Hot Fun in the Summertime?

I have to say, from a dog walker’s point of view this has been a great summer! In the San Diego area, we typically have what we call May grey, followed by June gloom, and then the July fry. However, this year it’s been a very mild summer… until a few of days ago.

All through July and the first half of August, I kept hearing people complain that it was too cool. I was thinking, I love this weather, it’s great dog walking weather. Of course, these are people who work in a temperature controlled building during the day. They want beach weather, but they don’t have to be out in it everyday. I was once one of those people. I remember freezing my rear off in a 68° studio, while it was 98° outside. I was an Operations Engineer at Channel 8, the local CBS affiliate, for several years. As soon as a show was over, I’d go outside to warm up. I wished I could work outside, in the fresh air and warmth. Be careful what you wish for… LOL!

Now I’m very happy about having a cool summer! I do love working outside, most of the time… Yesterday it was 99° when I was out with my clients. And by SoCal standards (we’re weather lightweights), it was really humid too. According to the weather channel app on my phone, it felt like 101°. Lightweight, or not… That’s hot!!

You know it’s hot when the dogs don’t want to go out. It’s amusing to go into their cool house, leash them up and then open the door to go out. They start to go through the door, feel the blast of heat, sloooooow down, and look at me like, “Are you kidding, we have to go out in this heat?” The answer is, “Yes, but please do your business fast! Then we can come back inside and play training games.” When it’s really hot, or raining, many dogs would rather stay inside; so they just go to their favorite potty place, and come back in. I love those dogs, LOL.

Then there are those dogs who don’t care about the weather, rain or shine, they want to go, go, go and do it now! They will walk, play ball, run around in the Dog Park or backyard, etc., until they drop from heat exhaustion. I have to be the voice of reason, and not let them (or me) get overheated. I bring along plenty of water and offer it often, but I also have to watch the dogs to make sure their always OK and get them back home, before they get too hot. Dogs are much quicker to overheat than we are, because they don’t sweat and they often don’t complain. So I give them a few minutes of run around time, and then we go inside to play "101 things to do with a box" and other fun games. We play games on nice weather days too, but they’re especially handy on too hot, or rainy, days.

I know it’s selfish, but I’m hoping that persistent low-pressure system comes back soon! I don’t mind a cool summer at all!