How do you southerners do this?
 

HEAT....omg I am dying. Record high temps here, and the forcast is calling for 34C tomorrow...I have never seen those digits on a forcast before and we are all melting here. Of course, in Northern Alberta we don't have AC in our homes, not many anyway so my dogs and I are trying to cope with this atrocity.

I suppose we are not climatized to it, but as much as I whine in sub arctic winters here....this is brutal and difficult. Walks in early a.m. and evening only, I learned the hard way yesterday overdoing it and having to clean up dog barf this morning. I guess dogs get some kind of sunstroke too?

Anyways, I am bowing down to those that can do this heat because I never thought in a million years that I would be looking forward to -30 again.

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34...you are lucky, my mom is in ontario and they hit 45 with the humidity lol

Canada is getting shafted as far as weather this year, though honestly..im in California now...so i am also boiling.

well I have been camping in 40.5 all week, its hard to deal with it when you live in an area like I do, you get below freezing winters and super hot summer, you never get time to acclimate before it changes and you deal with allergies in the summer and winter because of it.

I still think your winters are freaken cold though and don't know how you deal with it, that is really hot though even for the south so you have reason to be concerned, try to stay as cool as you can, I think the death tole in Chicago is like 20 or something because of the heat right now

our drought finnally lifted after like a month of no rain in most places (and this area is one of the most fertile in the US so that is not good, watermelon is amazing this year though)

It's been bad here in SE VA the past couple weeks.. high 90's-low 100's, plus high humidity. We're getting a break this week, thank god! Of course it's supposed to rain almost everyday.. but at least it'll be in the 80's.

I've barely done anything with my dogs. The most they do is go out and potty, maybe run a lap in the yard, then come back in. *I* don't tolerate heat well at all, they don't seem to mind.

We have had record triple digits for over a week now. Finally expecting a cool down today. We occaisionally hit a day with triple digits but never this early and its only a day or two in like August. Our biggest issue is usually the humidity, I'll tell you what give me the lower temps back with the humidity and I'll be happy. http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/smile.png Seriously its too hot to even enjoy the swimming pool right now.

Honestly we aren't used to these kinds of temps down here. Honestly everyone seems to be doing the same thing. Staying inside in the AC, only going outside when necessary and only for short periods of time. Drinking lots of water. I'll be honest my dog hasn't been outside longer than to go potty since this heatwave started. She doesn't handle the heat well either. Thank goodness she is a low energy animal. My other dog he would have been tearing apart the walls and ceilings by now with being cooped up inside so much. We had some pretty nasty thunderstorms overnight last night and normally I totally hate thunderstorms but last night I was like, "whatever" because if that is what it takes to cool it down, I'll deal with it.

I think it's brutal all over this year. But, I'm in FL and we just try to do things early in the day, or later in the early evening. Especially when it comes to the dogs.

It's been high 90's and love 100's here, too. I've been hiding out in the basement with the AC on. The dogs go outside for potty and we've been playing indoor games to tire them out instead of going for walks in this heat. Besides, even the dogs think it's too hot and aren't very energetic.

Normally, I'd go walking at night, but I've been sick with a chest thing and can't breathe out there with the humidity and high temps. I miss winter. I like shoveling snow more than trying to do yard work in the heat.

Its 70 right now and I hear we're in for a couple days of decent weather, woohoo!

Its been horrible down here in Louisiana. It has been in triple digits (which usually doesn't happen until august here) and we are JUST catching a small break with some rain showers here and there for the next couple days. But while its hot I take the dogs out to potty during the morning. Make sure the outside dogs are fed in the morning and that they have plenty of water.Then i pile up in bed with the AC on and don't come back out until the evening LOL....

