SUMMER HEALTH- How do you keep your dog cool in the heat?
Please share your warm weather tips with the puppy mommy please!!! |
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| You can certainly start with a fan! Blowing the air over/at Pippin will help to keep him cool. Lots of cool (but not ice cold) fresh water available, keep him out of the sun.
Mulligan loves to chew ice cubes! Fortunately, he doesn't have a problem with regurgitating them back up! I don't know how much they help to keep him cool, but it makes me feel better.  But seriously, he gets one or two a day, sometimes more when it's hot out.
If he gets overheated it's an emergency situation; I'd hose him down and get him to the vet. |
| You can buy those cool mats too. I'm probably going to buy one for Bear because even with the A/C on full blast, he's still warm.
Here's an example but there are lots of other kinds that are better: http://www.roshgo.com/Merchant2/merchan ... CTGY/00904 |
| WELL,
HE DOESN'T GO OUT EXCEPT TO RELEIVE HIMSELF WHEN IT IS OVER 80. SO THE SUN ISN'T AN ISSUE. WE HAVE FANS ALL OVER THE HOUSE, SO HE DEFINITELY IS FRONT OF THEM A LOT, BUT HE STILL GETS HOT. I LOVE THAT COOLING PAD IDEA... I'M GONNA LOOK INTO THAT. I HAVE BEEN GIVING HIM CHILLY BONES, BUT HE LOOSES INTEREST QUICKLY, I'LL TRY THE ICE CUBE IDEA, MY FOLKS DOGS LOVE ICE CUBES! |
| Karen, this is the one I was going to buy last year and never got around to it before it got cold again!
http://www.pets4you.com/pages/canine_co ... dering.htm Now I definitely need an extra large... or two! |
| if ours gets hot we wet down a small bath towel with cold water and drape it over her back.. its funny i think she realises it feels good as she walks around with it on and doesn't try to throw it off. |
| Boo got shaved down on Sunday and I don't think he's at all amused and he STILL doesn't want to go outside! |
| We go for walks. playtime, very early in the morning or very late at night. It's the humidity that really gets to them more than the temperature. We even had some 90 degree days in January and some 40 degree days in April - who would have thought?
Attic fans or swamp coolers are great in less humid climates. It's hard for me to remember to leave a window or door cracked open though. We had them in New Mexico and was surprisingly comfortable considering I grew up with air conditioning. Ceiling fans are fairly standard in most rooms down here. People make fun of them, but they do work. We also keep the drapes/blinds closed during the day. The film that you can put on the inside of windows can reflect some of the heat. I bought one of the battery-operated fans for the crate which helped some. And my stepfather used a 2 liter coke bottle, filled 3/4 full of water and frozen, to keep his bunny cool outside. The dog like it too. They either lay against it or lay on the tile floor where the coke bottle has cooled it off. |
floofdog wrote: Boo got shaved down on Sunday and I don't think he's at all amused and he STILL doesn't want to go outside!
I thought you were growing him out? You were doing such a great job on keeping him matt free! |
| If Pippin likes ice you can make him some koolaid cubes. Just use about half the water and freeze them in trays. |
| I use to put a damp towel on the floor and have the fan going and the dog lying on the damp towel, they use to enjoy that in our Hot summers. Pre-airconditiong days, THANK GOODNESS for airconditioning
Those cool mats are great too, we use them at dog shows in summer, very worthwhile, even travelling in the car in summer, that on the bottom of the crate and they love it.
Ice cubes in the water bowl keeps a nice chill on the water. |
| I was growing him out, I don't know what came over me. Okay, I guess I do . . . it was so hot he wanted to be inside all the time rather than with me outside and I just did it. It looks terrible because he was being typical Bentley and wouldn't cooperate after the first half hour or so. Or any time after that, for that matter.
He's being a brat - not as bad as he was a year ago, but a brat none-the-less and my patience is wearing thin. I don't want to talk about Bentley any more. |
| Aw, it's hot. Everyone's cranky. Bear is pretty much insane and I think Lucy is ready to kill. Clyde's seemingly unaffected but that's just Clyde. |
| Yeah, you're probably right, it's just that Boo's language capabilities are limited to barking, biting & jumping. He needs to learn a foreign language, LOL! |
| Lol. Let's turn Boo and Bear loose on each other. Bear's been really big on drive by nipping lately. He and Clyde will run by playing and, to try to entice me to join the fun, I get bit in the hand. Jerk. |
Thanks for all the ideas guys! I'm thinking I may have to buy a cooling pad for our bed! It was so bad last weekend, with temps in the high 90s and only dropping into the low 80s at night... I couldn't fall asleep until 11- rare for the 9pm bed time queen! I didn't sleep well at all  We've got fans all over the house, but these old houses are tough to cool, especially upstairs. I'm even blowing the cool air up from the basement. If it wasn't so scary in the basement we'd stay down there... but it's a dungeon!  This weather is almost unheard of this early in the year up here. Man we've gotta get some window ac units!!! |
| I've never tried this but how about chicken broth into ice cubes.
