You’ve summer-ized your house. You’ve summer-ized your car. You’ve probably even summer-ized your wardrobe and your menu. But as the days get hotter, you might have forgotten one very important thing: is your dog ready for summer?
July and August are the hottest months in the South, which means some changes for dog owners. The pavement is hot. The fleas are out in force. All your once-active dog wants to do is lay over a cooling vent with their water bowl handy. So how can you make the summer easier on both your dog and yourself? Check out these four tips to help get your dog ready for summer.
4 Tips To Help Get Your Dog Ready For Summer:
1. Take walks early in the morning and late in the evening.
Gone are midday walks when the sun is at its highest. Walking from noon to four p.m. is a recipe for burnt paws and sweat-drenched clothing. Instead, choose to walk early in the morning or later in the evening, when the temperatures are (slightly) cooler. Before walking on pavement, test the temperature with the back of your hand. If you can’t keep the back of your hand on it for fifteen seconds without pain, it’s too hot for your doggy’s delicate paws.
2. Freeze treats in ice for a fun, stimulating way to cool off.
Fill a bowl with water, then add dog treats or toys to the bowl. Place it in the freezer overnight. In the morning, you’ll have a block of ice filled with dog treats! That may not sound like much fun to you, but to your dog, it’s like the best Popsicle ever. You may have heard that this is dangerous to dogs, thanks to some viral internet articles. Fortunately for your puppy, these viral articles are simply not true. However, if you have an aggressive chewer, you may want to skip this tip. Aggressive chewers may break teeth by biting off more than they can chew….literally.
3. Keep fleas in check.
Fleas, ticks, and other biting nuisances are at their worst in the summer. True, you should treat your dog for fleas with a topical flea treatment like Hartz Flea Treatment. In the summer, however, you may find that this isn’t enough. Because our dogs get into all kinds of messes in the summer (whose dog hasn’t taken an unexpected dip in the creek before?), we switch to a flea shampoo, like Hartz Flea Shampoo for Dogs! The shampoo has a cinnamon scent, so it covers up those creek water and other summer scents.
If fleas have become a problem in the home, pick up some Hartz flea spray to help eradicate them! Using this spray, keeping your floors swept or vacuumed, and regularly vacuuming any upholstered furniture can help prevent fleas from becoming a problem. You should also regularly wash any bedding that your dog uses!
Pro-tip: If you’re using a vacuum with a bag, change the bag frequently to prevent any flea eggs you vacuumed up from hatching in the bag. If your vacuum has a canister, empty the canister after every vacuuming. This prevents new hatches of fleas from crawling out of your vacuum and becoming a BIG problem. Yes, it can happen— our vet warned us!
4. Keep pets active with indoor toys.
When it’s too hot to go outside, we keep our cool by keeping the dogs entertained inside with Hartz pet toys. We clear a path down the hall and throw the ball for fetch and then get rewarded with a Hartz Chew n’ Clean Bend-A-Bone.
How did you prepare your pet for summer?
Great tips. These are very helpful for me when I get a dog.
I don’t have a furbaby, but these seem like wonderful tips for dog owners! Thank you for sharing.
I don’t have any furbabies right now but I will keep these tips in mind when I get my next one! 🙂
Tracy @ Ascending Butterfly
These are really great tips and very important for doggie owners. I will have to share this with my mom.
Getting your dog ready in summer is important and these are helpful.
I love the idea of frozen treats. it will help to keep them hydrated as well.
Great tips! I have two kitties and a lot of these tips apply to them as well!
Such great summer ideas!! With the heat, keeping your dog happy and healthy is #1! I bet all pups would love those treats! Great post!
These are all indeed great tips to keep you and your dog happy during the summer months. It is so important for pet owners to prevent the fleas and ticks than dealing with them. Thanks for sharing the tips.
These are some great tips – Sally loves being outdoors in the summer, she can sit out there for hours on end, so making sure she stays hydrated is a must.
It’s good to take them for a walk when the weather is more bearable, I love that idea. I also make sure I keep our dog hydrated by providing clean drinking water and cold treats!
Great tips. We are fortunate not to have fleas where we live but it’s hot so the frozen treats are a great idea.
These are great ideas! Fun treats and activities for dogs in the summer is super important. Not staying outside too long is important, too! Great post!
A good walk would really help the dogs adopt to the change in climate. It’s also good to watch out for fleas too.
My Sister always gets her dogs a new toy every month. Summer is always fun when we can take them swimming,.
These are some really good ideas. I do worry about fleas and ticks. I think there are ticks in our native area.
Wonderful tips for keeping your fur babies safe over the summer. I love the idea of freezing treats. Fleas are such a problem in the summer. Great tips.
These are great tips on getting doggies ready for Summer, appreciate you sharing!
This is great! I love pampering my pups but during the summer they really need it! These are some great tips!
Thanks for the reminder. I have to treat my pup now. Buddy keeps bringing his toys outside and we’re pulling them in constantly.
I didn’t realize that about the vacuum!! Love these tips, flea prevention is so important for your dog and the family!
Frozen treats and cooling off with a hose are the best things for dogs during the summer time!
Jasmine / http://www.jasminekeclipse.com
We are in the process of getting a new dog. I can’t wait to get one, and do all these things. I love the idea of the frozen treat especially in the summer heat
This sounds like a great way to keep dogs healthy & happy this summer. We don’t have any dogs, but I’ll share this post with a friend who has a few pets.
Great, great tips. I love that you included flea and tick preventative. We live in Georgia, land of bugs, and I’m still continually surprised by how many people I know who don’t protect their dogs from those nasty critters.