Woof! Whacha up to?  Are you out and enjoying the long, sunny days?  Oh yeah, the sun is out and that means time for fun.  Who wants to stay inside when it is so nice out?  The sky isn’t leaking, the sun is out doing the bright and warm dance.  Before we get too excited, too much fun in the sun, is not Grr8; sunburn hurts and cause that nasty dude “C” (cancer).  Here are three simple steps to follow to help prevent sunburn from happening to us dogs.

First, did you know that us dogs can be burned by the sun too?  Yep, and let me bark, it is not the kibble trail you want to be on.  Furiends, just like our humans, too much sun can cause the nasty dude “C” (cancer) to appear.  Now, I don’t know about you, I do not want any of us to have “C” visit us.  Buffy and Carla Mae had it, Mom fought it and I released 1,000 fleas on it; whew, we won.  Carla Mae’s “C” tried to take up  a permanent home in her ear; before Mom, Carla lived outside all the time.  Since it was CA it was always sunny, Carla’s ears are very pink which made her an easy target for “C”.  What I am trying to paw up, limit your time outside; bark loudly that you need to come inside, especially during summer months when the sun is the strongest.  Also, if you are like Carla Mae, Mini Me, Fancy and myself, you have a light or white coat, that means we need to be very careful in the sun.  Have you looked in the mirror lately?  See how your skin is more pink that a furiend that has a darker coat?  Yep, we burn much more easily.  So, limit your time out in the sun; and, stay out of the sun during the day when it is the strongest.

The second tip, sunscreen!  Believe it or not, they make sunscreen for us dogs; and, it is very important that our parents do not use their sunscreen on us.  Dog sunscreen goes on us; human sunscreen goes on humans only, got it?  Two areas that need special attention no matter light or dark colored coat are, nose and tip of ears.  Furiends, can you guess why?  (be right back off to get a carrot….back….any guesses?) See, these areas have the least amount of fur and the sun will beat down long and hard.  Ouch!  Before you know it, sunburn happens and “C” sets in; back off “C”, we have sunscreen to ward you off!  Whew! That was close, use that sunscreen.

And, the last tip to share, protect those eyes!  Our eyes are as important as our skin, the sun can damage the eyes too, “C” will visit there.   Of course, we can’t apply sunscreen to our eyes; we can though, wear Doggles.  These protect our eyes not just from the harmful rays of sun, also anything that could blow into our eyes if it is very windy out.

Woof! If there is shade available, always pull a paw up, relax under the shade.  Sit, have a cool one, wearing your Doggles and enjoying a frozen treat.  Furiends, what do you do to avoid sunburn?

Well furiends, time to grab a my Doogles and enjoy the sun.

Bark at ya later

Mr MaGoo