westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) Looking for the usual brilliant DOL ideas please… Next week in Adelaide the temperature during the day won't get below 40 degrees Monday to Friday with a high of 43 degrees on Thursday and the nights won't drop below the mid - high 20's until tomorrow week (Saturday). I'm in a poorly cooled house-sit which is a nightmare on hot nights and we're all fairly heat intolerant. I'm worried about the westies during the day while I'm at work - particularly my 14 year old Mac with his clipped but still thick UK coat. I'm going to bite the bullet, stack up the credit card and put them all into air conditioned doggy day care on Tuesday and Thursday and they'll go to my mothers and hole up in her aircon with her on Friday (I might join them Thursday and Friday night even if I have to sleep on the couch!). But concerned about how to keep them cool on Monday and Wednesday… So apart from frozen treats out of the freezer which won't last a work day, how do others keep their dogs cool and happy for a work day in such horrendous conditions? Particularly old dogs? TIA. Edited January 10, 2014 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiecuddles Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Will they play in a paddle pool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) Thanks kc but no - I got them all as adults and none of them are at all enamoured of anything to do with water... Edited January 10, 2014 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiecuddles Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Have you got a big freezer? You can fill icecream buckets and 2lt lemonade bottles with water and freeze them and put them at one end of their bed so they can lean against them. This is what we do for the small animals on hot days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Are they outside or inside? I go back to work next week (typical that it hits when I am not home and ale to keep dogs in the cool) so tonight i have started soaking down under our couple of good shady trees. I will keep wetting that area every night for a good half hour to hour with a soaker hose. It stays in deep shade all day so my aim is to keep the soil cool. This way the dogs can get under it and have somewhere cool to lay and dig themselves a hollow if they want. I will also have 2 clam shells out in different areas of the yard so there is always plenty of water and also always 1 in the shade. I will freeze 2l water bottles and put these on their sack beds as well as having some frozen ice cream containers turned out for them to be able to lick/chew/play with. Before going to work I will spend about a half an hour outside wetting down the whole pergola area. Luckily I am home by 3:30 and it doesn't get the sun until late afternoon. And while it won't stay wet for a huge amount of time this does cool the pavers for quite a while. If they are inside and your house is not very cool - have you considered putting alfoil over the windows exposed to the sun if they do not have good shutters over them? I did it with 2 of ours that get direct sun last year when I had the puppies and was trying to keep the place cool during a heat wave and it made a massive difference. The house was dark but it was definitely cooler. I would even do things like leave the bathroom open and shower door open - the floor of the shower will stay damp and cool for a few hours and give them a cool place to lay. Fans place somewhere they can't knock them over as even a breeze can be helpful. Frozen water bottles placed places they like to lay down. Hope those ideas help. And I will be watching with interest for more ideas for my guys too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Thanks kc and piper - the usual DOL brilliance. I'll go a retrieve a couple of the 2l bottles I've thrown out in the recycling in the last few days. They have a doggy door which they can get out to a small brick courtyard which has some dirt beds in it… I'll damp it all down but the dirt beds are in the sun… gee that alfoil idea is a great one piper - thank you - I would never have thought of that in a million years… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiecuddles Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I also have a timer on my patio watering system and on extremely hot days or when there is a high risk of fire and I won't be home I set it to turn on for five minutes every few hours, it wets down the patio and cools the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) I am another who freezes 2 & 3 litre bottles for 24 hrs ..wraps them in a towel, and places them in teh coolest spot . homeart has coolmats single bed size for humans, with a smaller one ... the dogs might use them ..? any breeze is better than none .... if it is at all humid ..you must leave fans on . If not humid .. try making a tent out of wet/damp old doonas or blankets .... :( ..thinking of you all... at least our guys know to dig burrows into shady wet sand , and stay immobile .. they keep beautifully cool that way :) Edited January 10, 2014 by persephone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Thanks kc and piper - the usual DOL brilliance. I'll go a retrieve a couple of the 2l bottles I've thrown out in the recycling in the last few days. They have a doggy door which they can get out to a small brick courtyard which has some dirt beds in it… I'll damp it all down but the dirt beds are in the sun… gee that alfoil idea is a great one piper - thank you - I would never have thought of that in a million years… OPSHOPS often have old sun proof curtains :) 3 ltr bottles last much longer than 2 ltr , if you can get them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Trots off to look up Homeart… thanks P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Thanks kc and piper - the usual DOL brilliance. I'll go a retrieve a couple of the 2l bottles I've thrown out in the recycling in the last few days. They have a doggy door which they can get out