There are lots of ways to help us keep cool in this heat. We pant to regulate our temperatures and sweat a little from our paw pads. In this weather though we can easily get heat stroke and once our temperature reads over 106 our bodies can go into shock, the damage can be pernament and we could die! As a dog I do advocate over use of the thermometer, we all know where it goes...
Obviously the humans use fans, which is fine for lazying around in, but its not all that fun is it!
We love it when Mum puts ice cubes in the water...Tianna loves taking them out and tossing them around the kitchen, its even funnier when a human steps on one, they jump on one leg (it's strange enough they walk on two!) they do this funny song too :) and we adore the garden hose game...Mum or Dad hold the hose and sprinkle it about the garden, its so much fun we run in and out of the spray getting soaked. They love it when we shake all over them...well perhaps they dont, but we love it! We also love the shade, its cooler there and we try not to run around too much.
So you humans do all that but we still seem hot, panting heavily, unable to get up. We have dark gums and our saliva is thick. Perhaps we seem dizzy too, all this points to heat stroke and needs to be dealt with quickly. Move us out of the sun and into the shade, cool us down by placing cool cloths or towels on us especially the paws. Please dont give us iced water or very cold water if you suspect heatstroke as it can cause us to go into hypothermia. We do need to see a vet to because the internal effects of heatstroke might not always be apparent straight away.
Its cooling off now so we're off for some tea and a play....see you soon and stay safe :)
