If your dog is anything like mine, he gets restless and agitated in the heat. It means he can’t go for his walks at his usual times (and he’s very routine driven) and much like the rest of us, he’s getting hot and bothered when he tries to sleep. It’s important that you keep an eye on your dog in very hot weather, as they simply cannot regulate their body temperature in the same way that we can and they do get hot quite quickly.
Before we get into ways to keep them cool, there are some things that we need to mention:
Do not walk your dog in hot weather. As mentioned, they cannot regulate their body heat as we can, and they don’t know to not get over-excited. Keep them at home during the day and only walk them in the early morning and in the evening. Most dogs will struggle with temperatures over 25-27C and the bigger they are, the more they will struggle.
Check the pavement with the back of your hand, or even your own barefoot. Can you feel the heat? If it feels hot, then it’s too hot to walk your dog.
Never leave your dog in a car on a warm day
Always take water with you to help them stay hydrated and cool
Plan your walks for shaded areas, woodland walks are ideal and will cool down much quicker than being out in the open. There’s also a chance of a stream.
There are a number of ways you can keep your dogs cool at home, here are some recommendations:
Encourage them to stay in shaded areas of your garden if outside, create them a little cooling area. They’ll always want to be over with you in the sun, but you must urge them not to.
Fill a hot water bottle with cold water, you can even freeze this over night to make it even cooler.
Put down damp towels for them to lay on
Garden sprinklers are always a good idea
Frozen carrot, our dog has loved a carrot since he had frozen ones when he was a puppy (helped biting)
Products for keeping dogs cool
As well as the above, there are a number of products you can buy to help keep your dog cool. It’s a good idea to grab these ahead of hot weather as they always spike in sales when the weather gets hot.
A dog cooling vest is much like a dog cooling mat, but a little more portable. They can easily wear it on the dog, or throw it on after a walk to help them cool down quicker. There are a variety of styles and sizes available from different manufacturers, but the general idea behind them is that you soak the vest in water, wring out the excess and pop the vest onto your dog. This helps to keep them cool and calm.
Stepping down in size again, we have dog cooling collars. Again these are ideal for cooling on the move, simply wrap the cooling collar around your dogs neck to help them start to cool down on warm days. Ideal for after a walk. Cooling collars directly cool the area that is most needed to cool down. You can also get bandana style cooling collars.
Who doesn’t love an ice pop on a hot day? The people who brought you dog beer and pawsecco have come up with some dog friendly ice pops for your freezer at home. All natural ingredients and 6 in a pack.
One of the best things we invested in this year for Eddie was a paddling pool. He loves paddling around in water and a cheap paddling pool gave him something to splash around in when it was too hot to take him out for a walk. The only drawback is that he now wants to get in every single stream that we see, we kept him relatively clean for a few years at least!
These are just some of the ways that you can keep your dogs feeling cooler this summer. Please do look after your pets in the warm weather and NEVER leave your dog in a car.
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