Beating the Heat

(from my blog at pets.com)

I live in Phoenix and it’s been hot here this summer, as always. But I’ve noticed that this year has been harder on Rosso, my nearly 8-year-old Vizsla.

As some of you may remember from an earlier blog, Rosso got Valley Fever earlier this year and he’s been on medication to eradicate the fungus. That’s been going well, and I’m hopefully he’ll soon be free of its grasp. But, I keep noticing how he’s getting old. He’s slowing down, and I worry about him.

Rosso started getting his old-man mask of grey hair around his muzzle about a year ago, and it’s slowing filling in and now the grey is creeping in-between his toes, as well. But otherwise there’s been no other sign of his aging until this summer. Now I can clearly see that the heat is hard on him. I have to remind myself that the vet checked him over thoroughly when he first got Valley Fever and at that time pronounced him very healthy: his internal organs, bone structure, hips, etc. all looked very good. But he’s achy and drops flat on the cool tile floor to cool down the minute I let him in.

I have usually kept my dogs outside in the summer. I’ve always hated it and, while I’ve made sure they have always had shade, grass, a doggie play pool and tons of cool water to drink from, I’ve never liked it leaving them out there to the elements. The main reason I have is because I seem to always be in a state where at least one dog isn’t mature enough to be loose in the house, cancelling out being able to leave them inside and/or having a doggie door so they can come and go. I really want a doggie door for them, but once again I have a young one that just a tad naughty at times. Besides, Rosso doesn’t really like using the pool at all.

I’m looking at options, such as getting the doggie door, but making it so they can come in to a designated area, but my house configuration is making that hard unless I use a kennel or play pen set-up in the living room. I’ve also thought about crating the baby (Molly) and letting Rosso have free reign. But I don’t like her being crated all day at this age. Someone suggested having the doggie door connect into the garage, but it seems at least as hot if not more stifling in there.

Help! Does anyone have any ideas? I need to get the both out of this heat. 

Valley Fever: Here’s more info to check out on Valley Fever – important if you live or visit Arizona, New Mexico, southwestern Texas or central California: http://www.vfce.arizona.edu/Content/Documents/Valley%20Fever%20in%20Dogs%20for%20PDF.pdf