Summer Safety Guide | Ways to keep your kids safe and healthy this summer

Hot weather is something many four-legged friends don’t like, and as temperatures and the humidity rise, it’s important to look out for pets.

If you are wanting to walk your dog, Critter Fixers Veterinary Hospital owner Dr. Vernard Hodges says go early on in the day or late in the afternoon.

This helps protect your pet’s paws from getting burned. He also suggests putting on booties or even bringing a spray bottle to help cool your pooch down.

Hodges says hydration is important and suggests you give your dog 1 ounce of water per pound it weighs.

He says since your pet can’t tell you it’s in pain, here are some signs to watch for.

“The first signs you really see is they start to obviously pant very heavily, then they start to drool. Drooling is one of the big things. Then they will start to get disoriented, wobbling side to side, and they will sometimes vomit and they’ll also have some diarrhea, and you’ll know then that they are starting to get in trouble when these things happen, and you’ll want to get them to your veterinarian,” Hodges says.

Hodges says if you have have a hard time getting your dog to drink, he says a great trick is to feed them ice, and if that doesn’t work, freeze a bouillon cube.