Dog and heat
There it is finally – the summer! We already put up a small doggy pool for the dogs, there is regularly doggy ice in the freezer, and we prefer walks to the waters – during the day the dogs are just lying on the coolest places.
Our dogs are generally much more sensitive to heat than humans; dogs have fewer possibilities than people to regulate their body temperature by this weather. Contrary to the humans the dogs are not sweating on big surface and they can’t profit of the cooling down by evaporating. They have fewer sweat glands – mainly on their paws – and they hardly help by the thermal regulation. The thermal regulation happens on two ways by the dogs – through breathing and warm emission by the skin.
Heat can be very dangerous for our dogs, so we made a list of Do’s and Don’ts.
…what we don’t have to do!
On road by the midday heat
Walks to midday we better spare us or reduce to minimum. Open meadows and fields without shadow have to avoid. City walks have to be taboo mainly during the day, there is heat collected. Better also avoid longer asphalt roads, there is the heat concentrated in the ground – overheated footpaths can burn the sensitive dog paws!
No sport
A further taboo is sport. By body efforts the body temperature is growing additionally. Hearth and bloodstream are going to be strongly charged. To go cycling or jogging with the dog by 35 Celsius in shadow is not an activity but a cruelty!
Large playing rounds with buddies should also be avoided or at least placed in cooler day sections or take place by natural waters. Make effort to ensure that your dog can cool down quickly and has plenty of opportunity to recover. Concentrated nose job is difficult in this weather and does not make sense. The respiration that uses a dog in the nose job is a completely different than the thermoregulation. The dog can’t expect full performance of his nose when his body is concerned with the compensation of temperature. Nor can his body be effectively cooled when he is trying to leverage his nose.
Dog in the car
Waiting in a parked car is totally taboo! Every year there are plenty of warnings too and dogs die every year in cars. Within a few minutes the temperature can double in the car. Dogs can die in a parked car in this weather, even before the owner comes back of a short walk to the supermarket.
And our advices:
Water, water, water.
If you don’t have the opportunity to walk directly by waters with your dog, you should take water with you, so that the dog can drink as much as possible. There are practical folding cups that fit in your pocket. Dogs who like to swim, may be easily cooled down. Dogs, who only find the water well to their bellies, you can just invest a little time and used them to be thoroughly "soaked" in water by humans. As the water evaporates, it helps to cool the body. In extremely hot days we can shower off our dogs. There are special dog pools for home, but children’s wading pool or water mussels we can offer to the dog as an additional cooling possibility – searching for treats, small apport games or watercourse are good for thermoregulation. We can simply moisten the dog a little on the legs and belly too. Please do not use ice cold water directly, especially not when the dog is already heated. Better lukewarm water that is gently used starting on the legs.
If the dog is not thrilled, we can still motivate with games and treats, or why not a little trick training in the water? "Put paws in a bowl of water" would be a nice and at the sane tine refreshing clicker idea for the summer!
Off to the ice cream shop
If no intolerance speaks against it, we can treat our dog in the summer now and then with an ice cream! The simple yogurt variety from the ice cream shop, for example. But you can also do it yourself as a kind of doggy ice cream - just plain yogurt or cottage cheese in the freezer. Of course you can flavor it with a little canned food, baby food or sausage for flavor. Or make some fruit puree and freeze with water in a bowl. A longer ice joy with employment factor is if we serve our dog’s ice just in his Kong!. Notice my beeagles prefer yoghurt with honey and applesauce, but they also say no for a baby food thinned with water! In both apply begin careful to test if your dog tolerates the cold in his stomach.
Dog walking times
Walks should be possible done in the early morning or late evening when it is cooler. The lunch time walk - if ever - be kept as short as possible. A dense forest is preferable for a walk to a wide-open field. And ways that offer no shade, better to be totally avoided.
Sleeping and lying
At such temperatures, many dogs prefer cool places. Tiles, or stone floors, the space under a bush are very popular. In the hot summer, you can still clear the home carpet out of the way or even fill the basket with cooler, thinner material. Outside, we can create more shade with umbrellas. Many dogs dig a hole in the ground in the garden to be cooler there. You really can accept this arbitrary landscape and transformation on the dogs art for cooling.
Thorough grooming
Since dogs can give off heat on the body surface, it is logical - the less hair, the better. No matter how long or short the fur of the dog is, regular brushing to remove dead hair facilitates cooling. It has indeed a reason that most of our pets hair at this time like crazy. Thick undercoat needs to be thinned out. There are a variety of different tools that help to thin the undercoat of a dog, for example, the "Furminator". The more air can pass to the skin, the better.
The dog days to come!
Maybe some of these tips help you to spend the warm days more enjoyable. We take care of our dog, we prefer not to go walk to the usual times, no big walks at lunch time and treat ourselves rather in cooler areas.
Source: CaneCavi