If you remember, I had the AC taken out while I was in Florida. I had always planned on taking it out, but the water pouring in to the RV made it a little more pressing. Unfortunately, it has been very hot in Southern Illinois. I can deal with it, but the dogs can’t. So what do I do?
- Open all the windows and if it is 85 or above, I hook up to electric so I can run my box fan. I also have a small fan that runs on batteries, but it is not effective for all of us. I usually keep that one on my bed.
- Water and chicken broth ice blocks. I freeze these so the dogs can have something to lick on/drink during the hottest parts of the day.
- Cooling neck ties. I don’t think these work, but it’s something.
- Hosing the dogs down. I am lucky enough to be very close to a spigot right now so I put the dogs on leashes, grab a hose and wet them down. I did this twice yesterday.
- If I don’t have a hose, I use a gallon jug or a glass ball jar to wet them down. I did this for Lola this morning. She was panting and Gunnar wouldn’t let her in front of the fan. I also let her lay outside for a bit afterwards. Although, she chose to lay in the sun. She wasn’t panting when she came back in though.
- I put out the awning and try to get under shade trees, sometimes it still gets warmer inside the RV than outside. Not by much, but sometimes the breeze is blowing in the wrong direction. When this happens, I tie the dogs outside and sit with them. They can’t be too hot because they usually jump around and play with each other anyway. Sometimes Gunnar says no and lays under the RV.
- We move as little as possible.
- Lots of water in their dish.
- Take them swimming if possible.
- Haircuts. I trimmed Lola’s fur yesterday morning. I would have Beasley shaved, he has a very thick, but short coat, but I think he would bite the groomer so I brush him with a furminator every day. Gunnar has a very thin coat.
While I don’t want to sit around in 90 degree weather, I’m not really one for AC. I also don’t think pets have to have it either. I don’t want my dogs to suffer, but there are plenty of wild animals that don’t live in air conditioned houses and believe it or not there was a time not too long ago, when no one had AC. However, if I knew I would have been in this area for as long as I have been, I would have waited on removing the AC. The trash bag fix worked fairly well. The only reason I would have waited is because I really need to organize the RV and organizing in the heat isn’t my idea of a good time. But it can’t always be perfect. I just wake up early in the morning to do stuff and lay motionless in the afternoon. In the evening, I move a little more.
If I had known the garage was going to give me an outlet for the fan, I wouldn’t have reserved the hotel room last week. It was nice though.