Thank heavens summer seems to have arrived, but there is the danger of dogs suffering heat stroke. Heat stroke can be fatal apparently so its best to keep the dogs cool as best you can with plenty of cool drinking water available, common sense I know but seeing how Josh suffered with being hot on Saturday made me realise how easy it would be for a long coated dog to go into heat stroke. Signs are excessive panting,long stands of saliva, bright red gums, this then turns to collapse and pale gums.
A friend suggested putting water bottles or freezer pac in the freezer and popping them under the bedding when travelling or leaving the dog at home as they will cool the bed down. I thought that was a good idea. I sprayed Josh with water on his face and feet on Saturday to keep him cool, this helps also apparently.
Made me wonder about the poor dogs in the pound, have they sufficient shade etc..:(

It was way too hot for them yesterday, I made them a tent with some blankets in the garden which Peepee liked, and the rabbits came out of the hutch and had a parasol up so it was shadey and lots of cool water.

I wouldn't take them out for the usual sunday afternoon walk as I felt it was a toss up as to whether they got heat stroke or me :hihi: and the floor was really hot for little paws.

Having had a scary experience with the dobermutt and heat stroke one v hot sunny seaside day a couple of years ago, we don't take any chances - we always carry bottles of cool water and stay out of the sun as much as possible (no hardship really as me and the other half hate the sun anyway) We look for tree shaded walks with streams and places to splash around.
We took Ailsa to Wyming Brook yesterday morning and she had a fab time splashing about in the deep cool water and generally being an idiot. Made sure we were back home before it really hotted up in the afternoon.
Other good places to take her on a warm day are: Padley Gorge and Whirlow Park Woods - nice n shaded and somewhere we can stock up on more water (and an ice cream)
Travelling- every car we get now has to have electric rear windows and air con so that madam can have plenty of cool air in the back seat area whilst we're driving. If we are travelling a fair way we make regular stops and we keep a non-tip bowl of fresh water to hand. We have towels and water available and take a chiller bag to keep things cool.

My rottie is very clever she has laid under a fan.

It always amazes me when so called dog lovers drag their pets to markets/parks etc when the sun is scorching. Why?
We left ours at home even though when we left early yesterday it was cool.You can't risk a dog on a 10 mil ehike in the sun. Even i've got a t shirt tan today.

They have walked Mam Tor today but we were back done before the sun broke through.

My rottie is very clever she has laid under a fan.

Unlike my stupid dog who tried his hardest to lay in full sun all day! He seems to have made a new bed in the strawberries too! :rant::hihi: he is def at risk from sunstroke if I don't take him out of it all the time.

Another thing I learned was about putting sun screen on pale ears and faces, cos they can get sunburn, I do my cats ears with sunscreen cos he is mostly white.
Jess - we have a stupid dog too, he trys to lay in the sun despite a thick fur coat!
Yep, early morning and evening walks for us too, I feel sorry for those poor dogs dragged out in the midday sun.

Brude enjoys sun bathing - to the point of overdoing it :roll:

we drench him with the hose to keep him cool

he doesn't like it when he gets wet, but it does work, and he comes back for a top up later :D

Some fab ideas on here :D

I have got a plant mister for my lot! They don't seem to mind it but do move away - unless we're in the car then they're in crates and there's nothing they can do! haha!

I have a 'cooling bandana' for Eddy which you soak in water, and crystals hold the water until the dog's body heat evaporates the water (a bit like how sweating works, you just give them a bit of extra 'sweat' :lol: )

mine have cooling mats which after the initial OMG whats that, they actually will lie on now and they are great. mine as a routine go out for 2 hours first thing in a morning so generally its always still cool and we go to woods with water, i am though really wary of the dogs i walk and if its like its been the past few days i walk alot slower and try to find shaded areas. anna.x.

you can also add rock sulphur to there water to help them stay hydrated and stop overheating, we use this. anna.x.

you can also add rock sulphur to there water to help them stay hydrated and stop overheating, we use this. anna.x.

Never heard of adding rock sulpher Anna, where do you get that from?

http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/item--Sherley's-Rock-Sulphur-100g--rocksulpher2
you may be able to get it from pets at home too. loads of online pet shops sell it. anna.x.

It's excellent to flag this up and yep it amazes me when you see people walking their dogs full pelt in the heat of the mid day sun.

One of our customers had a lucky near miss last year. We turned up to find he had left his 5 dogs in the conservatory in the middle of summer. 2 of them were so hot they were unconscious, we quickly grabbed some towels, soaked them in cool water and wrapped them around the dogs, whilst getting some water and glucose into them. They were then dashed to the vets in our car where they needed intensive rehydration therapy. The vet called the owner and told him we had literally saved his dogs lives. The dogs have never been left in the conservatory since.

We had a very tough lesson to learn last summer when Molly came down with heat stroke bad enough to start being sick and fitting after only a few hours out of the house.

We made the decision that if she had to be out in the hot weather we'd make sure that she was suitably wet, hydrated and with shade. We use the watering can if we can't find a river for her to play in and on Saturday when she was just too hot and bothered to go out for a walk, we took her for a really long swim in the old mill pond at the bottom of the Loxley valley.

