Hot Hot Hot... how do ya keep em cool

[LorraineO]

UYse a spray mist bottle on them every hour,, that helps to cool down too...

we have AC upstairs and downstairs in our place,, in fact,, the AC upstairs is in the dogs room,,,, they will be cool at night for sure!!

[mruffruff]

Our shelter uses soda bottles. Fill 3/4 to the top, cap it and freeze. Some of the dogs like to lay right next to the bottles.
No A/C for our shelter even in the HOT south.

[pnance]

When we didn't have A/C we'd give them ice cubes to munch on. We'd also wet them down when we were home (they were definately not a big fan of that, but they liked it afterwards). When we went to work, we'd take an empty 2 liter bottle fill it with water and freeze it overnight and put that in their water bowl. Ice cubes didn't work because Hunter likes to play with them and splashed all the water out of the bowl trying to get to them. Not only was it a big mess to come home to on my kitchen floor, but defeated the purpose of giving them water!

[beeniesmom]

Well, living in Florida I know what the heat is!
To keep Beenie cool (she has short hair but it's black - heats up in no time), I wet her head every so often when we are out and make sure she has plenty of cool water available. We just got back from a short walk and she seemed to be a little overheated. I just sprayed her with water (from a spray bottle) a little and she seemed to feel better right away. I don't know what I would do If I had a long haired dog. I'd probably shave it's belly as was said earlier in this thread.

[mruffruff]

The soda bottles are not for the water dishes, but to lay next to on the ground.

[Dixieland Dancer]

I do a variety of things. Kiddie pool like Anna's, Ice cubes and cool treats and regular squirts on their underside with ice cold water if we are indoors. Of course I also keep them in the AC if it gets too warm out. Dixie doesn't mind the heat but Dusty hates to be hot. Even in winter he searches for cold spots. I want to get him one of those cooling mats but haven't gotten around to it yet.