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I have a 1 year old Border Collie female. She is high energy to say the least. We have a large yard and usually get her out once a day for a walk, a ride, or a trip to the park. The problem is, it is well over 100 degrees in Phoenix in the summer, with nighttime temps only lowering into the 90's. My poor dog is black and seems to suffer more than other dogs in the heat. I try to be mindful of this and only walk her after dark. But she is bored, I can tell. She paces the house, whimpering and whining. Wants to go inside then outside then back in again. She is miserable and is making me miserable too. Once the fall arrives, I'm going to enroll her in intermediate obedience and then on to agility, but what can I do for now to keep her entertained? Oh, and to make matters worse, she has a horribly sensitive stomach and cannot have treats, people food, or rawhide. When training her, I usually use her own Natural Balance kibble, the only stuff that doesn't give her diarrhea. So a Kong filled with peanut butter isn't a consideration.
Location: Big Island- Hawaii, AK, WA where the whales are!
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My Border Collie also is very picky about food. Only on type of dog food doesn't upset his stomache. I have found Pigs ears and cow knuckles he did fine with. You can find them at a meat market. Cow knuckles last a long time. Stay away from the pig nose though they stink really bad.
I live in WA (most the time) and the temps this year were a couple of week high 90's to 110. It was hotter than we are used to. I would take him outside hose him down before running him. Hose him off when done again. He really loves to swim and gets allot of his energy out. Is there a place you can take her swiming? River or a pond? He also loves the little plastic kid pools. I put some water in it and he goes out and lays in the water to cool off.
In the house he also has his baby at all times.. little stuffed animals. They usually last about a month before he destroys it to get the squeaky out of it. While traveling now I have totally given up on throwing the ball for him. My arm got too sore. He now has a smaller soccer ball that I kick for him until he is warn out. He will entertain himself running around the ball on his own also.
Good luck. I have found if he doens't get his energy out it can turn into the start of some bad behavior and habits. Once a day, and a walk is not near enough time for him to burn off that energy.
My dog hates, hates, hates the water unfortunately. Hosing her off when it is hot is nothing short of torture for her. But I will try the cow knuckles. I bet she'll love those. Thanks.
Hosing before and after exercise helps certainly - I have to.
Swimming is easily the answer, but the much harder question might be where. Any ponds or anything near by?
(When we lived in a city suburb I used to take mine over to a neighbouring sub-division that had a big man-made pond with fountain thingys. I'd throw something for them to retrieve and it was brilliant - they didn't over-heat and they got some excellent exercise. Now... was I supposed to be there? Well, no one ever stopped me and told me I wasn't, but I did pick my times carefully. )
Location: Big Island- Hawaii, AK, WA where the whales are!
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My dog loves swimming and water but he completly hates the hose also. It is tourture to him also but afterwards he feels soo much better. I have to have him on a very tight leash with good choker collar on him. He has broke collars before while I do this but he feels so much better after a few seconds and over it. Even hating the hose he loves the kid pool.
I know the dog may not look so attractive for awhile, but consider getting it shaved until the real heat ends. You can get a hard small child's pool and put it outside so the dog can lay and play in it. Do you have a shady area in your backyard you could put the pool on? Take him for walks as late as you can, maybe have a mister set up outside as well.
I have a 1 year old Border Collie female. She is high energy to say the least. We have a large yard and usually get her out once a day for a walk, a ride, or a trip to the park. The problem is, it is well over 100 degrees in Phoenix in the summer, with nighttime temps only lowering into the 90's. My poor dog is black and seems to suffer more than other dogs in the heat. I try to be mindful of this and only walk her after dark. But she is bored, I can tell. She paces the house, whimpering and whining. Wants to go inside then outside then back in again. She is miserable and is making me miserable too. Once the fall arrives, I'm going to enroll her in intermediate obedience and then on to agility, but what can I do for now to keep her entertained? Oh, and to make matters worse, she has a horribly sensitive stomach and cannot have treats, people food, or rawhide. When training her, I usually use her own Natural Balance kibble, the only stuff that doesn't give her diarrhea. So a Kong filled with peanut butter isn't a consideration.
Get her a doghouse with an external AC unit:Moderator cut: sorry copyrighted image
Then she can go in and out on her own.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 09-17-2009 at 10:36 AM..
Reason: copyrighted image - you can post a link to it
I can't think of much to add to this. We lived in the desert for years and had small dogs. We just learned to give them things to do inside, hide and seek the toys/balls. It took more effort but it was too hot for them outside. Good luck.
Location: Vermont, grew up in Colorado and California
5,296 posts, read 7,247,917 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brokencrayola
I know the dog may not look so attractive for awhile, but consider getting it shaved until the real heat ends. You can get a hard small child's pool and put it outside so the dog can lay and play in it. Do you have a shady area in your backyard you could put the pool on? Take him for walks as late as you can, maybe have a mister set up outside as well.
I don't think that is a good idea...a trim maybe...........
Last edited by Summerz; 09-17-2009 at 06:23 PM..
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