# Tips for cooling down



## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

Houses in the UK are not built for very hot weather. 

I can't ever remember it being this hot for this long. 

Gandhi is struggling a bit. At night he asks to go outside and then he lies down on the patio slabs and doesn't want to come back in. The kitchen, where he sleeps, is the hottest part of the house now. We started leaving the door open to the hall a while back so he could sleep there as it is cooler, but all in all it's still very hot. 

Someone mentioned a cooling mat before - how does this work? Is it filled with anything that would be dangerous if he chewed it?

Any other tips?

He has a paddling pool.


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

We keep our curtains closed and have a fan on, we have very large south facing windows. 
Maybe a damp towel on the kitchen tiles?
I have the cooling mats - I wouldn't say either of mine have bothered with them, except one (I suspect Ralph) has chewed a corner. They are filled with a silicone.
R&R (and billy) like the hose pipe sprinkler.
Eating and playing with ice cubes?


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## Lottierachel (Mar 3, 2013)

It was this hot for this long last July - I think you notice the heat a lot more when you have a fed up cockapoo because you're almost willing it to end!

Tilly isn't a big fan of water (paddling pool, hose pipe etc.) so I have to sneakily get her fur a bit damp e.g. water the garden with the hose pipe..... whoops, did I get a bit on you Tilly?! She's much cooler when damp.

Making sure the hair is nice and short on her tummy too, so that when she finds somewhere cool to lie, she can actually feel it!

Poor hotdogs  x


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## Lottierachel (Mar 3, 2013)

Oh, and of course in this heat, they are entitled to the last bit of your ice lolly/ice cream


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

At agility shows some people use damp dog coats - to help their dogs keep cool. Some are shop bought - others home made from old towels.
Mine love a frozen chicken wing to gnaw on 
Liz is still at an age where she enjoys a rambunctious water fight in the garden and the dogs cannot resist getting involved and end up thoroughly soaked!
We have a fan that we use in the living room and doors and windows stay open very, very late - mostly all night (not the doors). I get up early anyway, so their main walk is just after 6:00am, although it has been incredibly hot even then. Mine love swimming so a good soak in the sea first thing is great for keeping them cool, not so great for keeping their coats tangle free.
We (actually usually my eldest son, I've reached an age where I am happy to be heading to bed then!) take them out for a run last thing around 11:00pm and they thoroughly enjoy terrorizing the local fox population and come in hot and happy - drink copious amounts of water and dribble it all over the kitchen floor  and collapse to sleep, generally belly up - Dot by the front door, Inzi in her bed and Kiki on the nice cool leather sofa


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## Lottierachel (Mar 3, 2013)

Your dogs have got all this summer lark sussed Marzi! X


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

Just curious, what is the temperature of your heat wave?


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Well it was 28 here with 78% humidity the other day, it was hotter yesterday and marginly less humid. Recently we had an intense very localised thunderstorm which has moved off now and the ground is gently steaming.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

It's 28 here today with humidity of 80%. I love the hot weather but only when I'm in a place cut out for it! Here, not so much. Working is difficult! My girls are roasting, we've got sprinklers going all the time as well as the paddling pool and damp towels down. Lola suffers more than Nina, poor thing! The house is very hot too, poor dogs are getting little relief. If we were guaranteed this every year, I would seriously consider aircon!

I was so hot yesterday evening, I had a cold bath! Stone cold! It was delicious.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

So out here it's reaching 115F not sure what that converts to. But it's hot. I will sometime spray it down as the hose water is cool. Maybe a similar idea indoor. Mop with cold water and ice cubes. At least temporarily cool down the tiles so it doesn't retain as much heat and you have clean floors. I have air conditioning so inside tile is what they use to cool off. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

115 F is 46 C!

That's hot Maureen for sure! What's your humidity like. I would quite like aircon right now.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

I'm using vino chilled to cool down!


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

I will try the damp towel idea 

If we had actual kitchen tiles that would probably help but it's that Lino stuff

Our kitchen extension has been designed to maximise light so there are sky lights and lots of windows. We ordered custom blackout blinds for the kitchen 6 weeks ago to help with this but they haven't arrived yet! 

Gandhi has had a haircut today which I'm sure will help a little bit

I've been changing his water frequently as it gets warm and he always goes for a drink when it's fresh

I like the weather but it's easier for humans. The only thing I don't like is that he is less comfortable!


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Lottierachel said:


> It was this hot for this long last July - I think you notice the heat a lot more when you have a fed up cockapoo because you're almost willing it to end!
> 
> Tilly isn't a big fan of water (paddling pool, hose pipe etc.) so I have to sneakily get her fur a bit damp e.g. water the garden with the hose pipe..... whoops, did I get a bit on you Tilly?! She's much cooler when damp.
> 
> ...


Gandhi needs to come to our garden - we love it! Ruby to follow on the water sludge! X


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Ruby on the water slide..... Not knowing she's a canine skittle to be knocked down prior to Billy's run up and slide!! 
Washing up liquid makes it extra slidy & billy extra clean!!


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Tinman said:


> Ruby on the water slide..... Not knowing she's a canine skittle to be knocked down prior to Billy's run up and slide!!
> Washing up liquid makes it extra slidy & billy extra clean!!


At times Ruby reminds me of Nina!

I would love to be sliding on cool water right now. I'm so hot I'm thinking about ice cold shower. This is so not like me! I love hot hot hot holidays! Not coping well at home at all!! Jenny's about to throw me out!


