advice on summer with bully

[Seline Weiskopff]

This is our first summer with Effie- and my husband and I had the same general question. My husband had actually wanted to get one of those pull along pet carriages that will attach to our bikes. We live in Virginia Beach and like to ride our bikes down at the oceanfront boardwalk in the evenings after work (usually around 6pm/7pm). At first I thought this was a really cool idea! I'm almost positive Effie would love it. But now I have major concerns about her overheating...these carriages are mighty expensive, and I don't want him to purchase one if it's going to be a waste (as in mommy is too scared to let baby come along for the ride!) We'll of course be bringing fresh cool water for her to drink. We usually only ride for an hour anyway, and we stop for a break after the 1st 30 minutes- which I thought would be a good time for her to drink some water, and maybe play at the beach? (still not sure how I feel about letting her play in salt water though....) Decisions, decisions!!!

Your not alone I bring Molly everywhere but with the hotter weather I'm really finding myself being very careful I've notice she just lays down as to say I've had enough mommy lol today she decided to swim in her water bowl everytime I filled it !

 

[betterxthanxnew]

Lol, she's too cute!! We take Effie everywhere with us right now too- at least whenever possible. We're at work all day, so of course she's crated most of the day. Although, my husband gets an hour and a half lunch break so he comes home and lets her out about midway through the day- for about an hour. But, when we get home in the evenings I just can't bare to put her back in her crate if we have to run anywhere. We do love to ride our bikes during the summer, which is why my husband was looking into the carriages. Maybe I worry too much. But, she's my baby!

 

[Chanticocat]

It's already hit one hundred degrees as usual for this part of the country. Our rule has always been "anything over eighty and you go out to potty and right back in to the air conditioning. That's either in the bedroom or the car. They have never been outside unattended even in our fenced locked yard. Our floors are tile which helps with cooling Tile also keeps the allergies down by quite a bit. We have cooling towels, misting bottles, a cooler roo pad and a fan that plugs into the car jack for traveling. We give them ice , cold fruit pieces and sometimes a bit of vanilla ice cream cone. We do try to get them to the coffee drive thru once or twice a week and out early on Sunday morning while it's still reasonably cool and shady for coffee and pastries downtown.

 

[mb190e]

I ask my vet about this, after reading all these post about only leaving the dog outside for 10 or 15 minutes with any temps over 75°. Now we don't live in Florida or Southern California where it's 85 or 90 every day. We are in upstate New York but we get our share of hot days and hot weeks. The vet says there's no reason Bruno can't stay outside most of the day as long as he has access to shade and water. Now we don't put him out unsupervised, we watch for the signs of overheating. Bruno also likes sunbathing on the deck.

 

[Chanticocat]

English Bulldog News Forums - An important reminder about bulldogs & heat

Good article on bullies and heat. I didn't learn it here, but the lemon juice saved one of mine years ago.