(Because it’s a long weekend, my blog published today and will return to it’s regular post on Sunday, September 10.)

My four-year-old Goldendoodle began to drool excessively late Saturday afternoon. It continued on Sunday, and on Monday, I took her to the vet. Just as we got halfway into the vet’s office she jerked and twisted and escaped her collar and leash. I tried to coax her back, but with that she ran frantically across the parking lot and miraculously, successfully across a busy, six-lane highway. (Yes, the world does have courteous, patient drivers.) I stood in the 114-degree heat immobile. I was in shock and consumed with horror; I gagged and swallowed to keep from vomiting.

By the time Fanny was apprehended some four blocks away by one of the vet’s young assistants, she was in crisis. Asphalt pavement has a temperature of 170-180 degrees in 114-degree heat. Her paws were severely burned and abraded. Her internal temperature was 108 degrees; death usually occurs at 109 in dogs. My dog was diagnosed with a heat stroke.

Fanny’s escapade resulted in two, overnight stays at an emergency clinic, IV’s, numerous injections and medications, and an ultrasound. The ultrasound confirmed anaphylaxis as the cause for the drooling; she’d been obviously been stung by a bee, a hornet, or even a scorpion. The heat stroke and her romp resulted in bandaged paws, gastric distress, and copious amounts of diarrhea. Since her release yesterday, she mostly sleeps and snacks a bit. Recovery from such an ordeal is slow.

Believe me, I didn’t really want to relive my horror by writing this blog…but it was necessary. Why? Novices and visitors fail to realize the brutality of Phoenix heat. They foolishly hike Camelback Mountain without water only to need rescued when they collapse. Some fools take their dogs hiking only to have them die on the trail. In fact, several years ago, a horseback rider was severely injured when her horse fainted and died.

And me? I, too, learned a lesson. My fancy embroidered dog collars identifying my dogs’ name and phone number are being supplemented with harnesses, from which even Harry Houdini could not escape!