Summer has definitely arrived in Cape Town and it looks set to be a long scorching one,
with water restrictions locked in for the foreseeable future.
For many of us that means dried out gardens, permanently covered swimming pools and limited opportunities for cooling down ourselves and our fur-coated companions.
One great idea to keep your pups cool is frozen treats and our amazing trainer Kim has agreed to share her award-winning pupsicle recipe with us, but before we get to the good stuff, here’s quick round up of canine common sense for staying safe, and comfortable on these hot, summer days.
First off – and this should go without saying – never leave your dog in the car on a hot day even for a short period of time. Temperatures inside a parked car can quickly exceed 40o C This topic gets more than enough publicity every year for it to be common knowledge so please take it seriously.
Next up, even if you’re an Englishman with a mad dog, we strongly recommend staying out of the midday sun. Keep your walks to the early morning, or early evening when it’s nice and cool.
The other 3 second rule: If you do find yourself out and about in the hotter part of the day, watch out for hot ground, like tarmac and beach sand. If you can’t put your hand on it for more than 3 seconds, your dog can’t walk on it. Burnt pads are extremely painful and take a long time to heal.
On any outing or walk, make sure you have enough cold water for you and the dog. Several travel water bowl solutions exist that can either clip onto your belt, or fold into a pocket of your backpack. Make sure your dog is used to drinking out of these containers. To cover all eventualities, also teach your dog to drink out of squeeze bottles, cupped hands, or even from a running tap.
Leave some extra water in the car in a cooler box in case of car trouble or unexpected delays. On longer walks put a cooler bag ice brick, or two in your pack to keep water chilled.
Don’t sweat it: when we sweat the moisture evaporating off our skin cools us down. Dogs open their mouths and pant to release heat and moisture from their tongues. If you see your dog panting heavily, it could mean they’re thirsty, but more importantly it means they are working hard to regulate their temperature.
Watch out for your dog desperately looking for shade to lie in, their tongue hanging out very long and red, struggling to catch his/her breath, or eyes going to slits, as signs that they are too hot and potentially in danger of heat stroke.
If your dog is showing signs of discomfort:
- Offer plenty of cool water.
- Get them indoors, or into proper shade and stay there.
- Wet them down underneath, especially the ‘undercarriage’ and ‘armpit’ areas. (repeat this as necessary every few minutes).
- Create a cool bed by soaking towels in cold water.
- Get the dog into your car and crank the aircon up to full, combine this with wetting the ‘undercarriage’ for maximum effect.
- Get the dog into a pool, or a cool bath of water (not ice cold).
If the above steps do not visibly begin to ease discomfort after 5-6 minutes, your dog may have heat stroke and you should get them to the vet as soon as possible.
Brachycephalic (flattened nose) breeds such as Pugs, Boxers and English Bulldogs are at much greater risk of severe heatstroke, sometimes with fatal results. Please take this to heart and be extra vigilant if you care for one of these breeds.
And now as promised – Kim’s award-winning Pupsicle Recipe!
- Keep all cooked bones from your own meals in the freezer, until you have a nice batch.
- Boil them gently in a pot of water for a few hours to make a tasty base stock.
- Allow to cool and save all the meaty and gristly bits and return them to the liquid.
- Discard all the bones.
- Pour the liquid into containers up to about 2/3 full. For my 50kg Rottweiler I use 500g butter spread containers.
- Put the containers into the freezer until the liquid starts freezing around the outside.
- Add any combination of things that your dog likes. Some ideas: raw frozen chicken pieces such as heads, feet, hearts, necks, raw beef mince already rolled into balls and frozen, left-over meat from your own meals, pellets, and raw or cooked vegetables such as carrots, peas or cucumber, and berries like strawberries or blueberries.
- Push everything down below the surface and top up with water if necessary.
- Put lids on all the containers and put them into the freezer until frozen
They say a watched pot never boils… a watched pupsicle takes at least 6 hours to freeze, so try not to peep.
Once it is frozen, pop it out (you may need to hold around the outside of the container until it loosens) and serve to your hot dog.
