Maltese Days of Summer

They call them the "dog days of summer" and we're dogs and these are our days so we thought we'd talk to you about how we're coping with the weather this July. We want you to know that it's been really hot for the last few days, and we're looking for ways to stay cool. And, of course, this is important to us because we're small and our little bodies have a tough time when it gets really hot. See, we can't sweat (ick) like people do; we're just not built that way. Literally. So, when we get really hot, we open up our mouths and pant so that we can try to cool off. Of course, if you were around in the winter, you'd see that Rozi's mouth was open, so it might not e clear that we're doing this to cool off when it gets hot outside

So, there are a lot of ways that we've learned to cope with the heat. The most important way is to look really sad and hope that someone hits the buttons that make a loud beep and then the room fills with nice cool air and we just lounge around, enjoying the fact that we're nice and cool in here while our enemies like the birds and the squirrels are on the other side of the glass and look really hot. It's hard for us to get up the energy to run after them when it's so hot outside, but sometimes we do; it gives us something to do and it helps them learn that we're always on patrol.

But, there are times that there is no one around with opposable thumbs to push the buttons to make the room cool, so we have to find another way to try to stay cool, and believe us, it's not very easy.

For Rozi, her number one way to stay cool is to find a cool spot on the floor, which is pretty easy, because there's a lot of floor for her to look at, and lie down on it and put her hot belly right on the floor and ... aaah! It makes her big belly feel much cooler and that makes all of Rozi feel cooler.

For Izzi, the 'hot belly' problem isn't something that really affects her. Izzi will just find a cool place in the house and not move very much (except, of course, when a critter scampers across the yard, in which case, she exerts a tremendous amount of energy [and heat] before coming back in the house to cool off).

Both of us like to drink a lot of water, which is usually in our bowl. The people that we let live in the house with us have been trained to put cubes of ice in the water to make it really nice and chilly, which helps us to feel better, since the cold water really feels good in our bellies on hot days. Some days, there's no water because of something that the people here call "evaporation", which we think means another doggie, but if it was another doggie, we would know it was here so now we're confused. But, sometimes, there just isn't water.

Like yesterday. Our water dish was empty and we went outside with our mama to mostly be with our mama, since it was nice and cool inside but hot outside. Izzi likes to go outside with our mama because she gets picked up and put on the big swing that mama sits on and rocks back and forth. The sun does feel good for just a little while, which is nice. But, yesterday, while we were outside, Rozi was getting really thirsty and she saw that there was a stream of water spraying on the garden that is next to the house (some day, we think that we might get fresh tomatoes). And, the stream of water made a circle, so it didn't stay in one place. So, she opened up her mouth and tried to catch the water as it went around and around. She did get a little bit, but mostly she just got wet. By the time she came inside, she looked like she was wearing a cute little mop on her head!

The other way that Rozi had found to keep cool is when someone takes a nice cold piece of ice and rubs it on her big hot belly. She really loves that because it's nice and cool and it makes her belly feel even better than when she plops her body down on the floor. And, the other cool (pun intended...we're pretty funny, for dogs) thing about it is that it keeps her belly a little wet, which helps make the day not so warm for her.

And, so that's how we cope with the heat when it's these dog days. We don't mind so much, because at night time, the air in our bedroom is cool, and when we have our mama come to bed with us, we get to snuggle with her to stay warm. MMM. MMM. MMM.

Arf, Yip, Yip, Yip,
Izzi & Rozi