Conrad and I do just fine in the heat because we stay in air conditioning. If we walk, it’s in the mornings, usually before 8am, before the pavement heats up. But because I’ve seen some idiots walking their dogs in the afternoons lately — when it is HOT AS F*** HERE — I thought I’d collect a little guide of links to pet safety tips for hot weather. It’s not exhaustive, just some stuff from reputable national organizations about keeping your pets in air conditioning, first aid for pets with heat stroke, not walking your pet on hot pavement, and not leaving your pet in a car that will basically become an oven in five minutes.
The heat wave forecast for basically the entire country was a second inspiration for this post — so check on horses and people, too.
- Pet Heat Safety from the Red Cross.
- Warm Weather Pet Safety from the American Veterinary Medical Association.
- Hot Weather Safety Tips from the ASPCA.
- Keep Pets Safe in the Heat from the Humane Society of the United States.
Conrad is not a barn dog by any stretch, so I don’t worry about keeping him cool while I am at the barn. Here are some pictures of him enjoying a Milkbone, in a chair, in the air conditioning:
I like how his eyes get a little crazy when he chomps on a treat.
Patently Bay 
chomp chomp chomp. nibble nibble nibble. cute cute cute.
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Sometimes he just chomps them into smaller crumbs but doesn’t eat them. Which is somehow also cute.
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I get so annoyed at people who don’t think about how hot the pavement is on pup feet! Or the fact that their dog is wearing a fur coat out in the 90 degrees….
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Right? Ugh, it makes me so mad.
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Good idea to be aware of the heat with pets. Conrad is fortunate he does not have to be outside in the hottest hours.
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I worry most about the horses, because it’s not like we can bring them into air conditioning, but where I board we have high powered fans and airy stalls and plenty of shade, so it’s not too bad.
And I hope most people bring their dogs inside when it is the hottest part of the day here! We have heat indexes of like 108 right now.
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Tomorrow we will have temps in the mid to high 30s Celsius and the Humidex will be 43. That converts to 109.5 Fahrenheit! I will be riding early tomorrow morning and just going on a hack in the forest!
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Yikes, that is way too hot!
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