Bulldogs World

Where by "hooray" I mean, "Man, that sucked."

This weekend was the first time in the two and a half years since we got her that the heat was a serious problem for Beatrix. She always goes to shows with us, and usually does great -- even in the summer. She has her cooling vest, we keep her in the shade and with plenty of water and ice and a place to sleep, and she's never had a problem. Until this past Saturday.

Weekend three of CTRF, and it was not only hot, but something like 237% humidity in Connecticut.  Beatrix was in her cooling vest by 10, the faire opened at 11, and by 12:30, she was refusing to drink or eat ice, and was panting so badly, even just sitting in the shady tent in her vest that I turned to Kate (my assistant), and said, "I'm leaving. I'm taking Beatrix, checking into our hotel, and leaving her in the AC for the afternoon." Kate, happily, is a dog-owner and dog-lover and simply said, "Okay. I'll hold down the fort until you get back."

And that's what I did. Got us into the air conditioned car, and by the time we got to the hotel (15 minutes away) she was still panting, but not in a way that made me worried. Got checked in, got her water and a bucket of ice and a cool damp towel on the floor to lay on (which she, of course, ignored) and cranked the AC. When I left the hotel some 15 minutes later, she was drinking water and tossing her antler around the room and behaving completely normal, so that I felt (mostly) okay about leaving her by herself for the next 6 hours. Which I think bothered me more than her. When we got back, she had made a nest out of one of the beds and was happy to see us.

So, all is well. But man, was that a lesson for me in Beatrix's tolerance levels.  She's always been so good, even in the heat, but this weather was just too extreme for her.

Here's a picture of her from the weekend before, chilling out in the back corner of the tent: