Because of the desert southwest’s recent onslaught of abnormally hot weather, I’ve found myself searching for non-traditional methods to keep the animals cool. It was 116 degrees at my desert home on Tuesday. We’re far from the city’s concrete metropolis and surrounded by cactus, bushes and dirt, but little shade. Luckily our temperatures didn’t hit the 120 mark that the city did.

I grew up in the desert, but I can only remember about three times when it actually hit over 116, 122 being the worst I’ve felt. At that point, your chest begins to pound when you walk outside and the liquid around your eyes really begins to burn. Imagine being an animal, who cannot get out of it.

Finding treats to keep the chickens cool was easy, I dumped mint, peas, lettuce, watermelon, grapes and electrolytes into an empty Chobani yogurt container and froze it overnight to give to them when the temperatures hit over 105. I made a similar concoction for my horse, but only used apples, carrots and electrolytes. Alas, the chickens still had to come inside when it went above 110, they’re larger chickens and just couldn’t keep themselves cool. I couldn’t either! And with stories of chickens around Phoenix dropping dead, it had to be done.

My goats and Sedona (my horse) seemed unfazed. They were stocked up on water and had a couple of afternoon hosings, but in general didn’t seem to mind the heat.

Hank wasn’t allowed out after 10am without his Ruffwear boots. For him, I wanted to come up with a less messy, cold treat to give him and set out to find some pupsicle recipes. I came across a frozen watermelon treat idea that I modified to include goat’s milk, instead of coconut milk as suggested in this recipe from grrfeisty. Hank LOVES it, and I bet your pup will too.

Goat’s milk gives these tasty treats some additional super benefits. Even top raw, health conscious dog food companies like Primal and The Honest Kitchen are offering a goat’s milk supplement for dogs, boasting billions of active probiotics and digestive enzymes which promote immune and digestive support, that is is more easily absorbed than cow’s milk, includes electrolytes (an added bonus for hot weather!) vitamins, minerals, trace elements, enzymes, protein, and fatty acids.

In fact, these pupsicles are healthy and 100% human grade, you could eat them yourself. I realize goat’s milk can be hard to come by, or too expensive to be a realistic addition to your dog’s diet, so these little cubes are equally as delicious and refreshing with coconut milk or almond milk.

•  About 1-2 cups of watermelon chunks
• One cup of goat’s milk*
  • *or coconut or almond milk 

Magic Bullets are wonderful machines, and as I’ve mentioned before, I make my personal daily smoothies with one, and highly recommend their ease and efficiency.

Now, blend both the goat’s milk and the watermelon into your blender and then pour the frothy pink liquid into ice cube trays of your choice. I wish I had the cute dog bone shaped trays mentioned in grrfeisty’s recipe, but alas, the half-moon shaped trays look like little watermelon slices and work equally well!

Making about two ice cube trays, each cube should be somewhere around 9 calories.

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