Or if you want to grow the coat out, you can trim/shave the belly area, so when they lay on the tile, or lino the belly is skin so it cools faster. Keep the hair in feet trimmed short. Then noone will notice that the hair is shaved, the skirts cover it up. We often use the kiddie pool for the dogs now, often I find Remy just standing there. We also take them through the sprinkler, and now on walks they go through them on other peoples property. |
| We just have 2 window ac units, an 8000 btu and a 6000 btu I think. One is upstairs for the kids, and one downstairs for us and the dogs. Panda is in the room with the ac when it is hot since she is in full coat. I don't have to worry as much about Dancer and Sky as they are in short coat.
If I didn't have ac I'm not sure I would keep any in coat, it would just be too hot. (here it is soooo humid along with temps over 100) The 2 ac units keep the house at between 70-74 depending on how bad it is out, plus we give them ice cubes to chew on, frozen rope toys, and always lukewarm or room temp water, not cold, to drink, because otherwise they will barf it back up. LOL Making sure the coat is line brushed to the skin will help with air circulation. If your puppy has a LOT of coat, and you really want to keep him in full coat, you could remove a bunch of undercoat? |
Daisie wrote: I've never tried this but how about chicken broth into ice cubes.
Just use low sodium broth, the concentration of salt can make them dehydrate faster wheras a little salt will make him want to drink more and he'll stay better hydrated. Also, you could freeze pedialyte. The chicken tastes would probably keep them more interested too. Good stuff! |
ButtersStotch wrote: Karen, this is the one I was going to buy last year and never got around to it before it got cold again!
http://www.pets4you.com/pages/canine_co ... dering.htm Now I definitely need an extra large... or two! I had one of these for my first sheepdog when he got older and I think it worked really well for keeping him cool. He laid on it all of the time. The only down side to it is that once the water is in it, it gets pretty heavy so you will need to try to keep in in one place. Also, after a few years the side split and the water started leaking out so we had to throw it out. Hopefully they are better made now. At the dog show this past weekend it got up to 90 degrees and I ended up making ice packs out of large freezer zip lock bags and that worked really well in keeping Frank comfortable. Maybe you could consider ice packs on the really hot days. And IMO, if I didn't have air, my dogs would be shaved down. I know there is mixed feelings about whether they are hot or not, but my dogs always seem much more comfortable shaved. |
| Yay MN - the hotspot of the US the last few day!!!
We have a wading pool for the dogs, they also like to take a dip in our pond (ornamental one in the yard - no muck). we gave up trying to keep the dogs out and put indoor/outdoor gray carpeting over the liner this spring. I have friends who swear by the cooling mats - but no personal experience. Friends also put ice cubes in their dog water dish - I have been trying to remember to do it. Bart loves theirs when we are at their house! We have a couple window AC units, but use them only on the nasty days. We have ceiling fans and reg. fans and the dogs park in front of them. |
I had this problem with London - so I had him shaved. He definitely feels so much cooler - im hoping his coat will fast.  when I refill the ice cube tray, I'd mix water with a little peanut butter. London loves peanut butter, so it helped him stay cool. |
| It was 112 degrees the other day here
My dogs have stayed inside for the most part. They even have been playing inside. It has been out for potties and then back in. It was still in the high 90's when I went to bed last night. Rags did go out quite a few times last night after the sun set. We finally got Pepsi to go into the pool. He sat of the first step which was a very big accomplishment for him. He didn't even seem to mind this time.  |
| A long time ago someone told me that the best places on a dog's body to cool him fast is on his forehead, between the eyes, and also the belly. So I just spray his forehead and bel-bel with a water bottle throughout the day. He stops panting immediately. |
| So would I!!! Brrrr! |
I put a small towle in ice cold water and soak it, then put it unde the leg area and belly...it cools much quicker than over the top. Under the arm area of the dog, or whatever its called in dog anatomy  in the groin area, and belly area are all spots to use a cold towel to cool down...If your dog gets overheated, its really important to get them to the Vet as soon as possible. But it sounds like you are doing the right thing with early morning walks and no outside except to pee in the mid day heat...
Pre air conditioning I would put the fan on my dog but make sure its in a place where they can't get their paw or hair or tongue stuck... Believe me, I've seen it happen where a dog would go to lick the fan and get his tongue tangled up in the fan
I'm hating the heat myself! |
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