It has been more than hot over the last couple of weeks in Holland and because of that I am taking the dog for a lot shorter walks in general in the afternoon. The first reason is because the street are so hot on the feet and might damage it. But the second reason is because my dog has literally no boundaries when it comes to running and chasing something and heat.
That means he could easily overheat himself which you only start to notice after he stopped running around. By them the problems are already there. So in general it is only longer walks in the early morning, and by night it is mosquito fest which isn't pleasant for the both of us.
So I decided to take the animal for a much needed swim, because I was noticing throughout the week that he wasn't really losing enough energy with what he was doing, and that makes the dog edgy. Barking at everything, protecting me a bit more and every mailman seems like a target.
Here in the Netherland you need a water stream actually for swims later on in the summer because in the small ponds algaes start to build up and that also isn't the best way to go, especially considering how much water the dog takes in when he is in it.
So I went to a nearby stream for a swim with in and as you can see I wasn't the only one with that idea. Streams are great for socialising dogs as it seems, because there is always a dog owner who throws a stick in the water and the order in the pack (or whoever is the fastest) decides which dog will end up with the stick.
As you see there is big traffic around, but my dog isn't the most social one as he is more of that likes to stick to his boss or just mind his own business.
I don't really mind that he doesn't interact with dogs that much, however sometimes it would be more fun if he would take a play with some other ones every now and then.
As you can see he just stick his head in a puddle which he just had digged, pretends like no one is there and is just digging his tunnel towards China.
Have you ever seen a Bernese mountaindog loose his tricolour? Well, I just saw that today for the first time. The dog came walking up and he literally looked like a black labador all of a sudden. Nothing to see anymore of the white and the brown on his face anymore.
This is the perfect way of cooling of for the dog and also to loose the energy. the only thing to mind is the amount of water he chugs in. That will surely be a point of interest for the rest of day. But damn....I love swimming there!
