Farm Fresh Blog

Wednesday, August 17 2011

Polar Bears In Texas

Anyone know what this is?

Try it from this angle.

It's a dog, you say?!! An OUTSIDE dog??!! An OUTSIDE dog sleeping INSIDE??!! In the foyer?!!

A dog who is supposed to be living in the 102 degree temperatures with the livestock??!! THAT dog??

Well . . .

. . . you're right!

Briar has so much hair that the heat is really hard on her. Her skin is pink, so I don't want to give her a haircut because she will sunburn. It started innocently enough. I began sneaking her in the house during the hot part of the day while Other Half was at work. She is the perfect house dog. Briar lays around like a bearskin rug - a polar bearskin rug.

I was feeling guilty until a friend of mine in North Texas lost a mule (a MULE!) to the gawdawful heat. So I said to myself, (and Other Half)

"Screw that! Ih'm bringin' ma dawg inside!"

Whereupon he objected that she was dirty. So I bathed her in Pantene Pro V shampoo, and combed her out. (There is a BEAUTIFUL dog in all that hair!)

I was still feeling a bit overindulgent until I watched the evening news last night. Believe it or not, there is a couple in Central Texas who are bringing LLAMAS into their house during the heat of the day! Suddenly bringing Briar in the house during the day didn't seem so outrageous.

Llamas go inside house to escape heat

Posted by: forensicfarmgirl AT 11:07 am | Permalink | 8 Comments | Email

Comments:

My aunt & uncle keep their 2 shaved Great Pyrenees indoors unless they're outside with them

Posted by Holly on 08/17/2011 - 02:38 PM

Briar is beautiful! The heat here in my part of Oklahoma has been brutal as well. I've lost 2 of my OLD does to it.

Posted by Shawna on 08/17/2011 - 04:46 PM

If you had it to do over again, do you think you'd get an Anatolian instead? Their short hair is a real bonus in this weather.

Posted by Sharon on 08/17/2011 - 09:24 PM

The long hair is an insulator and as long as the under coat is brushed out and they have plenty of water and shade or a hollow under a building the longhaired LGD cope well. Our summers are this side of hell some years. Well done Briar you have it all under control :)

Posted by Liz (Vic Aust.) on 08/18/2011 - 01:49 AM

Although an Anatolian is my first choice when I get another LGD, I never regret my decision to get Briar. She is a delightful member of the family and come next winter, she'll be happy to have all that hair! When Other Half told me the dog needed to "put her Big Girl Panties on and deal with the heat, I reached in his closet, grabbed a heavy winter jacket, and invited him to put that on while he worked outside. "Go ahead. Put your Big Boy Panties on and work outside wearing this!" He declined.

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 08/18/2011 - 12:55 PM

Llamas, Briar, and all the other animals in hot areas need our protection. "grabbed a heavy winter jacket, and invited him to put that on" ... YOU GO GIRL !!! BTW, Briar does look beautiful after a washing. It can be a lot of work to wash a large dog (I'm always procrastinating about bathing Terri) but they're so lovely looking & nice smelling when clean.

Posted by Terri's Pal on 08/18/2011 - 04:47 PM

OMG! Don't tell Sacha...she'll want inside. But then again, Tommy's back on the road working. As long as I sweep every 2 hours he'll never know the Pyr was in the house. But then her goat BFFs will freak and want in, too!

Posted by Dani Ezer on 08/19/2011 - 08:44 PM

I agree with Liz. It's routinely in the 115F (45C) range here in the desert. There's a dog door to the house so the dogs can choose between air conditioning in the house and outside. They prefer laying outside in a damp spot under the grapevine. It's not quite 7am and it's already over 100F.

Posted by Eric on 08/20/2011 - 08:59 AM