Got heat?

Here in NY, we experienced record-breaking heat this week!  At one point my thermometer read 118º!  Yowza!  We also haven't had any rain since June.  Our pretty, lush green grass has turned to brown straw.  We bought a sprinkler the other night to water the lawn and plants.  I don't remember seeing such hot and humid temperatures in NY before, and I've lived here practically all my life.

It's a good thing we have air conditioning!  Our 3 dogs who love spending time outside, wanted nothing to do with the outdoors at all this week.  Every morning I say "ok let's go outside!" And they run to the door all excited to go out.  This week, they sat still and gave me the "are you kidding me?" look.

Here's a few things I do to keep them cool in this heat:

• Keep filling their water bowls with clean fresh water, and lots of ice!
• Feed them ice.  My dogs not only love eating ice, they love slapping it all over the floor.  The bad thing is:  ICE MELTS. So I wouldn't recommend letting them play with ice on floors you don't want wet.
• I bought them a Cool Bed.  You fill it with cold water, and it stays cold for 8 hours.  Our Sammy LOVES his cool bed!
• Keep fans on.  We have air in several rooms in the house, but fans help keep our canine friends cool as well, especially in non-air conditioned rooms.
• We DON'T walk them in high temps.  It's not healthy for us, and it's not healthy for them.  On days like today, it's safest to stay indoors.  They still get lots of exercise in the house!

What do you do, to keep your dogs cool in the hot heat?