They don't call these Dog Days for nothin'!

I live in Arizona. It is HOT. Since my home is in the northern part of the state, it is not as hot as it is in the desert, but it feels hot to me. And, if it feels hot to me, it feels hot for my dogs.

If you saw my last post, you saw how I cool off with an ice cold glass of switchel. But, the dogs? Not wanting to leave them out, I have been making them pup "cicles". I saw on the news that people had been donating these to the animal shelters in Phoenix during the last heat spell. "What a great idea!" I said to myself.

The first ones I made were only frozen water, with a couple of dog treats stuck in there. I didn't have any disposable cups, and I don't use a lot of plastic in my home, so I had to use my measuring cups! After freezing I held them under running water till they slid out. They loved those - not in the house though!

But, then, as I considered it, I became a little more creative. I still did not have any disposable cups. But, I was looking through my jar shelf, and I thought a jelly jar would work. I wanted a jar without a rim, so the pup-cicles would slide out easily. I also thought they may enjoy chicken broth frozen even more than water.

I put some cheese chunks, and dog treats in these, and added some chicken broth.

After a bit of consideration, I decided to try some in a muffin tin too. Considering what my dogs would like the most, I added chunks of cheese, and some cooked turkey bacon.

Yummy additions to the chicken broth.

Pop them all into the freezer!

Other ideas for pup-cicles include stirring some peanut butter in before freezing.

If your pup is on a doggie diet, try water and maybe some applesauce or carrot pieces.

In the end, the most difficult thing was o figure out which recipe they liked the best!