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Brilliant - cool poos and bath time alfresco for Billy. Tell Billyboy that a squirter of matey bubble bath makes the slide *much* more slippery


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Marzi said:


> Brilliant - cool poos and bath time alfresco for Billy. Tell Billyboy that a squirter of matey bubble bath makes the slide *much* more slippery


Mmmmm I've been using fairy liquid, matey it is!! X


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

RuthMill said:


> At times Ruby reminds me of Nina!
> 
> I would love to be sliding on cool water right now. I'm so hot I'm thinking about ice cold shower. This is so not like me! I love hot hot hot holidays! Not coping well at home at all!! Jenny's about to throw me out!


We've all had a great time outside with hoses, paddle pools, slides & sprinklers....... Although I have burnt a leg and currently lying here with chilled wine & an ice pack on burnt leg!! X (ice pack that is.... I'm obviously slurping the chilled wine!!) x


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

Gandhi would love to play there! 

I've been standing in gandhi's paddling pool and the sensation of the cool water and the hot sun makes me feel like I'm in the Mediterranean for a second! Not going abroad this year so I have definitely appreciated the sun for myself. Some summers in England there are one or two hot weekends and that's it!

I guess people in other countries think we are crazy for saying it's hot here but I think it's the fact that the buildings aren't designed for it. It's hotter inside than it is outside in the shade. It's the same in the winter when we have an unexpected amount of snow, compared with other places it's not a big deal but most people's cars are not that powerful!


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

RuthMill said:


> At times Ruby reminds me of Nina!
> 
> I would love to be sliding on cool water right now. I'm so hot I'm thinking about ice cold shower. This is so not like me! I love hot hot hot holidays! Not coping well at home at all!! Jenny's about to throw me out!


It's because there is no breeze! It's the stuffy kind of hot


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Poppy got scalped yesterday in a bid to beat the heat and the monster seeds! She's got someone else's legs now


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Super skinny pins 
The Popster looks gorgeous and very, very clean.


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

Love Poppy's haircut and I'm sure she does too!


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Daz white


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## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

Mazzapoo said:


> Poppy got scalped yesterday in a bid to beat the heat and the monster seeds! She's got someone else's legs now


I love it she looks adorable!


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## Nanci (Mar 1, 2012)

This has been soooo funny to read al the posts. I did not realize most of you do not have Airconditioning?? Oh my word!! Thats so hard for me to grasp as we have never been without it. In Georgia 90 degrees (32c) is very normal and over 100 (38c) is not unusual for days on end!!! There were many times you could not grasp the brass doornobs on outside doors without scorching your hands! If it rained, the steam coming off the pavement was horrible. The humidity there stays above 85% and not unusual for 100% many days of the summer. THATS why I love Ohio so much. The highest temp this summer so far has been 85 degrees, but there is always a breeze blowing and humidiy is about 70%. I mowed the entire yard, edged the grass and blew it all off, pulled weeds and never even broke a sweat today. It was wonderful!! But almost all homes in the States have Air and Heating . . . . unusual not to see it. 
When Sami was 5 months old I came home from work in July (when we lived in Ga) and the air was out, the temp in the house was 89 degrees and he was flat out on the kitchen tile! Good thing for connections . . . we had air the next day. Freddy was on work TDY so Sami and I slept in my bed with the celing fan on high and ice packs wrapped in towels for us to both lay on. So this has been an eye opener for me as I hate being hot!! So do your automobiles have air? Or stores and pubs??


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Nanci, my car has aircon (good job because I got into my car after work yesterday and temp said 38 - car must have been in sun trap ), mainly big shops and restaurants. Old style pubs don't tend to have it. Hospitals have poor cooling which is awful for staff when the weather is hot as they all have big old windows and the sun just belts in. The newer build hospitals are getting better at adding good quality aircon. My office has it thankfully!! It is rare for us to gave this heat. Between 2005-2011 we had very bad winters and very bad summers, really no differentiation of seasons - well Northern Ireland, not sure about England. Last two years we have has very mild winters and hot summers. Hot summers for us is 25-30 Celsius but high humidity and no breeze makes it yucky! I love the sun and love sunbathing but not at home, at home I prefer to be active, doing things. I know I shouldn't complain, and I'm not really but would cope better with aircon inside.


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## Alinos (May 19, 2014)

Takes me back almost 10 years when I was visiting Norwich. The hotel I was staying at didn't have air con. And they were actually handing out small portable fans. I thought I would die at night . And i spent the half the night in the bathtub holding up the fan with one hand!


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

LOL

I think that air con in regular houses in the UK is a rarity, unless you are a premeir league footballer...
Members of the upper class who live in castles are probably fine owing to the design of the building...
But the modern boxes that too many of us live in and truly disasterous when it is as hot and humid as this. It is the humidity that makes it so bad.
Still next week the weather will change and we'll all be moaning and wishing it was hot again.

(Actually does anyone here have AC in their house? I'm considering camping in the chiller aisle at Sainsburys)


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Marzi said:


> LOL
> 
> I think that air con in regular houses in the UK is a rarity, unless you are a premeir league footballer...
> Members of the upper class who live in castles are probably fine owing to the design of the building...
> ...


I am actually thinking of getting aircon installed in my new house which is being built at present. It's going to have a large open kitchen, dining, sunroom and it's south facing. It's an expense though and if I thought we weren't going to have another hot summer for 10 years, I wouldn't bother. Oh and I would like it in the bedroom too. We have cooled considerably here yesterday and today, there's a lovely breeze and it's 18-23 c!


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