In the face of heat...protect your pets!

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Many of you know that pets are dear to my heart, being the proud owner of two large-breed dogs myself. I felt the need to take a break from posting the Ireland pictures in order to speak about something that truly gets to me every summer.

If you're reading this and you're in North America, you've probably felt the effects of the heat strokes we've been victims of. I know I have!

AC on to the max, windows open at night, fans blasting, nothing really helps. Luckily, towards the end of this week, and as this blog is being published, the temperatures have finally dwindled down to normal.

In the face of this, I wanted to make a short post to remind you: heat is no excuse to be cruel.

This last week alone, I have witnessed and heard from friends who have witnessed pet owners leaving their dogs in their cars while running off to the grocery store, to the local Starbucks, you name it.

There is NO excuse for leaving your pet behind. If you're going somewhere your pet cannot follow, then leave them at home. Please. You may be thinking, "it's just 5 minutes and I left the windows rolled down!"

That's exactly what one lady at my local Starbucks thought. I walked in at the end of this confrontation, to find her arguing with a man. Turns out the lady had left her lab puppy in the car "for 5min" while she ran inside the Starbucks to grab...whatever she was grabbing. She left the windows rolled down - because of course that would have been enough in the 33 degree weather, no breeze we had yesterday in Ontario...

I am having a hard time not getting upset recalling the scene. The man had seen the dog and went in to confront her, but of course she would not admit her fault and it turned into a yelling match.

What we feel as humans in terms of heat, dogs and cats and furry creatures feel heightened. So those 5 minutes... Are an eternity of scorching heat. Our furry friends cannot express themselves as they wish they could, so it is up to us to interpret them, and watch out for them.

If you have friends who have pets, remind them to be careful in heat times. If they or yourself take a dog for a walk, please avoid the times between 11-2pm when the sun is at its highest and temperatures are horrendous. When getting back home, rubbing their paws with a cloth wet in icy water could help bring down their temperature. A popsicle is a nice treat if your dog likes them :)

Whatever you do... Please don't leave your dog in a car - rolled down windows or not. Take a minute to look at the chart below, warning you of just how bad the temperature inside could get.

Ask yourself: could you survive? how about your child? But at the end of the day, it's not even a matter of "could you". It's simply wrong to ask this of anyone, let alone a poor defenseless creature that cannot speak.