Some fab ideas on here :D

I have got a plant mister for my lot! They don't seem to mind it but do move away - unless we're in the car then they're in crates and there's nothing they can do! haha!

I have a 'cooling bandana' for Eddy which you soak in water, and crystals hold the water until the dog's body heat evaporates the water (a bit like how sweating works, you just give them a bit of extra 'sweat' :lol: )

They do sell cooling fans for crates, i have got one for mine :)

but seeing how Josh suffered with being hot on Saturday (

`Josh` the dog? lol! Anyone got a pooch called Dave?

my newfie is suffering luckily we have a passage at the side of the house and 3 fans on,air conditioning unit and to make matters worse she is still recovering from cruciate surgery

She sounds like she's in a bad way amyrach :(

how long since she had her surgery now? Is she mending well?

3 weeks got another 3 weeks rest stitches are out now and she keeps charging at the safety gate to get upstairs but its cooler on the concrete in the kitchen

it's so difficult to get a dog to understand it's ill isn't it? :rolleyes:

what's the vet suggested for longer term recovery?

Hey Venables, Josh is a long line of dogs with good names! We had Basil after Basil brush, George- known as gorgeous george, Amos, Seth, we have had a Gina, Megan. I kinda like human names for animals, however Shadow came to us with that name and we kept it cos it suited him, never left your side...
And we have a cat with a proper name Tinker- so its a combination of what suits them

My dog isn't happy with me because I won't take him out on our usual daily walks. He has to make do with a 5 minute walk to do his business, and lots of playing on the garden with the hosepipe. I'm hoping we get a cool few days soon so I can take him out properly!

They do sell cooling fans for crates, i have got one for mine :)

I bought a solar powered fan that fits to the rear window of the car- havent used it since we switched cars but must dig it out to see if it still works.

Other half takes Ailsa out at 5:30am every morning so she misses the mid-day sun

it's so difficult to get a dog to understand it's ill isn't it? :rolleyes:

what's the vet suggested for longer term recovery?

my rottie did the same injury 4 years ago and she is fine now

my rottie did the same injury 4 years ago and she is fine nowIt takes a long time for them to repair from that injury though doesn't it? How did it happen to each of them? That's really unlucky having the two suffer the same thing :(

Today we went on a woodland walk so the dogs would be in shade :)

Oh, and as it rained last night the stream was full of nice clean water for the pair of them to bound about in :D

Does anyone have any tips on getting my dog to drink more? He's never seemed to drink much compared to other dogs we've had in the past, he doesn't even drink out of streams when i walk him and even when i've taken him on 8 mile walks, he often doesn't drink after whereas our other dogs used to be straight to the water bowl!- We can never take him out very far when the weather picks up because he's prone to collapsing, so I'm presuming its a mixture of him not drinking much, and being mainly black so he gets dehydrated quick enough. I think he's just a freak of nature - but any tips would be appreciated!

He's fit and healthy, so I'm not worried as such, I'd just like to see him drink more!

We always carry a water bottle with a sports-style lid so we can squirt water into her mouth or over her head- but we found out early on that she prefers to suck from just such a bottle and won't entertain water we put in a bowl (unless its in the car and on the floor in her non-tip bowl), so we don't have a problem getting her to drink. She looks cute sucking from a bottle like a lamb (in a big black scary-doberman sort of a way).

I try to save the squirty bottle tops as they are usually interchangeable so if we have to buy bottled water we can always be sure we'v got a squirty lid to hand for her

I'm not sure what to suggest Joraffe, other than to try to keep his temperature down by other means whilst you're out. A plant sprayer or water tipped on him and rubbed in to make sure that his coat is wet down to the skin should make him more comfortable, as should getting him clipped if he's the sort of breed that would be helped by it.

Have you tried adding a spot of milk to his water to see if that makes a difference to his water intake BTW? I know it's a bribe, but some fall for it.

i add wtare to my dogs food and when its really hot add more, usually add warm to the complete so it makes a gravy type as it cools down and it ensures mine get plenty of fluids. anna.x.

You can get stuff you add to water to make it flavoured can't you? I'm sure I saw something like that in a pet shop, as well as ice lollies for dogs!

The ice lollies might be a good idea, I always take water in a squirty bottle when I take him out, but when I try to give him some he just looks at me like I'm an idiot (So I end up squirting some on his neck and head anyway!)

Wierd thing is, set the hosepipe or shower on, and he can't get there quick enough trying drink the water. He also has a habit of licking the kids feet when they come out of the bath too. He's a freak I swear!

just a warning - be careful with putting your sun cream on a dog - some human varieties are toxic to dogs

any idea what the toxic content is or which brands to avoid d4l?

just a warning - be careful with putting your sun cream on a dog - some human varieties are toxic to dogs

Have also recently seen something about this but can't remember where - there are doggie equivalent sun protection treatments apparently

strix - no idea what the problem is with the sun cream - just read the article in the dogs trust magazine saying never use human sun cream. Katkin is right there are dog friendly ones in the pet shops