As A TEXAN who lives in 100+ temps 100 days in a row every year,some tips:
...If you have an ac (even a window unit) place fans where they will circulate the cold air around..Remember hot air rises and cold air settles..
...KEEP AN EYE ON THE DOGS WATER DISH!! Dont just see that its full 5-times a day but check the temps too..If the water gets to warm,it does your pooch no good,so drop some ice cubes in from time to time...
...Shade..Make sure poochie has plenty of it...
..DO NOT walk your dog in the day...Remember that concrete the dog walks on gets super hot and will burn their paws...I walk my staffie at 5am and 11pm...yea its a pain in the ass,but my dog is worth it,and so is yours..Sun raise and sunset are the best times to do stuff...
...Dogs like snowcones (shaved ice)...my local snowcone shop even has dog flavors,if your doesnt,plain shaved ice is still good for rover,too much of those suryps arent healthy...
...when it comes to treats/what you feed your dog,too much doesnt sit on the tummy well...keep it light...

There is a reason they are called "The dog days of summer"....let rover sleep in a cool spot during the day...

Speaking of Shaved Ice, I forgot to add that my MIL has snow trained to go to the freezer when she wants Ice LOL and Koi gets a Popsicle during the day.

One time I'm glad I live in FL. Our temps have been pretty normal. It was 90F when I left for the park last night, 88 by the time we got there and 86 when we left. 86 is pretty nice for use. It is really amazing what 2 degrees difference makes. But the humidity was what was killing me when we got there. It was super high. Makes it hard to breath sometimes with my asthma.

But during the middle of the day yesterday, it was close to 100 where I live. Where we walk is swamp and it tends to be a bit cooler, but still in the low 90's. If it is over 90, we stay indoors though.

Well it seems that all across the board everyone seems in the same boat regarding the heat. Good advice, I did wonder a lot about my dogs the first real hot day because they all seemed so blah...and that is NOT the usual for them, they are all wound pretty tight usually. I'll dig out my one fan today (no AC) and get them out for a walk soon here while it's still bearable.

Will buy another kiddie pool too, Zoe destroyed the one I bought her last year... I'm more equipped to deal with frigid temps I suppose, this is blindsiding us...luckily our basement is pretty cool and we are spending more time down there. Thanks for all the suggestions, it's good to know that dogs aren't quite themselves either, I was a little worried about the lack of spunk in all of them...but it really makes sense because we are struggling to do chores and such in this heat too.

93 is our avg around bama. though lately im praising it because we were regularly in the triple digits those couple of weeks. i cant wait for winter tbh.. lol

OP- Can you even find window a/c units in your area? Obviously nearly everyone has one here but you can get used window unit's for $50-$75 around here, which is worth the few day's that you'll use it.

It hit low 100's here last week with humidty around 70%, all I could think about was snowboarding... I think it made me cooler http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/tongue.png

Last year it was brutal here in Texas - it got so hot and dry that we stopped walking Peanut - even in the middle of the night it was too hot. We just let her in the back yard to do her business. By August, the dirt in the backyard was hot too.

We have central a/c and for back up 2 window units. Our central a/c is newish so we haven't needed the window units.

This year has been closer to normal except the few days it hit 106-109F (41C-43C). We aren't super humid here most of the time so the actual temp is also close to the feels like temp most of the summer. We walk Peanut early in the morning. After baking all day, the sidewalks can still be hot after dark so we don't always walk her at night.

We make sure Peanut has lots of cool water and we keep an eye on her after walks and backyard zoomies. Kiddie pools are good and normal years we use them but last year it was to hot for me to play with her while she was in the pool so we never used it. We did take her to a regular pool and she stayed cool swimming in that.

I couldn't handle the brutal cold y'all get! Peanut would live in doggie sweaters! She likes zoomies in the cold (well here winter is 40F/4C with lots of days in the 60's and a few nights in the 20's /-4C) but she shivers indoors at 60F.

I will check that out, but I am thinking that the stores would be sold out because EVERYONE would be getting one...and this heat is really not the usual thing for here. Kind of like when we get a huge dump of snow and you have a hard time finding a snow shovel....

Got all five hounds out for an early morning walk, so that is good. Luckily it doesn't really get dark till around eleven pm, so getting them outdoors then for a little exercise is an option. I'm more used to me and my dogs huddled around a space heater than this stuff....and it's probably not even that bad compared to what you are used to!

... we don't put pants on 'til the 'skeeters start bitin'
I wouldn't mind the heat AT ALL !!! ... bring it !!! ... it's just the damn bugs and no-see-'ems down here ... shoot