Cooling down

Every animal has its own unique way of cooling down when the heat gets too much for them, and I feel for the animals at this time of year. There is only so much we can do to help cool them down and providing more water than usual, paddling pools, and spraying them seems to be the way forward.

The ducks of course have the pond that they use frequently, the chickens hide in the shade of the trees, the cats maintain comfy positions in the garage where it is cool. The dogs however find it more difficult, and attempt to find someone cold to lay. We often spray the dogs as this is the ideal way to allow them to run around and remain cooler.

However, Charlie took this one step further yesterday when he leapt in the pond, for a good 10 minutes he refused to get out. He swam, sat, laid and generally cooled down in the murky green water, and once he had decided that was enough he took a mud bath next to the pond. Charlie returned looking very smug.

However, I was not allowing him in the house, so he had to have another bath to wash the attempts of the first bath off. I must admit there were times yesterday that the pond did look inviting...it must be hot!