There are other risks that come with hot weather. Overheating is the most dangerous. Most people know it can be fatal to leave a pet in a closed car on a warm day. Even in the brief time it takes to run into the store for something, a dog's temperature can increase dramatically. Over heating can also be caused by over exertion, and several years ago I even had a canine patient who had just been left in a shaded back yard die from heat stroke.
Cheat grass is the most common summertime problem.
If you don't know what cheat grass is, go for a ride out in the country around here until you see some brownish - reddish weed patches alongside the road. Take a walk through one of those weed patches, and when you feel a bunch of little prickly things sticking through your socks, that's cheat grass. Cheat grass and other similar little grass awns have a sharp, pointed end, and hundreds of tiny barbs and spines that cause it to stick in practically anything. It gets into ears, eyes, noses, and all the other body orifices. And getting back to swimming pools, a friend who has had a swimming pool for a long time, said you should worry not only about dogs, cats, and neighborhood children, but also about cows.