So it's still not the desert... Nor the jungle.

But weeks straight of 90 deg(f) weather, including two back-to-back days of 103 deg(f) temps, have pretty much shocked the dogs.

I've been to real desert, here in the US (Death Valley, Johsua Tree, Painted Desert, and the like) and abroad (Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, etc.). I've been to real tropics, too (Guam, Penang, Singapore, P.I., among others). So I know the heat and humidity can be far more beastly elsewhere. But still, when you hit temperatures a full twenty degrees (f) above normal, you have to sit up and take notice. Certainly, the dogs have!

Both of them, Dakota especially, have taken to looking cross-ways at me when I go to let them out. They'll stand in teh door of the garage, and look at me out by the door to outside, and cock their heads at me like I've lost my mind. After all, only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun, right? And clearly, whatever else they may be, my dogs are far from mad! Except this isn't the noon day sun - We're talking evening hours, after a long day without play or head calls. Still, they look at me, checking to see if I'm seriously going outside, and do I really want them to accompany me? Even at 7pm, temps have been hovering around 90 deg(f), and that's just too warm for comfort, what with the fur and all.

For Dakota, especially, this is unusual behavior. Normally, she can't wait to scramble out the doors and race off to bark at all four points of the compass - once at each fenceline to let the neighborhood know the backyard security peremiter is armed and active. Then she'll go pace the back fence and look over her shoulder at me to see if she can get away with barking at the dogs on the other side - A favorite activity of hers if she's not being watched. After exchanging unpleasantries with the dogs on the other side (or at least checking to see if she can get away with it), she'll usually pace the peremiter a few times looking for potential intruders, and make use of the trees, as needed. Suka, meanwhile, will have taken a ring-master position in the center of the yard, and will be watching the goings-on with keen interest. Or she'll be rolling in the grass - whichever strikes her fancy.

But not these days.
These days, the pair of them will stand in the doorway and cock their heads at me like I've taken leave of my senses. And when I lead them out, they follow reluctantly, attend to their needs as quickly as possible, and bee-line for the door back inside.

I've a small kiddie pool available for them, but that's not as cool as inside, and besides, they'd rather drink it dry than actually splash in it. Suka has even given up on the den she's dug under the back steps - just too hot for comfort there!

Normally, I'd try to say something witty at this point, or at least deliver some kind of summation. But not today... my brain's melted.