Our Sibe fur kids are supremely suited to cold climates, but does that mean they can’t handle heat in the summer? Well, yes and no.

Create a shady spot for your Sibe

When your Siberian spends time outside, be sure there is a shady spot where he can go when he feels the need to get out of the sun. You may not see him use the shade, but it needs to always be readily available just in case. You never know when he’ll push himself a little harder and suddenly need to get out of the sun to cool off a bit.

Siberians do love to sun themselves. The heat of the sun does not affect your Sibe as readily as you might guess with all that fur. But, in the summer they do tend to drop their undercoat, and that same double coat that protects against extreme cold also protects against heat. Be reasonable, though, your Siberian should not be out of doors on days when the temperature will be over 100° F, any more than we humans should.

Provide a splash basin for your Siberian

Your Siberian Husky does not have the same number of capillaries under the surface of their skin as other dog breeds do. The primary places they get rid of heat and thereby cool off is through the pads on their paws and by panting. When you give your Sibe a place to splash, you make it easier for them to cool off the pads of their feet and to get themselves wet to help them stay cool.

We use a small sized water trough of the type you find in feed stores for our Siberians. They’re very sturdy and hold 50+ gallons of water. We like a size that is large enough for the Sibe to get in the container and splash their whole bodies if they like.

If possible, set up a mister system

Once you’ve done the big two and have shade and a splash basin, you can look into the third great way to keep your Siberian Husky cool in your back yard. Mister systems are inexpensive and use small amounts of water to keep the air a bit cooler. The coolness comes from the heat energy required to turn a mist of water into vapor, so you can actually reduce the temperature of the air where the mister is by 20° F or more. It is a great tool for those really hot days where the temperatures climb into the triple digits.

Chocolate is one of the most popular gifts at any holiday opportunity — especially at Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, most types of chocolate contain caffeine and theobromine, which are toxic to pets!!!

Allways keep chocolates and other sweets out of reach of your pets.

Milk chocolate contains about 1.5 mg of theobromine per gram. Unsweetened baking chocolate contains almost 16 mg per gram! The LD-50 (lethal dose) for theobromine in dogs is reported to be between 240-500mg/kg body weight. However, the death of a dog after ingestion of as little as 114 mg/kg has been reported. To reach a potentially lethal dose of 100mg/kg, a dog weighing 10 kg would have to ingest only 63g (2.2oz) of unsweetened chocolate, or about 670g (1.5lb) of milk chocolate.

Clinical signs in dogs with theobromine toxicosis include:

• vomiting
• depression and lethargy
• diuresis
• muscular tremors
• diarrhea
• death

If you notice a quantity of chocolate missing, or see your dog dig in and eat any quantity at all, call your veterinarian immediately. If you can’t reach your veterinarian, call your poison control center for instructions.