This article will provide you with some hot weather tips for dogs to help keep them safe.
Summertime or other warm-weather situations can be a great and enjoyable time for dogs. We all really enjoy the long bright days. We get to walk our dog at six in the morning or nine o’clock at night if we choose to as the outdoors is bright and with pleasant temperatures.
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THE EFFECT OF SUN ON DOGS
Summertime is indeed a lovely time to be out and about. It can provide a really pleasant experience for you and your dogs.
The first thing you would need to consider before moving out with your dog is the Sun.
Well, what about the Sun?
How can that impact dogs?
Well if you observe, most dogs aren’t bothered by it at all.
Sunbathing
Some dogs which I do see from time to time, even like to sunbathe in the Sun.
I tend to see a lot of white dogs doing this a lot for some reason.
They really do like to roll over in the Sun and enjoy the Rays on their Tommy and soft belly area.
While this may be enjoyable for them when they are doing it, it’s not so great for the skin.
The actual fur area on other parts of the body will remain fine but the actual belly where there isn’t a lot of fur can get badly sunburned.
So if you’ve got a white dog that likes rolling around on her back in the Sun then you have to use a good dog-safe sunscreen on them.
That just means you need to use sunblock on the hairless bits of their skin underneath to help against getting sunburned each time you take them out.
There are some additional things you need to take note of if you own a cat as well. Cats are prone to cancer on the EO chips and the nose and you need to apply sunblock there as well.
This is not a serious concern for most dogs as fewer dogs get particular skin diseases affecting the nose.
It can be many years before something like that may happen and dogs may need sunblock in such areas.
However, this is quite rare and your vet would guide you through that if it happens.
Also see: How To Deworm A Dog From Home
HEAT DANGER FOR DOGS
We have looked at the direct effect of the Sun.
What about the direct effects of the heat? These hot weather tips for dogs post will also look at the heat effect on dogs.
Heat is a really big issue for dogs in the summer because as you probably know dogs can’t sweat.
We, humans, sweat a lot when it’s hot. We sweat on our armpits, all over our bodies, on our arms, and in other places.
When we sweat the moisture evaporates from our skin carrying heat with it.
This helps to keep us cool.
Dogs don’t sweat
Unfortunately, dogs can’t do that.
The only way they can lose heat is by and water evaporating from their tongue that’s why they pant a lot when it’s hot.
The act of panting pushes air across their tongue backward and forwards very quickly. This makes the water on their tongue evaporate.
As the water evaporates it takes the heat with it.
I don’t believe you may have ever put your hand in front of a dog when they’re panting and felt the warmth of their breath.
It’s really hot!
The fact that they lose a lot of heat by panting has several implications.
The first thing is it means they need to drink a lot more water than usual, during the summer because they’re losing water from their tongue.
They have to constantly drink to replace that.
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This also means is that they are prone to overheating more than other animals.
You have to be careful where you live during the summer months.
Don’t leave a dog in a place where it’s likely to become so hot that they end up having a heat stroke.
Hot Weather Tips For Dogs Left In The Car
Most people know that it is not safe to leave your dog in the car.
This is because the air space and the cars restrict sunlight and cause the windows to heat up.
This happens at the same time as the dog in the car is also producing heat from its body and losing the heat from its tongue.
This makes the air around the dog gets hotter and hotter and hotter till the dog eventually dies of heatstroke.
Despite repeated communication and sad stories about this in the media, every year we still hear stories about dogs dying in cars.
So please take extra care and remember to leave the window down a bit if you must leave the dog in the car and don’t stay away for too long.
Another common cause of heatstroke is exercising your dog.
People generally don’t realize that when a dog exercises, the muscles produce a lot of heat.
If you choose to take your dog out in the middle of a sunny day and let her run for a long time, it can be dangerous too.
A lot of heat is being produced in addition to the heat getting into the body from the Sun.
Your dog can only expel so much of this heat by panting and this might not be enough.
HOW TO HANDLE HEATSTROKE IN DOGS
A Real Life Dog Heatstroke Experience
I recently received a phone call from a friend who was out walking their black Labrador in the middle of a sunny day as the dogs just collapsed.
There was no sign, he seemed bright and fine but he’s just collapsed.
From the explanations provided over the phone and the signs she explained, it was clear to me what had happened.
The dog was suffering from heatstroke and they needed to get it cooled down as rapidly as possible.
How To Handle Heatstroke In Dogs
I told them to pick up their dog and to carry it to a nearby stream, put the dog in the street, pour lots of water on let’s cool it down.
It was important that they do this immediately as heat stroke can come back on a vicious circle when the dog gets hotter and hotter by remaining in the Sun.
This can lead to the dogs damaging their internal organs because of the increase in temperature.
I believe it is by far best to prevent that by not exercising your dog as much as you would do on a regular non-summer day, especially if you’re going to take your dog out.
During summertime, it is preferable to do it during the early hours like before nine in the morning or after five in the evening where it’s a bit cool.
This way it will be much less likely for your dog to suffer from heatstroke in the same way.
So there you have it, the Sun and the heat are two really important issues to deal with.
HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR DOG SAFELY
Are there some other issues that we should think about?
Well one of them is what sort of exercise do you do with your dog?
Just because you’ve got all this extra time with longer days to walk your dog doesn’t mean you should overdo it.
You need to think about how you interact with your dog to take advantage of the time in a safe way.
THROWING STICKS TO DOGS
Some people like to throw sticks.
Throwing sticks is more dangerous than people realize.
I’ve talked about that before as well but sticks can injure dogs. I’ve seen dogs died on the spot after chasing a stick.
What happens is this stick that is thrown, lands in the ground like a javelin with the sharp end sticking out of the ground. The dog runs after the stick goes to grab it but the stick stays where it is.
The dog moves forward to add more force and gets stabbed in the back of his throat!
I’ll never forget one dog that I suffered this fate.
I got an emergency call from Jana and the lady was standing there over the body of her dog.
The dog had bled out from the wound and just lying there dead and the poor distraught woman was there beside her dog hugging it.
The only mistake she had made was the simple innocent act of throwing a stick at her dog and not realizing the risk.
So just don’t take that risk.
If you are going to throw something for your dog and it’s great to do that as you can have a lot of fun, throw something safe.
My favorite thing is to use a dog ball like the one here.
The ball gets thrown in the air and your dog can have a lot of fun chasing it. They can also have fun chewing on it and not on your furniture.
However, don’t let these dangers deter you from having much fun with your dog during summer after all summer only comes around once a year.
Just take the extra care to play safely.
Before you go check out this post on how to do a physical exam on a dog. The more you go outdoors the more the risk to your dog, so it is a good idea to learn the basics for examining your dog.
Also, don’t forget to save this post to your Pinterest dog tips or dog care boards so you can always have the link anytime you need it.
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