Hot Dog Walks

My last post with its tongue in cheek look at the virtues or otherwise of buying expensive dog food in Strange Dogs Dinner, I want to look at walking the dogs in the heat of August in Southern Spain!

As you can imagine, daytime temperatures climb fast by mid morning to the low 30s (centigrade) and by midday they're up to almost 40. Well they stay like that for most of the afternoon and don't start to drop until late evening as the sun goes down.

So when do we walk the dogs?

Early in the morning and late in the evening when its still relatively cool!

This is mainly because its not just us poor humans that suffer in the heat, but so do the dogs. For one, the pavements are so hot later in the day that they will burn the pads on your poor dog's feet which is not very nice. Remember that while you may have your feet protected by sandals or whatever, they don't!

For another the air temperature is very hot and dry and both humans and dogs will dehydrate very quickly in the heat of the day. So its always best to avoid the heat of the day and walk the dogs when its cooler. Oh, and never leave your dog in a car during the day - see my article about this at Hot Dogs.

My favourite time is very early in the morning before the sun (and every other person) rises. Its cool, peaceful and very calming walking through semi-dark, deserted streets with Ronnie (Daisy won't get out of her bed so early) and its a good time to just enjoy the solitude.

Who said walking the dog had to be hard work?

Terry Didcott
Strange Dog