5 Things to do to Prepare Your Pup for Summer
Special thanks to Chewy.com for providing products for Rosie to try out for this post. All opinions are my own.
Rosie Lynn is helping me out on the blog today while I discuss some important steps to take to get your furchild ready for summer! It sure feels like summer has already arrived in California this weekend with temps in the low 90’s, and I’ve been taking extra steps to make sure Rosie is healthy, safe and prepared for the sunshine. Here are some of the things I’ve learned while getting her ready for the warmer weather and things that you can do to prepare your pup for summer:
1. Check and Clean Ears. If your pup loves to swim like Rosie, you need to be extra proactive about taking care of their ears. Long floppy ears on waterdogs like Rosie are breeding grounds for yeast infections. Rosie’s ears have a hard time drying out after she goes swimming, and if we don’t take the time to swab them out with q-tips after, the moisture combined with the warmth from her body creates smelly, brown build up and causes her ears to be itchy and sore. We dry her ears out by sticking a q-tip straight down her ear canal and gently swabbing it around. Dogs’ ears are in an L-shape, so by sticking the q-tip straight down, I can’t actually hurt her inner ear. She hates it, but it prevents a worse situation in the long run (like yeast infections).
2. Visit your vet and talk about summertime meds. We brought Rosie in for her booster shots a few weeks before we moved to California and talked to our vet about our new location. If you live in a place with mosquitos, it’s super important to get your furbaby on heartworm medication! Heartworms are transmitted through mosquito bites and once the larva matures into adults, it is ten times more expensive and dangerous to treat your dog for them. Rosie is on a monthly chew that kills and wipes out any larva that may be in her system before they mature into adults. It is an absolute relief to know she’s protected when we are out in the evening and the mosquitos are swarming. Heartworm meds are prescribed through your vet; and you pup needs to pass a blood test in order to be put on it!
3. Groom regularly to check for ticks. Ticks are another summertime issue to be aware of! In order to check for ticks, we brush Rosie every other day (or daily if she’s been in a tick-infested environment). We have tried several brushes but have had the best results with a combination of FURminator brushes. We use the FURminator medium-long hair de-shedding tool (which we bought) to pull off all loose hair and recently started to follow through with dual dog grooming hair brush we got from chewy.com to help remove the tangles in her tail and shine her coat. I kid you not, these are the ONLY brushes Rosie will tolerate; she hates all other brushes. FURminator may be on the pricer end of grooming tools, but it is worth every penny!
4. Check paws for boo-boos: With the pavement heating up, it’s important to check your puppy’s paws for blisters and owies. Rosie’s left pad blistered up after we took her on a long bike ride last week and then part of the pad began to pull off! I felt so bad! We immediately ordered some Musher’s Secret Wax to put on her feet. This stuff is gold for puppy paws. It creates a barrier between the paw and the surface and gives much needed protection for those extra hot days.
5. Spoil with Lots of Treats: A given for any day of the year, really, but Rosie loves getting treats after hanging outside in the sun and going through her grooming/paw moisturizer routine for being so patient. She’s currently digging Primal Treats’ Chicken Nib Jerky Bites that chewy.com sent to us to try out. These suckers are made with chicken raised in the USA and New Zealand without added hormones and are slow cooked to perfection. They are perfect for training because of their size. I highly recommend them!
It’s definitely been an adjustment to the hotter weather, but Rosie is loving all the outdoor time she is getting! What do you do to get your pup ready for the warmer weather? Have you tried any of these products?
