Keeping Your Dog Happy, Healthy & Fulfilled During the Hot Summer Months

While summer is an awesome time to enjoy the outdoors with your dog, hot weather also brings unique challenges. While a lot of us love sunshine and adventure, heat can quickly become dangerous if we're not mindful of the risks. Despite many people thinking it’s impossible to keep their dogs active and fulfilled when it’s hot outside, you can keep your dog safe, active, and mentally enriched all season long!

1. Plan activities around the heat!

An easy way to avoid heat-related concerns is to avoid the hottest part of the day altogether. Instead of walking at midday, try walking in the early morning before the sun is high or in the evening after the pavement has cooled. Shorter outings with frequent

breaks are also a good way to help avoid overheating. Always feel the pavement before walking your dog! If it’s too hot for your bare feet, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws! Dog boots can also help manage the risk of pavement burns during potty walks in the heat.

2. Water activities!

Many dogs absolutely love swimming, and it's one of the safest ways to get exercise, play, and stay cool during the summer. Whether it's a lake, pond, beach, backyard pool, or a even a small kiddie pool in the yard, swimming and water activities provide great low-impact exercise while helping your dog stay cool.

3. Bring the fun indoors!

Not every summer day allows for outdoor adventures, and that's okay! Mental enrichment & indoor play are great ways to provide fulfillment indoors.

- Scent Games

Hide treats or favorite toys around the house and let your dog use their nose to find them. You can start easy and gradually make the games more challenging.

- Tug!

A quick game of tug provides great exercise, builds engagement & commitment, and strengthens your relationship.

- Flirt pole

A flirt pole is an excellent way to fulfill your dog's natural chase instincts while giving them a controlled workout.

- Indoor Obstacle Course

Transform your living room into a fun obstacle course for some confidence building and a mental & physical workout. You can use chairs to weave through, blankets or towels draped over chairs or other furniture to create a tunnel, boxes or platforms to step into

or onto, poles or wooden planks to jump over, the possibilities are endless! Use your imagination and keep things fun and encouraging.

- Trick training

Teach your dog some new tricks! This is a fun, mentally challenging way to tire out your dog. Tricks are also a great way to relationship build and have fun!

4. Frozen treats

Frozen treats are an easy way to help your dog cool off while providing enrichment. You can stuff kong toys with your dog’s food or favorite treat or fill an ice cube mold and freeze into treats! Some dog-friendly ingredient ideas are plain yogurt, seedless

watermelon, single ingredient pumpkin puree, plain bone broth (I typically reach for bone broths made specifically for dogs to avoid onion and garlic seasoning!), blueberries, strawberries, and plain canned sardines.

Keeping your dog safe during the summer doesn’t mean you can’t have fun! With a little extra planning, cooler activity times, a wide variety of enrichment options, and attention to your dog’s comfort, summer can be just as fun as any other season.

-Written by Catherine.