Dog Days of Summer: Keepin' Cool

It's gotten hot here in Portland!  Here's a post on the NoPo Paws blog for several ways to keep your dog cool during these dog days of summer.  Originally posted here.

 

Summer warmth certainly waited until the dog days of summer to show up in Portland this year!  With a few more days of near 90 degree temps in our forecast, keeping your pooch cool in this weather keeps 'em healthy and happy.  Here's a few tips:

~ Ice cubes are your best friend.  Drop em in their water dish to cool or give them directly to your dog as a treat.  We are lucky here at NoPo Paws - our pups think ice cubes are THE BEST TREAT EVER.  One crack of the ice cube tray and the pack comes a'running. 

~ Replace water often.  Dogs prefer to drink fresh water over a bowl of water they've been drooling in for the past 8 hours.  Refreshing their water bowl often helps to encourage their water intake.

~ A fan of the treat-filled Kong?  Try freezing peanut butter, treats, canned food, pumpkin or sweet potato puree in a Kong and tossing it in the freezer.  Several hours your later, your dog will enjoy the cool, delicious treat.

~ Fill a bowl with water and place fresh veggies, fruit, toys or anything else your dog might like licking to the center to retrive.  Freeze and remove from bowl.  Best served outside on a hot, sunny day.  Not only does this keep 'em cool but it can also entertain them for hours.

~ Make some homemade doggie  popsicles.  The interwebs is full of great recipes - just make sure you use natural ingredients and no sugar!  We like this recipe at dogtime.com: 

Pup's puddin' pops

A sweet treat for warm weather, your pup will find the texture of the puddin' pop deliciously intriguing. Great for stuffing in Kongs, too.

 

Ingredients:

• 32 oz. nonfat yogurt
• 1 large jar of apple or pear baby food
• 2 tbsp low-fat peanut butter
• 2 tbsp honey

Blend all ingredients together and freeze in either 3 ounce paper cups or ice cube trays.

~ Postpone the after-work walk until later in the evening when the temps have cooled down.  Make sure to bring water on all walks in this hot heat!

The NoPo Paws pack enjoying some fun in the waves.

~ We're so lucky to have great water activities for the dogs so close to Portland.  The NoPo Paws pack loves trips out to 1000 Acres, Lost Lake, Long Beach, Ecola State Park...the list goes on!  If your dog loves the water, now is the perfect time to indulge that love.

However you decide to have some summer fun and keep your dog cool, we hope you enjoy this sunshine!

Cheers,

Sarah