Summer heat week! The month of July has been excessively hot for us. We are doing everything we can to stay cool while still adventuring out and keeping the crazy crew happy! Keep reading to find out more about our adventures and tips we used to stay cool and happy!
Summer Heat Week 7/8/2023 - 7/14/2023
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It is super hot where we are at right now, but to keep both my brother and I happy and calm some of our craziness, mom needs to walk us every morning. To help keep us cool, she has gotten us swamp cooling neck gaters. They seem to really help keep us cooler and then we can go on longer walks. We highly recommend that you check them out!
Sunday 7/8/2023 - Isla's fireworks fears continue
Hey guys! Rex here checking in. So, we survived the fourth of July and all the craziness that comes with it. My sis Isla is still a little freaked out by all the fireworks, though, even though it’s been almost a week now. Earlier tonight, our neighbors set off more and Isla was not having it. So, Mom and I decided to brave it alone on our nighttime walk.
It was weird not having Dad and Isla with us, but we still had a good time cruising around the park and hitting up the dog park (which was totally empty, probably because it was still pretty hot, btw). We made it home without incident, and mom and I got some quality bonding time. Hopefully Isla will get over her scaredy-pup vibes soon so she can enjoy our nighttime walks again. Fingers crossed!
What do you guys do to help your dogs fear of fireworks?
We are curious what you guys do if your dogs are freaked out by fireworks? We have friends that on fourth gave their dogs sedatives from the vet. Although that’s not really an option for every day. Isla gets Zesty Paws Calming Bites with each meal that we think helps. But if she hears really loud ones or ones really close, she is still a super freak pup. Comment if you have any ideas and if you use any kind of Chill Pills or anxiety relief products for your dogs! We are always open to new things to try!
Wednesday 7/12/2023 - Early Morning Walk in the Summer Heat & Shelter Dog Day
Hey there people! It’s Isla, and guess what? Despite still being scared of nighttime walks, I absolutely love our morning walks. Today’s walk was a little shorter though, as Mom said it’s shelter dogs’ day and she was going to help walk them. I may have been a little bummed about the shorter walk, but it’s all for a good cause, right?
And boy was it an early one! Mom said we had to go out at 4:30am because of the crazy heat. It was still pretty dark, but at least there were no scary fireworks to deal with. We also headed to bunny park, but the furry critters were still hiding. Oh well, we eventually found some so we were able to add to our critter counts, but then Mom said we had to head back home.
To be honest, I wasn’t too happy with that. But it was hot, and Mom said tomorrow we’ll go on a longer walk so that made me feel better. Mom is going to tell us about her shelter visit when she gets back, so stay tuned! Isla out!
Shelter Dogs!!
Hey everyone! It’s Rex here with a quick update on mom’s shelter dog visit. So, this morning, she took out six adorable doggies for a walk, sounds like a fun morning to me!
Her favorite was a cute dog named Ariat and that she’s walked before. Unfortunately, Ariat seemed a bit down and jumpy, the shelter life seems to be getting to her. Hopefully, she’ll find her forever home soon!
Mom also walked a dog named Sunshine who is a lizard hunter just like my sister, haha. How cool is that? Then there was Bowzer, he was a little shy and spooked easily but still an awesome boy.
Darla, Collins, and Clyde were the other three she walked. Darla was a big sweetie; she almost got the zoomies at one point. Collins was a nice boy; he would make someone a great walking partner. And Clyde was a cutie pie that didn’t want to walk very far. But, in all fairness to him, he was the last dog she walked, and it was super-hot by then!
She got some cute pics; you should check them out! Anyway, we highly recommend volunteering at your local shelter. All the dogs shown here are available for adoption at the Pinal County Animal Shelter!
Thursday 7/13/2023 - Awesome Walk with Sprinklers and Lizards Despite Summer Heat!
Hey everyone! Isla here, just wanted to chat about our walks. I mean, I don’t want to sound like I’m repeating myself, but those nighttime walks can be pretty freaky. Mom, dad, and Rex always convince me to come along, and once we get to the park, it’s not so bad. I just wish it wasn’t so spooky at first, you know?
But let’s talk about our morning walks because those rock! Mom had promised us a longer walk today and we definitely took advantage of that. We didn’t go as far as I wanted because it was scorching hot, but we still had a great time. We saw several of our furry friends including Milo the bloodhound and our little Corgi buddy.
And we got to play in the sprinklers a bit, which was so fun. Not too much though because the sprinklers make my brother crazy. Plus, mom let us explore the wash a little bit too – only the area that doesn’t have big bushes and that she can see everything. She said that’s so she could keep an eye out for those sneaky rattlesnakes. But that’s just part of keeping us crazy pups in check, right? Oh, and she even let me check out the bushes by the school for lizards. It was a blast!
Anyway, that’s all for now. Thanks for listening, guys! Later gaters – Isla out!!
I use Lactium for Joule. Although it doesn’t completely overcome her fear of thunderstorms and fireworks, it makes a difference (and more difference than anything else I’ve tried with her). Lactium is the ingredient in the dog product Zylkene, but the exact same thing is available less expensively in Swanson’s Anti-Stress Formula, which is what I give Joule. I give her a capsule sprinkled over food or a treat about an hour before fireworks or other stressful events.
Thanks Kate! I am going to look for this and try it. Just out of curiosity, how often do you give it to her? If you start hearing them shoot off fireworks a week or two before the 4th, do you give it to her every day until after the 4th?
Those are some crazy early hours! I hope the temperature breaks soon so you can have normal human hours for walks.
I’ve used a few things for Henry to help his anxiety. The funny thing is if they work, they will work for a while and then stop. It’s as if his body adjusts and I have to find something new. My body is the same way. Do you think we’re related? Anyhow, I like natural remedies. I’ve tried a lot of them. Currently, I’m trying a mushroom-calming treat. It worked better than I expected on July 4th. While he had some anxiety, he was much better. Well, until a neighbor 3 houses down lit off a huge firework. Then Henry needed to seek refuge in his crate for a bit. But he recovered to a calm state in maybe 15 minutes. That’s big! Normally, he will be in a panic attack for several hours. I’m still testing it, but it got a hard run on July 4th. I’d rate that experience of taking his attacks from a 15 to a 3 (on a scale of 1-10). Definitely an improvement. Henry is a long-range pup. I’ve got to try it in different situations to see how it works. Hopefully, he won’t hit a threshold if it continues to work.
We are on day 18 of our excessive heat warning, temps are supposed to be 110 and above for at least the next week. It’s normally really hot here but this streak of 110+ temps is not normal. At least I’m finally used to getting up that early! Plus I just have to keep remembering that we don’t have the extreme cold temps in the winter so this is the trade off.
I’ll have to look at the mushroom-calming treats. That is great that it worked well for him. I’m glad he didn’t stay panicked after that big firework. I hate seeing them that way. Isla has gotten to where she doesn’t like to walk at night now because she’s afraid there will be fireworks. We took her on a different route the last few nights to change things up and that really helped the first two nights. But then last night we could hear thunder and she is also scared of that so she didn’t want to be out and we had to cut it short. I’m hoping that doesn’t set her back to not wanting to go at all again. Our normal walk is to go up to our dog park so Rex can get 5-10 minutes of ball time, we haven’t gone the last few nights because of changing our route and the heat. He is starting to go a little crazy so I might just have to take him up by himself tonight for a quick playtime if she doesn’t want to go.