I live in North Idaho, we have been having higher than usual temperatures lately. In other words been too darn hot. My neighbor has a golden retriever, and a black lab that comes to visit during the day while he is at work. He lets the dogs have a play day. Every day I will go turn the "kids" loose, let them run around a bit, then invite them into my place where the AC is running. They think that is A OKAY! My little dog, Lil Bit, aka Lil shit doesn't mind them too much. But if I sit in the recliner, she thinks she should be there in my lap. Then pretty soon, Cooper, the Black Lab thinks he may like to do that. Good thing he minds really well if I tell him to get down! I just love the dog, but he is a bit bigger than what I want sitting in my lap.
The other dog, the golden retriever, Scooter, is just content to come in and lay down. He is getting up there in years, and sometimes his hip bothers him, so I ask him if he wants to do something~ lots of times he says no, and ignores me. LOL He REALLY likes me when there is a thunder storm brewing. He will come and lean against me so I won't be afraid. He saves me
These two characters even get along with Kitty Joe, my 8 year old Tabby who is set in his ways. He will not back down from any of the dogs if they decide to play chase the kitty.. They have learned to leave Joe alone.
I hope everyone who is experiencing a hotter than normal summer takes into concideration their animals. It is too hot for them too.
It has been hot here in North Alabama as usual, however; we have had several cooler snaps where the temps have stayed in the 80's. My little dog likes to go out and lay in the sun for a bit, but as soon as she is ready to come in, I try to be at the door. She has longer hair so I do not want her getting over heated. My daughter's dog has short hair and does not seem to be bothered by the heat as much. I cut my little furry dogs hair shorter several weeks ago because she was panting so much, so I knew she was hot. I just try to keep plenty of fresh water in their bowls and not leave them out in the heat for very long at a time.
My dogs have been staying inside during the hot days, too. Chipper especially likes to sit in front of the fan and feel it blowing through his hair. When it got really hot, i trimmed his hair short, too, even thought he is usually in the house.
We seem to have had fleas out in the yard this summer, so the dogs have had to have flea baths fairly often. I don't like spraying them with flea spray all the time, but when they go outside, they come back in and scratch.
I have been putting the diatomaceous earth in their dog beds, and that does a good job of killing the fleas, and it is not harmful to the dogs, since it kills fleas with a natural method, and not with chemicals.
I read that sassafras leaves would repel fleas and mosquitoes, so I made a tincture of that in isopropyl alcohol, and have been spraying that on my legs when I go outside where the mosquitoes are bad. I tried it on the dogs, too. I think it helps, but it is not as effective as just giving them a bath. The alcohol does seem to kill fleas on contact, but you can't get all of them, because they hide, so the bath works better.
Here in Kansas we're having a mild summer, which is super great for me, because I just moved from south Florida... it's a relief! Our dogs stay inside all day. We live in an apartment so they just get a few walks a day and don't ever get to stay outside. However, my boyfriend works at a kennel, and he would usually bring our doberman to work. It lets him get some socialization, and he gets so excited and gets to bark and play rough with bigger dogs (our other dog is a little Min Pin/Chihuahua, so he can't be too rough at home). He really loves it, and he gets to go for free so it's great for us too. It gets hot, but the dogs are only ever outside for like 15 minutes at a time so it's okay. He hasn't been able to go lately because he got giardia and is still recovering, poor thing is getting stir crazy in this apartment! Where my boyfriend used to work (down in Florida), the kennel had a huge kiddie pool outside and the dogs would splash around in that whenever they were outside.
Hot Dog 
