A Mystery

Maybe you can explain this to me.

I rise early to take my dog Ginny for walks before the temperatures rise.

I have a floor fan that she sleeps in front of most of the day and evening.

So, why when we are outside does she lie in the sun rather than the shade?

After all, she’s the one with the fur coat!

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Lunch on the patio.  Lots of shade!

22 thoughts on “A Mystery”

  1. But Ginny doesn’t have a sunny spot indoors, does she? The scientific approach would be to provide her with both a sunny spot and a fan (she can choose) both indoors and outdoors. Then you might get some evidence. It is hard to hypothesize with the anecdotal evidence you currently have. Of course, the mystery might be worth more than a scientific experiment.

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    1. Good point. I close the blinds to keep the heat out and to prevent my furniture and rugs from fading. A fan outdoors would be possible. Thanks for your insight.

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  5. Hmmmmmm.. i love mysteries and trying to figure them out.

    How’s this sound? A dog’s coat is an insulator that both keeps heat out when it is hot and heat in when it is cold so as to keep the dog’s inner temperature as close to possible to the optimum body temp (for humans = 98.6 degs).

    When inside does Ginny lie on a fabric surface like carpet or a cooler one like wood/tile/stone? I’m guessing carpet as that would be a warmer, insulating surface and she needs to have something (a breeze) pull excess heat away from her body, while outside the stone paving that is in the shade would pull heat out of her body and she needs the sun to keep her body at the preferred temp?

    Or maybe, like me, she finds the feel of warm sunshine on your back a very pleasant feeling? 🙂

    love.

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  8. My dogs do the same. I put them in the shady kennel when I go out, and when I come home they head straight for a sunny place and roll on the grass. And still, they’re panting from the heat a few minutes later.

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  10. My little Ivy Kate does the same thing. She loves to lie , stretched out, on the puppy grass in my back yard. Minutes later she is at the screen door, tongue hanging out, begging for her cool easy chair. Ten minutes go by…we repeat!

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  14. I’ve wondered the same thing with my Labrador Eva…why does she want to be in the sun with that heavy coat is beyond me. However, after her walks, she loves to flop on the hardwood floor and cool down. I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but will continue to ponder…

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  18. My black coated dog Leela does the same! Actually all our dogs do, but I thought that she, of all dogs, would prefer to stay out of the sun. They alternate between sun and shade, so perhaps it is to do with those 20 minutes of Vitamin D? Onto a different animal: when we had 2 horses, on the hottest of hot days, I would see one of them lying flat on his/her side in the scorching sun, fast asleep. Then I read somewhere that when the weather is wind-still and calm, as it is on those extremely hot days, a horse feels secure and safe enough to be fast asleep, as there is no wind to mask the sound of possible danger. I suppose there is no connection between this and dogs lying in the sun?? ❤

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