Extreme heat advisory and the dog park

Today is the fourth day of extreme heat, with temperatures in the 100s.  If I don't get up early to walk the dogs by sunrise, it's already too late by 8am.  That sun is brutal!   The monsoon season officially starts tomorrow and some clouds are already forming over the mountains, but not cooling us off. 

Even the dogs are tuckered out and seek the shade and then the cool house.  I have the kiddie pool filled with water so that even Minnie can walk into it and cool off her paws.  (If she sits down in the water, though, she empties half the pool!) Wet paws, however, result in muddy floors and even wet sheets.

I've been taking Hansel and two pups to the city dog park in the evenings.  Yesterday I took a break and stayed home to start cleaning out the Honda.  The pups are learning to socialize with unknown dogs.  Hansel loves the dog park, and even Wolfie, Sheba and Sahne are liking it, too.  Only Fritzi is showing dog aggression so I will have to work on that.  

I like the dog park.  It's my new social activity.  I get there around 6pm and I stay around 90 minutes to two hours and have gotten to get to know some of the regulars.  There's John and his GSD Jackie.  There's Mike and his GSD Kako (rhymes with Taco).  There's mother-daughter Sharee and Zena and their two fat boxer-bassett houndXs Maggie and Dorothy.  We wave at each other with familiarity, smile, and then let the dogs do the sniffing and licking and running around. Afterward I walk a few laps around the fitness loop with the dogs.  The pups are learning their leash manners.  It cools into the 70s when I leave the park at around 8:30pm.

Gretchen is the only dog so far that shows no interest in leaving the back yard, but even she will need to be socialized very soon.  I took her outside and put the leash on her yesterday.  She's getting used to the leash, but after a few steps she is ready to go back to the yard.  At least that's progres

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