June 26, 2015

It gets very hot here during the summer, days often over 100 degrees. The temperature reaches its hottest late in the afternoon, which means we have to get A.J. out early in the morning and he often doesn’t get an evening walk. So this year I decided to get him a little wading pool, hoping to give him something to do when it’s hot out and to keep him cool.

This evening it was over 90 degrees so I filled up his new pool. I threw his tennis ball across the yard for him to chase, then I threw one in the pool so he had to go in and get wet. We did this a few times, then he just laid down with his ball and didn’t want to do that anymore. Okay, now what?

I finally got on the Internet and started looking up ways to keep a dog entertained with a small pool and in the heat in general. I found a website with what sounded like some good suggestions. One was to put a ball into the pool that he couldn’t pick up in his mouth, so he’d just chase it around the pool. I thought that was a great idea. So I went out to the garage and found a small basketball. I made sure it was well inflated, bounced it a couple of times to get A.J. all excited about it, then threw it in the pool. He jumped right in after it and started splashing around trying to grab the ball. I thought “Great, it’s working!”

Three minutes later he jumped out of the pool, deciding he couldn’t get the ball out and was done trying. So much for that idea. It’s supposed to reach over 100 degrees every day for the next couple of weeks, I have no idea what to do with him.