Take your dog on the nature trail to hell

My dog is a tiny little thing. She tips the scales at around 6kg (14lbs) and is a Shih-Tzu. She is relatively active (as much as can be expected of a house dog) and is well looked after. She's a spoiled brat to be honest. However, today I decided to stretch her legs a bit more than usual and it was a little more difficult than I had planned. Thankfully it all worked out in the end.

I took her out to a place near Chiang Mai (where I live) called Mae Tang, which is simply the name of the river that kind of defines the area. The trail started out simple enough but there was very little cover from the relentless sun and heat. This did not affect doge at first as she took off from the car like there were free treaty-pies at the end of each turn.

One thing el doggo didn't factor in was the fact that this was going to go on for a looooong time, and it didn't take but about a km before she was gassed out, panting heavily, and pawing at me to pick her up.

When I did pick her up, she was extremely hot to the point where it really started to concern me. Her tongue was way out of her mouth, she was salivating profusely, and her body was much hotter than she is accustomed to (compared to our air conditioned house.) I contemplated turning around and going back to the car because she was also refusing to drink water.

I had never been here before, but i could hear what sounded like water just over the ridge, so I decided at that point that I was going to go over that ridge, and if there was no relief, i was going to turn back and likely not take her on these treks in the future.

As I reached the top of that ridge, I saw the thing that could definitely save us.... a waterfall.

I want you to understand one thing. My dog is not a Labrador, she normally hates water and does whatever it takes to not be involved with it, but i was not giving her a choice here. I quickly took off my shoes and put both of us in the water, which, much to my delight (and later hers) was very cool.

While it still took a while for her to stop panting she did something I have never seen her do before: She actually laid down in the water and started drinking it also. Later she also elected to completely submerge her head under the water for long periods of time. She must have been so overheated that this was heaven to her.

So I learned something today. My dog should not be taken on these trips unless I plan to carry her. It is simply too hot and to be honest this is a big problem in Thailand. Perhaps I worry to much about my dog, but when she had given up and using her 5 inch legs to get me to pick her up, it really concerned me. I am happy this story has a happy ending, but i will be more cautious in the future.