Mad Dogs and Englishmen

The trials of caring for dogs during a heat wave

Moth and Milo/photo by Nigel Leaney

We are enjoying something of a mini wave here with temperatures rising to the upper thirties. Everyone has slowed down, hampered by their own slick of sweat and the relentless, punishing hammer of heat.

In my youth I lived for such days. Now I just live for returning to India, to a country that knows how to deal with immoderate heat. Let’s keep it there, shall we, and continue to enjoy our own British grey, drizzly weather. Temperate at all times. It’s what we British do best. Nothing in the extreme, old chap, it’s terribly bad form.

Photo by Zwaddi on Unsplash

With two large dogs in the household, it isn’t just we humans to consider. Dogs are particularly vulnerable to sudden leaps in temperature. It isn’t called ‘the silent killer’ for nothing. What beggars belief is year after year we are subjected to tragic stories of dogs being left to microwave in closed up cars, while their brain dead owners go shopping. When the emergencies service attend, smashing car windows to rescue the poor mutts, it is generally too late.

But aside from such criminally idiotic behaviour, looking after dogs during days of extreme heat needs care and caution. The general advice is that anything over 20 degrees centigrade is risky for dogs. Some caution needs to be exercised during their walk. For example, is it really necessary to insist your dogs chases yet another ball you’ve chucked half a mile, aided and abetted by those silly plastic throwers? Of course, he’ll still run for it as usual. Dogs like to please their owners. But he could probably do without going for the Olympic Gold.

Over 25 degrees centigrade is a no-no for walkies. Keep your dog inside. Give him access to water in the coolest area of the house. One of my best investments of recent years was the purchase of a fuck-off fan, that squats menacingly on the floor. It has a diameter of around 50 centimetres and even on its lowest setting (the only one I will ever need) it has the sound of a Boeing 747 on take-off. But, during moments of extreme mercury rise, the dogs love it. That piece of noisy metal becomes their best…