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Those Dog Days of Summer

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It is August and we are truly in the “dog days” of summer. Did you ever wonder where that cliche came from? Whether you did or didn’t, here is the interesting fact!!!

DOG DAYS — “Mad dogs don’t give us this name for the hot, close days of July and August, though perhaps the prevalence of mad dogs at that time of year has kept the phrase ‘dog days’ alive. The expression originated in Roman times as ‘canicularius dies,’ ‘days of the dog,’ and was an astronomical expression referring to the dog star Sirius, or possibly Procyon. The Romans linked the rising of the Dog Star, the most brilliant star in the constellation, ‘Canis Major,’ with the sultry summer heat, believing that the star added to the extreme heat of the sun. ‘Canicular days,’ of course, have nothing to do with heat from the Dog Star, but the ancient expression remains popular after more than 20 centuries.” From “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

This site is just a wealth of knowledge, isn’t it??? But practically speaking, during these dog days of Summer, it is especially important to take care of your pooch!!! They feel the summer heat as intensely as we do, sometimes more!!!

Use these tips to keep your dog safe and healthy during the summer!!

1. Never ever ever leave your dog in a parked car. They can rapidly dehydrate as the temperature in the car increases drastically. DON’T EVEN LEAVE THEM FOR THE MOMENT IT WILL TAKE YOU TO DO YOUR QUICK ERRAND!!!!

2. If possible keep the dog in the house, especially during the hottest times of the day, between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. If the ac is on, that is great, if not, try and keep a fan going. If it is not possible to keep the dog in the house, make sure they have a ventilated shelter to be in and it is shaded from the sun’s intensity.

3. Always keep plenty of clean fresh cold water available. We used to fill cups with water and freeze them. We would then fill the dogs bowl 1/2 full and put the giant ice cubes in there to keep the water cool and refreshing. For some reason, the dog didn’t try to eat the ice, but he let it melt and remained cool for a couple of hours.

4. Don’t walk or exercise your dog in the heat of the day…either in the early morning or early evening when the sun goes down is the best time to exercise your pet.

5. Keep them cool with water….meaning, use a mister or sprinkler or wet a towel in cool water for the dog to lie on. Also, some people use the small kiddy pools, fill them with a couple of inches or more of water, depending on the size of the dog and let them cool off in there. This wasn’t great for my dog, because he thought it was a toy and would bite and pull on the plastic, but I hear it works great with some.

6. If the surface where you are walking is too hot for you to walk barefoot, it is too hot for your dog!!! Their paw pads will burn!!! Booties are available. These were used widely during the search and rescue operations at Ground Zero after September 11th. The dogs were brought in to search for people, but the ground and debris were still very hot from the smoldering explosions, so the dogs were equipped with booties to prevent burning.

7. Swimming is great exercise for a dog and helps them keep cool as well. Make sure whatever body of water the dog is able to get in, they know how to get out, especially with pools. Many dogs and pups die from drowning because they couldn’t find a safe way out!!

Keep yourself and your pooch cool!!!! You both will be happy.


One Response to “Those Dog Days of Summer”

  1. My Friendly Pets » Blog Archive » They must make sense, they are about dogs….!!!! Says:

    [...] Some of you might have seen the entry where I talked about the expression,”dog days of summer&… I discussed how it originated and what it truly meant. Well there are many other cliches and terms we use with the word “dog” in it and we use these sayings to describe a variety of life situations. [...]

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