to a small brick courtyard which has some dirt beds in it… I'll damp it all down but the dirt beds are in the sun… gee that alfoil idea is a great one piper - thank you - I would never have thought of that in a million years… OPSHOPS often have old sun proof curtains :) 3 ltr bottles last much longer than 2 ltr , if you can get them . The housemate uses 3l milk bottles… will see if I can snaffle a couple… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I bought the Homeart mats last year. They loved them then but have not touched them again this year. I will put them in a shaded area though and they may want them next week when it is stinking hot. The alfoil idea - I think I got from here. It was easy to do, and I might do them again myself just to help keep the house cool. Spray bottle of water, a rubber window cleaner thing and alfoil. Spray the window so it is damp, line the alfoil up at the top and then let the roll fall and use the window cleaner starting at the top working down to get it to stick. I did it on the outside of the windows and it lasted months. If done on the inside, it would last forever I think. The windows did need a good clean when it came off though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korbin13 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 We used to wet down our 17 year old JRT x, he hated it while it was happening but he looked a lot better after the cooling down. I wet him down with a large sponge which, I hope, was a bit gentler for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Pre air con I used to put the fan on in front of bowls of ice so it would blow cooler air over us. I know the ice wont last all day but perhaps something similar could work using frozen water bottles rather than ice cubes? That could last longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelpiecuddles Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 We used to have one of those plug in portable evaporative air cons that you fill with water, we used to put a bit of water in ours and then fill the rest with ice =awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ash1 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 We went through a heatwave last week and as our house has absolutely no insulation and no air con, it was a real struggle to keep the dogs cool. We had fans running in every room, I bought some super cheap doona inners and soaked them in the bath, then laid them down, soaking wet on the floors for the dogs to lie on (luckily all hard floors here, so not a problem being wet). I filled up our shub (shower tub bath thingy) with cold water and kept dunking the little dogs in it, and used the hose to wet down the big dogs and let them dry naturally, as evaporation is cooling. At night I laid damp towels on top of the dogs so they could get to sleep. We got through it, but will be investing in aircon as soon as finances allow, even if it's just a portable or window unit - it's horrible to watch the dogs struggle with the heat and not be able to do a lot about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 These are great - I'll go and check Gumtree as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 We used to have one of those plug in portable evaporative air cons that you fill with water, we used to put a bit of water in ours and then fill the rest with ice =awesome! kc or anyone else - do you know if those portable evaporative coolers work well enough and quietly enough to be of any value in 40+ degree heat in a bedroom? I found this one at Bunnings - and its less than the price of two days of doggie daycare… thoughts? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 We went through a heatwave last week and as our house has absolutely no insulation and no air con, it was a real struggle to keep the dogs cool. We had fans running in every room, I bought some super cheap doona inners and soaked them in the bath, then laid them down, soaking wet on the floors for the dogs to lie on (luckily all hard floors here, so not a problem being wet). I filled up our shub (shower tub bath thingy) with cold water and kept dunking the little dogs in it, and used the hose to wet down the big dogs and let them dry naturally, as evaporation is cooling. At night I laid damp towels on top of the dogs so they could get to sleep. We got through it, but will be investing in aircon as soon as finances allow, even if it's just a portable or window unit - it's horrible to watch the dogs struggle with the heat and not be able to do a lot about it. Ash I'm sorry to hear that you had to work so hard to keep your guys cool - and your description is exactly what worries me here about next week… might bite the bullet and get a cooler... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 We used to have one of those plug in portable evaporative air cons that you fill with water, we used to put a bit of water in ours and then fill the rest with ice =awesome! kc or anyone else - do you know if those portable evaporative coolers work well enough and quietly enough to be of any value in 40+ degree heat in a bedroom? I found this one at Bunnings - and its less than the price of two days of doggie daycare… thoughts? TIA Hmmm... if the bedroom was shaded and had windows open ..it would provide a cooling breeze, yes. Evap coolers rely on sucking in hot dry air, and cooling it by passing it over wet pads...... so , if you have them going in an enclosed room ... and it has to recycle the air in that space it quickly becomes SO humid as to be very uncomfortable .. evap coolers work best when there is a good inlet for fresh air, and another window to aid circulation ..and keep the effect like a nice cool breeze :) A couple of large pedestal fans + wet towels works even better ... Hamlet & I both had the wet towel/fan bedtime ritual for many years .... that plus ice bricks did work .. Pedestal fan for me ...abox fan for Hammie always ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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