It's That Season Again

The other day as Morey was waiting for me to load into my van I noticed he was “high stepping” in place. He is usually very patient to wait for me and for a moment I was puzzled. As he shifted the weight off his paws as quickly as possible, I realized that the pavement was burning his feet if he stood in place for too long. I quickly had him jump up in the van to cool his sizzling paw pads. 

I remembered this was an issue last summer as well when the temperature got to the high 90s and 100s. My usual routine is to have Morey load first and unload last so he is safe and protected while I get myself and my chair in and out of my van. That day I had changed things up, but I am now much more aware of asking Morey to stand on hot pavement. I also need to allow him to walk on the grass beside the sidewalk when possible. 

Another heat-related issue came to my attention today on the way to class. One of Morey’s favorite jobs is pushing the automatic door buttons. He knows where they are located in the buildings we frequent and he always starts eagerly looking at me when we approach, waiting for me to send him to go push them. Today as we approached the School of Social Work, I gave him the “touch” cue. He went right up to the button as always, but his nose stopped about half an inch away from the button. Unsure why he had hesitated, I put my hand on the button and realized that the metal was in the direct sunlight and was quite hot. I don’t blame Morey for not wanting to press his sensitive nose against a burning piece of metal! I remember warnings about asking your service dog to touch metal buttons in the winter because their noses might get stuck, but I hadn’t thought about the implications in the heat. I guess both Morey and I are still figuring out how to live and work during Texas summers!