dog, she really suffers in the sunlight...
I made a 6-pouch 'doggie hydro-pak' for her... A sort of "backpack" with 6 pockets, 3 on either side... I take along 4 small plastic bottles - the pockets were made to hold such bottles comfortably, and chill or hopefully freeze them in the motel room's tiny freezer the night before... I use the other two pockets to carry a collapsible water dish, and poop bags...
Since the backpack is made of 100% cotton, I can soak it with water before we take off on a hike. It covers most of her body, especially her back, with the white fabric. Soaked with water, and with the frozen or chilled bottles in the pouches, she can handle most days of extreme desert heat... Her paws handle the heat unless we're on black asphalt... She and I walk around the neighborhood a lot, even during very hot days, which keeps her paws calloused. But a set of 100% cotton canvas doggie booties might be a pretty good idea, too!!
I have purchased doggie booties in the past, and they're pretty simple - just a very long rectangle sewn together on 2 sides to form a bag, with a specialized velcro closure... I've salvaged the velcro closures (they're a combination of velcro with elastic...) to use on future home-made booties... There are several web sites that sell doggie booties, and after you've bought a set - and if you sew - you can make your own in future...
Zid
