It’s hot outside. And I mean really hot. None of this 90 degree stuff – I’m talking 117 during the day and 100 at night. It’s brutal. Did you know that Arizona shuts down airports at 117 degrees because it’s not safe to get airplanes off the ground? Yeah, it’s that bad. Luckily the temperatures are supposed to drop to around 102 next week. YAY!
If we wake up to an overcast day, it’s a miracle. A majority of time the sun is shining and there’s not a cloud in the sky. That’s all fine and dandy but not when you can cook steaks on the street and bake cookies on your car’s dashboard. This is supposed to be our monsoon season but so far we’ve seen one day of rain in my neighborhood. August is always the worst month for Arizona heat. Last week we had a record high, our temperatures right now are above average and it sucks.
This summer has been particularly hard for me since I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. My body temperature is out of whack and these insane temperatures don’t help! I’m really looking forward to November when it really starts to cool down. Yes, it takes that long.
So what do we do when we can’t even step outside without melting? Well, stay in side of course! Unless you are swimming. Even if you get up at 6am it’s in the 90s. I do a lot of indoor activities with my dogs to keep them active. Luckily we have the space to use some agility equipment, we play training hide and seek games, a lot of fetch happens, etc. Matt and I did took a little vacation a couple weeks ago to California so we could escape the heat and get the dogs to the beach. Now that’s a way to keep cool!
There are many ways that we can keep our dogs cool in the summer, no matter where you are located. The most important one in Arizona is to keep your dogs inside! Dogs are susceptible to burns and heat stroke like humans are, and the pads on their paws can easily get 3rd degree burns from our hot sidewalks and street. It’s also important to never leave your dog in a hot car. Cars can reach up to 180 degrees inside within 10 minutes. Can you imagine sitting in that? It’s a death sentence and it’s absolutely horrific. If you are going to have to leave your dog in the car for some reason, just leave them at home.
Luckily August is winding down and lower temperatures will slowly start to creep in…hopefully sooner than later. In the meantime, we’ll continue with our indoor activities and super late night walks. We walk around 10-11pm and even then the dogs are always panting and we are sweating. ‘Tis the life of an Arizona dog mom.
What have you done to stay cool this summer?
Kristen–well minded says
Howdy, neighbor! Yes, we are getting very sick of the heat, too. Thankfully, N.A.S.H.A. likes it. She even sunbathes…crazy! We’ve been staying indoors, too, and spending some time in the pool, but the water is so hot, it’s not refreshing at all. We’ll have to have another outdoor lunch date…in November! 😉
Amanda says
Ahahaha yes I look forward to excellent lunch date weather! Wynston loves it too. I’ll find him laying on the back patio in the sun in the middle of the day!
Camille says
Ahhhh, living in Phoenix – I do love it, but I’m really over this heat right now too. Even the birds outside look like they’re hot! 🙁 When we had our Cavalier, Spencer, we used to take trips up north to the pine forests of rim country on the weekends whenever we could. He would get cabin fever in the summertime, and those trips made him sooo happy (us too!) 🙂
Amanda says
My parents have a 2nd home in Payson so sometimes we go up north to escape also! It’s awesome that we can drive a pretty short distance and see pine trees and cooler temps! We all have cabin fever I think.