hot, humid climate, what to do?
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| Check out this post, very informative:
http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=2554 |
| Rifino,
The simple and in my opinion the best solution to OES discomfort in hot humid summers is a combination of air conditioning and management of their walks and exercise. Even if you can't afford central air conditioning the new generation of window air conditioners to cool a single room are becoming far less expensive to buy and due to advances in motor and compressor design they are far less expensive to operate. (I have a couple of old 6000 btu/hr units that each suck up over 11 amps but a new one I purchased at almart two years ago, only slight smaller at 5000 btu/hr draws only 5 amps. Less than 1/2 the operating cost for almost 85% of the cooling!! Yea hah!! Plus the new one actually cools far better.) So cooling a single room will provide comfort throughout the day and will also benefit the family. In addition to air conditioning you need to manage when they get their walks and exercise. Obviously then need to get out throughout the day to do their business but keep those walks to the absolute minimum duration: out-potty-in!! The bigger walks and exercise periods should be limited to early mornig before it gets too hot and the evening once it begins to cool and the humidity drops. Be especially careful of exercise levels though if the humidty stays high in the evening. Humidity is extremely detrimental to a dogs cooling ability as I explained (tried to explain) in the post that Betsey referenced. Clipping/hair removal is the choice for many OES parents who do not show their Bobtails. This can be accomplished in several ways. The least obvious is to completely strip out the undercoat which removes the most effective insulation barrier and helps the dog cool. After that varying levels of clipping of the guard coat can be done down to about 2 inches. You need to keep some coat on the dog to ensure he/she is not sunburned! There is always a balance to strike between clipping for coolness and leaving enough hair on for sun protection. The other thing to note is that the muzzle hair is relatively thin and is generally insufficient to protect from sunburn at any length. If you are going to take your clipped dog out in the bright sun (temperature is irrelevant in this case) put some sunscreen on their exposed muzzle. Yes it will be a bit greasy on the muzzle hair but better to deal with greasy hair than sunburned skin. As always I'm willing to answer any further questions in open forum or by pm. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
| thank you very much for the info. it's very helpful |
| Where do you live in Florida? I live on the west coast. This will be our first summer with Samantha also. I just had her puppy cut last week, not only for the heat but also to help with grooming. She loves going outside and laying in the shade of a tree or bush. Right now she is taking a nap on the cool dining room tile. Best way to beat the afternoon heat! |
| we are in miami. sherbert likes to cool down in the ocean. |
| We live in a very hot place... in the middle of the dessert in the middle of nowhere!!!
Our dogs survive the summer by staying in a shaded area in the mornings (With a 5 gallon bottle of water). We come home at noon for lunch and we let them in. They stay in for the rest of the afternoon and we leave the air conditioning running in the house for the rest of the day so the house stays cool below 25C (78F). This year they'are sporting puppy cuts thanks to Carl's suggestions and will stay like that until summer passes. We only excercise them at nigh when the temperature goes below 85F so they don't overheat. I don't know much about humidity, we have a pretty much dry climate. |
| I wonder if Sherbert still summers in Florida with Rifino, or if they are spending more time in Detroit now? Rifino is 14 and looks very happy http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20 ... lt-italian |
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