It gets hot here in Florida. The dogs have their own end of the porch with an outside covered enclosure for potty and guarding purposes. I put up sunshades, they have a huge bowl of water changed daily, and there’s a fan that runs all day in part of their area that they can choose to lay in front of.
After noticing how often they hang out on the concrete steps, I decided to see if they’d use some concrete pavers as a cool spot to lay down….
Result? They LOVE them!
Nine blocks at $1.50 each is what I would call cost effective cooling! Some days I also dampen the blocks with water for evaporative cooling. This only works if the humidity isn’t over 90 percent though.
Even with the blocks, if I see them panting heavily they come inside for some a/c until it starts cooling back down. If they’re too hyper to be inside, I’ll rub them down with a wet cloth and put them back out-usually they calm down and can come back in shortly.
I may try this out in the pig pens too, couple of pavers in the shade to see if they’ll use them for heat. Whatever works!