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Jun. 1st, 2006 07:26 pmWe have an elderly dog, a cross between a Golden Retriever and a yellow Labrador Retriever. He is a spoiled and pampered house pet, refusing to stay outside by himself. As he is a longish-haired dog, he naturally finds the heat somewhat oppressive. For years, he's fussed about the temperature as it climbs above 76 degrees F (24 degrees C) -- he must be an Irish dog, I always claim. (Referring to the old joke about the headlines in Irish papers about heatwave prostrating thousands.)
Digression: my grandmother, being from Ireland herself, always said to drink hot tea when the weather was warm as it would help you feel cooler. Well, for years I did this. Then I moved to the Caribbean, where a cold winter night is still above 80F (27C), and I found to my dismay that this old wives' tale no longer worked. Then it dawned on me: in Ireland, a hot day is only 76 degrees.
Anyway, the dog. He pants, and shifts about restlessly, and barks in the middle of the night. Recently the ambient temp jumped up to 90+F (34+C), and he was truly suffering. Not only did we turn on the AC, we also turned on the fans. We have many ceiling fans, but the true point to this story is the portable fans.
I happened to buy some new fans as our old ones have gradually burned out and been tossed. I placed one new fan on the floor in front of the dog, and he didn't budge for hours. He slept the sleep of a pup. When he moved to the bedroom, to be near us, I placed the other new fan in front of him as well. He slept the sleep of a tired pup all night, which he hasn't done in many moons.
He still plops himself in front of the fan, even now. This amuses us to no end. Such a simple and cheap answer to our barking-in-the-middle-of-night problem. Now we too can sleep the sleep of a tired pup.
Digression: my grandmother, being from Ireland herself, always said to drink hot tea when the weather was warm as it would help you feel cooler. Well, for years I did this. Then I moved to the Caribbean, where a cold winter night is still above 80F (27C), and I found to my dismay that this old wives' tale no longer worked. Then it dawned on me: in Ireland, a hot day is only 76 degrees.
Anyway, the dog. He pants, and shifts about restlessly, and barks in the middle of the night. Recently the ambient temp jumped up to 90+F (34+C), and he was truly suffering. Not only did we turn on the AC, we also turned on the fans. We have many ceiling fans, but the true point to this story is the portable fans.
I happened to buy some new fans as our old ones have gradually burned out and been tossed. I placed one new fan on the floor in front of the dog, and he didn't budge for hours. He slept the sleep of a pup. When he moved to the bedroom, to be near us, I placed the other new fan in front of him as well. He slept the sleep of a tired pup all night, which he hasn't done in many moons.
He still plops himself in front of the fan, even now. This amuses us to no end. Such a simple and cheap answer to our barking-in-the-middle-of-night problem. Now we too can sleep the sleep of a tired pup.
