Walk a mile in your pups unprotected paws.

When walking your pup in the summer the same care needs to be taken as in the winter to ensure that their paws are taken care of. Winter time is almost easier to deal with till it gets to more than minus 20C and the booties come out but in the summer booties aren’t really an option. We can however dictate where the pups are walking while on a leash and even when off leash, it’s easy to encourage them to walk in the grassy areas.

The below images were taken within a couple of minutes and within a few meters. The ambient air temperature at the time, as showing on the weather station was 29.8 degrees Celsius on May 28th/26. It was a bright and sunny day with only some high  thin clouds so things had a good opportunity to get hot.

There’s a 7 second rule. Press the back of your hand against the concrete or asphalt for 7 seconds. If it’s too hot for your hand, it’s too hot for your dogs paws.

Standard grassy area found on the green belt.

This sampling was taken in the alley that runs along the green belt. The green belt path pavement measured the same.

Cement sidewalk

Whats really scary about the above temperatures is that the lighter colour (not by much) cement was actually 5 degrees Celsius hotter than the alley pavement. I always thought that cement was going to be cooler than the streets but this proved it to me that the darker colour isn’t always the hottest. The best place for pups when out for a walk is on grass!