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| Giving Louie a hug on a sun-shiny day |
Spring has officially sprung in the northwest. Thank goodness. We get a few days here every year that remind us all why we live here in the first place. The other days are to trick visitors into thinking they shouldn't move here. Have guests from out of town for a visit and it will surely rain the entire time they're here, but there are always tiny reminders of the beautiful area we live in.
Somedays, like today, I can see Mt. Baker huge in the sky. If I'm on the right hill I can see the whole Fraser Valley to the North. Blue sky, mountains, rivers, lakes, streams, creeks and ocean. There is nowhere else in the world I'd rather be. Louie especially loves it when the sun comes out.
The forecast for this weekend looks great. Everyday in the 70's. We don't get that here everyday, not even in the summer. To see the 70's the first week of May is pretty special and you can tell people here are excited. Louie included. Before the sun is even out people are out in their shorts, tank tops and sandles. It might be raining now, but they have faith in the weatherman that something better is on its way.
Louie has been lying in the driveway on the hot black pavement in the direct sunlight again. I have to go and force him to wake up and move inside or into the shade on the porch after a few minutes. I know from past experience that he will not make this call for himself when he gets overheated. We discovered that when he was very young.
It was hot at our cabin on Reflection Lake in eastern Washington. Louie was less than a year old. We were playing down by the water, Louie was swimming in a shallow spot while I sat on the dock with my feet in. Louie got out and lay down on the dock while I threw my fishing pole in the water a few times. It was only about 11am but it was already about 80 degrees. I woke Louie up to follow me up to the fire pit to start breakfast after about a half an hour. Louie followed me up and then lay down right next to the fire in the dirt. When I turned around and saw that I told him to scoot over right away. He was almost in the fire! He was slow to respond. He stood up and looked at me dazed. Just then as he stood there, he started peeing. He was not squatting, he did not lift his leg. This was very weird. "Louie just peed his pants?" I thought.
I started to panic. I felt his nose and it was dry and hot. Louie started to sway and stumble before falling down. Oh, crap! This is really bad. I was a 30 minute drive from a paved rode and another 30 to a hospital or town that might have a vets office. That would be an hour ride in a hot dusty car for a dog that was already obviously overheating. I picked Louie up in my arms and carried him down to the lake. I set him in the shallow water on the shore in a shady spot. As he woke up I encouraged him to drink. He lapped at the water lazily as he lay in the shallow water.
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| Louie in Reflection Lake, 2009 |
I sat with him on the shore for a while. He fell asleep on and off. I kept talking to him, telling him he was a good boy. His panting slowed to more of a normal breath. I grabbed a beach towel nearby and soaked it in the lake water before bringing Louie back up the hill and into the cabin where it was shady and cool. I covered him with the wet towel until that started to warm up and I removed it. I set a bowl of water next to him. I watched him sleep. I didn't get much fun in the sun that day at all.
After a few hours, Louie seemed more normal. It wasn't until the sun started going down that he wanted to go back outside. I was glad, because I wouldn't have let him go out earlier anyway. It was cool outside and there was a little breeze. I watched Louie and felt like we have survived something very scary, but he was okay.
I'm glad survival mode kicked in and I kept a level head. I would have been easy to panic. I love this dog. I was happy I hadn't skipped over the emergency care chapters in my dog training books. They all included parts on heat stroke. If it wasn't for that, I might not have known what was happening or what I should do.
I have always watched Louie carefully on sunny days since then. His love for the heat and his skill at finding the sunny spot even though he can't see has me instructing him to move every few minutes and it also means that on some really hot days he just stays inside until the sun starts going down.
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