Dog Days of Summer

As you browse the our website, you might notice the furry models in pictures of G-Floor® pet flooring. We think that images should accurately represent what our flooring will look like in your living room or garage, and we use real models with real products to create the best shopping experience. Today, in celebration of the “dog days” of summer, let’s put names to faces and meet one of the “Dogs of G-Floor.”

This handsome pup, weighing in at a sturdy 25 pounds, is named Potato. Potato is a French Bulldog mix and he’ll be celebrating his third birthday in 2024. Potato, after getting his sea legs, has recently discovered that he loves riding on the family’s pontoon. The leisurely pace and gentle waves provide a healthy mix of adventure and excitement for Potato, and he makes a great companion.

If you plan to take your pooch on a pontoon, it’s essential to outfit your dog with a (dog-sized) life jacket, provide shade with a bimini top, and bring plenty of fresh drinking water. Summer heat and extended exposure to the sun can be dangerous for both dogs and humans, so it’s a good idea to monitor each passenger to make sure they’re staying hydrated.

Another way to make your canine’s cruise more comfortable is with G-Floor Outdoor & Marine boat flooring. The solid vinyl doesn’t get as hot as other kinds of boat flooring and, unlike woven boat flooring, solid vinyl flooring won’t get snagged by fishing hooks or your dog’s claws. These two factors make G-Floor Outdoor & Marine solid vinyl boat flooring the best, most reliable flooring option for your pontoon boat.

Since we’re enjoying the “dog days” of summer, let’s take a moment to go over the effects of hot flooring on dog paws. The skin on dogs’ paw pads, like our skin, is vulnerable to heat and hot surfaces can burn or damage it. Underneath the paw pad is where things get interesting. Like human feet, dogs have arteries and veins bring blood to and from the paw pad. Unlike human feet, the veins “wrap” around the arteries to help with temperature regulation. When a dog stands in something cold like snow, the warm blood from the arteries transfers heat to the cold blood in the veins and this maintains the dog’s body temperature. In warm environments, blood in both the arteries and veins is warm so dogs can’t rely on this heat transfer to maintain their body temperature. You can read more about dog paws in this study published in the Open Journal of Veterinary Medicine.

Back on land, Potato’s sense for adventure often creates mischief. Check out his wake of destruction in this video! Cleaning up this mess was a headache and a half because water can easily damage hardwood floors, many cleaning chemicals aren’t pet-safe, and the mess was all over the whole room!

This would have been significantly easier to clean if it was on top of waterproof, stain-resistant G-Floor pet flooring. If the mess is contained to a vinyl floor protector mat, you can just pick up the mat and hose it off in the yard. You can even get a clear G-Floor for pets vinyl floor protector to show off your hardwood or carpet underneath the mat.