Summer Rules You Break

So with all those fun pictures and things floating around Facebook lately (since it is that time of year again) saying things like:

"If you leave your dog in the car for five seconds on a hot day it's blood will boil, it's brain will fry and it will combust into flames and DIE."

Along with:

"If your dog goes outside when it's over 80 degrees and isn't immediately exposed to shade and water it will suddenly get heat stroke and DIE."

Paired with:

"If you even think about taking your dog on a walk when it's warm out it's feet will blister, bake and then your dog will DIE."

Got me thinking about what "rules" us crazy DOG people people break like that during summer. So share, what is going to get you screamed at by the picture reposting FB crowd

We can't break any rules because Wesley feels this is very true, he is a wuss. Except it's if he goes outside in over 75f for more than 10 minutes, he'll perish. He's fragile.

I go biking with my Boxer when it is more than 50 degrees out. :yikes:

My dogs go places with me in the car in the summer. God forbid. Obviously if it is really hot and I'm running errands, they stay home, but I know how to manage the temp in my car. If we are headed out hiking or swimming or something, and I do to run in a store, I do. I'm waiting for the day someone calls the cops on me. I do have a remote starter, so if it is really warm, I'll just hit the starter as I leave the car and let the AC blast. That goes over great here in the land of Idle Free Vermont

We don't walk much on the pavement in the summer because it's more fun to go in the woods.

My dogs run agility in the hot summer sun (while being kept cool using water/cool coats/fans and being catered to far more than I cater to myself in the heat).

The one summer rule I don't break is letting them stick their heads out the windows while I drive. Meg has no interest in it anyway, although I can see Gusto enjoying it. Scares the bejeesus out of me.

I break all rules.

I AM the law.

We mostly swim all summer long...are there rules about swimming?

Water intoxication. I have seen hyperbole saying swimming is going to cause it.

I wonder sometimes how some people get by without any fun in their lives.

I'm actually kind of irrationally paranoid about heat stress and heat stroke, so I probably follow rules you haven't even seen FB posts about.

I take my dogs swimming AND let them drink the water :yikes:

I do sometimes leave the dogs in the car. Thing is, I don't have much choice in the matter! The town I go to for basic stuff like grocery shopping is 2 hrs drive (one way). Often we go in overnight to do all our errands. So clearly the dogs have to come with.

That being said, I'm pretty paranoid about it. I always park in the shade, roll the windows down as much as I can, and RUSH through my errands. If my OH is with me, often I will stay with the dogs so I can leave the doors open, or else I will go check on them halfway through the grocery shop. I make sure it never gets too hot for them, that's for sure!

Otherwise, we pretty much spend all summer at the beach, and playing in the pond. I think my dogs will survive.

Well, Jackson probably gets 50% of his water intake from the chlorinated pool during the summer. :yikes: Whoops. It doesn't matter if we have a big ole' clean water bowl out there, the dogs just HAVE to drink from the pool.

I actually won't leave Jackson in the car for more than 5 minutes if it's hot at all. BUT that's more because he's such a FREAK and will bark incessantly when I first leave so I hate leaving windows down, as he draws attention to himself and people probably would think he was DYING. In the winter, I keep all the windows closed so you can't hear him as much :rofl1: But obviously in the summer, I'd never leave him w/o a window cracked.

He also cannot stand to be in the heat and humidity if there is no water involved. So we don't really do long hikes or anything anyway simply because he... acts like he's going to die.

I don't necessarily mind those warnings though for the average folks who may not be so dog savvy. There ARE idiots out there who would leave their dogs in a car on a 100 degree day for 2 hours. Or not pay any attention at all to if a dog is over-heating by being outside too long, etc. So I don't really mind.

Walking on pavement, pretty much.

I will say I'm extremely paranoid with Juno and the heat, since she HAS had to spend the night at the e-clinic due to heat exhaustion. A couple weekends ago when it was 75 degrees, I would not take her for a bike ride because it seemed too hot for her (granted it was like 30 degrees a couple days prior, so mostly I was just worried about the drastic temp change).

I don't leave them in the car, but I don't take my dogs places where they can't come inside, so it's not really ever been necessary.

I took Sally to Lake Michigan once and we came upon what I thought was a stream, but turned out to be a storm drain outlet. She drank quiet a bit before it occurred to me that she shouldn't and called her away. It was too late. That night she vomited up BRIGHT green puke and the next day produced a pile of poop that was a disturbing shade of green. :yikes:

I do leave my dogs in the car with the AC on if I have too. I've been harshly scolded for this on another board, because what if while I'm paying for gas my engine dies and the dog is in the car with no AC for 60 seconds?!?!?!

