Dogs and the heat

[fankino04]

21 degrees here at the moment and I've just seen a guy set off on his lunch time walk with his 2 long coated alaskan malamute, poor thing 😢

 

[Mrs Jingle]

We don't walk either of our labs any further than a slow amble around one four acre field and that's more than enough on hot (well Irish hot!) days.

Yesterday got to the dizzy heights of 23 and the bigger one got all hot and bothered just lying in the shade with me in the garden, all walks were cancelled, just not worth the risk. The smaller one (Jessie) would go on regardless, so hyper she would drop dead with heat exhaustion without a care if you didn't watch her. Jem on the other hand would be quite happy just to lie about snoring loudly whatever the weather!

 

[Clodagh]

It was 21 when I got back to the car this morning. We’d walked in the beach (so mainly in the water) so not a bother.
Tbh I do t normally look at the temperature, I decide if it feels too hot for me!

 

[Books'n'dogs]

It was 104°F here yesterday, thankfully most people seemed to have the sense to keep their dogs inside in the cool but my mom had an altercation with a woman who was going to leave her dogs in the car alone. 😠

 

[Annette4]

Mine are housebound as one had D&V so being sensible in case it's a bug so no walks but I am probably the minority in that although i don't walk my dogs in the heat (we have no choice but to do concrete walks for good portions of the routes which are safe for Dobby), I do some work and training with them away from the hottest parts of the day so they can acclimatise as while competitions are called off if its dangerous for the dogs, they do compete when it's warm so I want them to be used to do some work in the heat. They don't do sprint work but some kind of body work or training.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I also try to condition mine to the heat when I get the opportunity as it gets quite hot when we travel/compete.

Interestingly the black, heavy coated one always has coped fine, I guess he is well insulated. The tight coated one who spent his formative months in the fatherland has always really struggled.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Ours haven't been for a walk since Sunday but that is Covid related as much as because of the heat. They have been able to choose to play out or not and have been wrestling/chasing etc until about 10.00 am and then lying around the house for the rest of the day.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I took mine out after work, I hadn’t realised it was so warm, but we only did a quick jog round the woods which is entirely in the shade. My OH took them to the river on Thursday and Friday, it’s very shady down there. I certainly wouldn’t be going to the park or making them walk on hot pavements.

 

[Karran]

Mrs Spaniel tells me if its too hot to walk (and too cold, or too wet for that matter....)
Mrs Collie would go out regardless. It was 20 at lunch, which is towards the top end for me walking them. I don't take them out much past 23 because to get to the cool places with lots of shade and rivers for paddling, means a car ride and its too stuffy for me to be in the car let alone them!
She wanted to go out at lunch today, Mrs Spaniel did not.
We did a slow amble to the park and back and entertained ourselves by playing sniffing games on our travels.

 

[Rokele55]

I took terrier out just before 9pm when it had cooled off to needing a light sweater weather and it was perfect at the top of the hill watching the sun go down! She had a good run in the long grass and jumped in a water trough, found a lambs tail to chew on.... We do very early and very late if it is warm enough for me to sweat in a t shirt. If it is really hot we stop beside the river on the way home for a swim and that's it really.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Mine come with me to the field twice a day, 9am and 6.30pm. The car gets hot but I have windows open and am about to get the rear windows tinted with the darkest tint to try to keep them a bit cooler. At home my bungalow gets hot, currently 25 but feels ok and the dogs aren't hot. It will be much hotter later so all doors and windows will be open and fans on. We seem to manage somehow even when the house is up to 30. Biggest worry for me is when I have to go out and leave the dogs and the house is closed up, gets very hot then. At least when Michael was alive I could go out and leave everything open.

 

[Goldenstar]

Mine follow me to the yard and wonder about .
I have had them out this morning early on and will do something with them tonight .
We are lucky our house is wonderfully cool in summer .
I am very careful .

 

[Antw23uk]

Our two collies are walked first thing in the mornings and hubby is off this week so they are pottering in the garden with him but there are no lunchtime or afternoon walks at the moment. We have a kick about with the football in the small paddock at the top of the garden about 2130 but other than that they are on lockdown during the heat of the day. They are stir crazy but tough!

 

[Odyssey]

I take mine for a short stroll round the block after 9.30pm, it was after 11 last night and it was lovely and cool. I keep the windows and blinds closed all day to keep the heat out, which certainly helps, then open them in the late evening for a couple of hours to let the cool air in.

I find a cooling coat is brilliant for evening walks when it's cooled right down, but is still muggy. They feel so cool underneath, and you can take cold water in a thermos flask if you need to "top up" when you're out for longer and the water evaporates. It's one of my absolute best doggy buys.

 

[Jenko109]

We just go really early. In fairness that's quite often our routine anyway as one of mine is reactive and it's less stress for both of us! it's lovely at 5.30am.

 

[fankino04]

Well of the 7 dog walks I had booked in today only 1 of them went out, to me it's just not worth the risk maybe I'm overly cautious sometimes but hey.

 

[Nasicus]

The wee gremlin and I are in agreement that anything 18c+ is far too hot for the pair of us. Frankly anything 16c+ has me sweating like a pig, but thankfully the dog is happy to mooch around the garden and then come flop in front of the fan with me.

 

[TheOldTrout]

In these temperatures, I take Blue on his long walk first thing in the morning when it's cooler. Then he burns off energy chasing his ball in the cool part of the house.

 

[Moobli]

I try to exercise mine in the cooler morning or evening times on hot days, or we go down to reservoir and they swim.