The Dog Days of Summer Are Here

Our office dogs, Barley & Guinness, along with their caregiver Jeanne, would like to remind you that the dog days of summer are here (again). The outside temperatures are way too hot to leave your animals outdoors without access to cool water and shade. These hot days are not only hard on us humans, they are hard on our four-legged family members, too.   It’s unreal that, to this day, people don’t understand that heat stroke or heat exhaustion can happen not only to people, but to our beloved pets if they are out in the heat for an extended period of time during these hot summer days.

No dog should be chained outside 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Bait dogs that people use for dog fighting are treated terribly. Unfortunately, they are often tied up with no human contact and stay out in all types of weather.  Dog fighting is not a “SPORT”, it is a form of animal abuse and we all need to bring these two situations to the attention of our local animal shelters or local authorities if we spot them. Help stop animal abuse.

Leaving your pet in your car with the windows rolled up or down is also a big “NO- NO” during hot weather.  Being in a car that is sitting outside, even in the shade, can be a death trap to our pets.  Please leave them at home if you’re out and about this summer.  Five minutes can be a life or death situation to our beloved pets if they are left in a car during a heat wave.

So as a gently reminder, please make sure that if your pets have to be outside that they have plenty of cool water, as well as a place that they can get to so they can be  out of direct sun and get cooled down. Most importantly, try to bring them inside as much as possible to help cool them off.

The new Tennessee law allows good samaritans to save pets from hot cars by breaking a window if needed.  West Virginia also has laws to protect animals, but it doesn’t have the Good Samaritan Act in place at this time that allows for the breaking of a window to help a get dog out of hot car in the heat of the summer.  West Virginia Code §61-8-19 addresses cruelty to animals, penalties and exclusions

We also remind you to spay and neuter your pets, and as always adopt, don’t shop. Please check with your local animal shelter to see what animals are up for adoption. It will amaze you to see all the purebred and mixed breeds that come into our local shelters. You can help save an animal’s life by adopting.

Bark on Bordas Dog Nation, Bark on.

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