Other than that.....I work 40 hours a week in an un-air conditioned factory in the Midwest. Forget the dogs, *I* don't go anywhere in the heat of the day on my days off without a pool or body of water of some sort nearby. Pretty much everything we do when it is beastly hot is early morning or evening--otherwise we're camping out in the AC--lol.

Oh, I did accidently teach Jack to bring me dead fish...is there a summer rule against that?

Yeah, I know at least...4 or 5 dogs who have died from heat stroke. One was a bulldog (and may have had underlying problems), was playing fetch in a park on a really hot day, and started struggling to breath and collapsed, he died at the e-vet a few minutes after arriving.

I know someone with a samoyed who had the dog shaved down so that it would be cooler when left outside while the person was working. The dog did have access to water and shade, and when the guy came home, his dog was dead in the yard. Granted, it was EXTREMELY hot (although even in NY, the heat index in the sun only goes up to about 110 F on the hottest days).

And I know or have heard firsthand of a few dogs dying in hot cars after being left for only 15-20 minutes with the windows down, or even though the AC was blasted and the car was cold before the person went into the store.

So, yeah...I don't leave my dogs in the car in the heat (or even not in the heat) unless I'm like running into 7/11 or a deli and typically not unless I can SEE the car from the window in the establishment. They're also never outside unsupervised for more than a few minutes.

But I do take them out/hiking/to be active in very high temperatures...but I'm watching them, they have water access, and I figure at least with my current dogs, I'm more likely to overheat before they do.

We're not very vigilant about flea and tick meds.

There's this creek by my house... and I guess that, technically, you're not *supposed* to let your dogs swim in it for one reason or another... yah, Rosey would spend like, every day there swimming :lol-sign: I just had to make sure I was behind a tree if I didn't want to hear the people walking by yelling at me

I definitely bike with the dogs when it's hotter out than people say you should. Like today was in the 80s and Didgie and I still went out!

Both of them are going to die from water intoxication. Like yesterday.

I make them be outside a lot in the heat to get used to it, we spend most summer days hanging out outside.

I completely mind these:



I'm getting paranoid about leaving them in the car for five minutes to run into a store because I'm worried someone is going to call the cops or break the window. Not ok. I've sat in a car without airconditioning for longer and not been hot at all, the dogs can deal for a few minutes.

We've called the cops on people who have their dog in the car at restaurants and such. I try to be logical about it - if it's a gas station, yeah they're probably not going to be inside very long. Some place like Target? Ehh that's debatable, they could be in there a while or they could just be grabbing a loaf of bread. At a restaurant though, yeah typically you're in there for more than just a minute or two. I don't just fly off the handle every time I see a dog in a car.

I mean maybe it's just something I pay extra attention to since I have a heat sensitive breed.

This. I was pissed one time because my friend and I were in the parking lot at the mall picking up food. One friend walked in to pick up and I stayed in the car with the pups. We sat there for over 40 mins eating in the car, etc, and this dog in a car across the parking lot was STILL in there. Who goes into the mall and leaves their dog in the car? It was easily 85 degrees outside. We were originally thinking maybe they just ran to go pick up food, but no... eventually they came walking out and into the car, but we were pretty close to calling the cops.

And it's not like I'm the freak that sees any dog in a car and is all "OMFZ CALL PETA!" or anything, lol. But it does annoy me when I see it happening at unnecessary places. Really, if I'm going into somewhere like a mall, or a Target to shop, or a grocery store, or eating a sit down restaurant.... bring your dog home first. And I understand emergencies come up which is why I'm not immediately going to judge, or attempt to break a window (lol) but I just don't think it's cool. If I have Jackson with me, the most I'll do is go into a place like Chipotle, 7-11, or CVS. If I know I'm going to be inside somewhere that I cannot see him for more than 10-15 mins, I won't go in.

*raises hand*

Confessions: My dogs have hung out in the car while I've done my Christmas shopping, eaten dinner, gone to movies, ridden my horse and worked a ten hour day (obviously Meg got several walk breaks then). Clearly I haven't killed them yet, and Meg is going on nine years.

Some of it is because of my lifestyle. I compete in agility out of state regularly. That means I travel. With dogs. You aren't allowed to leave dogs in hotel rooms by themselves (nor would I). If I go out to dinner, the dogs chill in the car. If I forget to bring a sports bra (whoops) and need to run into the mall, the dogs chill in the car. I choose where I park and when carefully. I don't know that I've ever walked back to my car and even seen my dogs panting. I have battery operated fans, AC, sun screens, cool pads, and shade cloths. If you break my window and my dogs don't appear to be in the slightest distress, it is not going to be a good day for anyone. Among other things, Meg is going to be traumatized.

Yes, if it is 90 degrees (pretty rare where I live) we get take out and go back to the hotel. If it is 80 degrees, I park in shade or use shade cloths, put the dogs in wire crates so the windows can go down pretty far, and don't stress about my dogs. Just about the lunatic people.