Heat!!!

It's horrible here right now. The humidity is unbearable!! I know you said your in an apartment so I don't know if a kiddie pool is feasable or not, but that's how I get mine going. They hate the heat too, but don't mind if they have something to jump into and cool off!

Mine could seriously sleep all day in the A/C if I didn't motivate them to go outside.

Lots of water, slower walks, short spurts of training and exercise. It gets pretty hot here too and humid, mid-80s this week (not today though, rainy) but it can be 90s or even 100s for a few weeks straight and we've never had any A/C so even indoors is no consolation! In August we go to the cottage for 2 weeks where the dogs can go in the lake if they are hot. Kenya likes to lay by me in the sun all day so I have her go in the water every few hours.

Hannah would be in heaven if we had a kiddie pool.... not an option. I dont even know where to hook up a hose! I can throw the soccer ball for her about 5 or 6 times before she is sprawled out in the grass..

I know I do not have to mention it, but when you do have the dogs out be very careful of heat stroke. My GSD is almost all black and hates it when it is hot (the only blessing of living in Seattle - lots of summer rain.) keep an eye on their gums and make sure they are nice and pink........

To me the WORST thing about heat is I can't take jake everywhere with me in car.He lubs his car and sleeps in it while I shop-do errands.Close to having weather where i have to leave him home if more than short- stop day.I hate it give me SNOW anyday!

How about an ice bucket? One of my dogs didn't swim due to a traumatic teenage incident. He loved a bucket of ice to chew on and stick his head in. And a cold wet towel.

We do the same things in hot weather that we do in cool weather. We're in southern Virginia and it routinely goes above 100 degrees and 60 or more percent of humidity.

We try to get acclimatized to the warmer weather by not running the AC unless it goes above 90 / 95 degrees in the house, and we do more activities that involve water ... like walking to the beach at the end of the road and playing in the water for a bit.

If it gets really hot, I wet Abby's tummy and chest before walks, or she wears her cool vest (http://www.helpingudders.com/CoolingVests.htm). Wish I had one of those. *lol*

You can get a little cooling bandana for for her to wear. You can google it "cool bandana dogs". I get a nice cool wash cloth and rub down rubs tummy, face, and insider her ears a few times very gently and slowly- she loves this.

Also you can train with her indoors. Work on obedience or tricks. Exercising thier mind will tire them too.

my black boy doesn't tolerate the heat like he used to,,my aussies (one who is black and the other a black tri),,could care less, and love it outside..

I do have a kiddie pool they take advantage of,,but they all do seem to love the AC in the house when it's really really hot
diane

Anybody have one of those enormous cattle tanks for their dogs to swim in? After running through at least 2 regular hard plastic baby pools a year, I'm thinking of investing in one this summer but I've just been looking online and can't find them.

I got this link from Lynn

tractor supply company

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/...istingPage=true

I use sun screen tarps on top of my kennels. They let water pass through, but provide shade. I also have houses and shelters in my kennels. And most importantly, I use bucket holders for the water buckets. I do no want for my dogs to be without water because they spilled it.

The GSDs goat insulates from hot and cold.

I posted a few days ago about thinking Bella may be depressed. I believe now that the heat is just bothering her more than I thought. Shes an indoor dog of course and we have a/c but I think that morning walk in the muggy swamp was too much. It was early, in the shade, but looking back now I realize that I could have been really putting her in jeopardy. Dont know how I'll manage walks since we are in the 90's and heat advisory...

We use 2 liter bottles and freeze them with water and she loves to play in the yard with them. I also found that the sprinkler is fun for kids and dogs alike as well as the kiddie pool!

Originally Posted By: Historianshe wears her cool vest (http://www.helpingudders.com/CoolingVests.htm).

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Chris, I looked at the link and this vest seems to be very nice. Do you (and Abby) like it and is it really makes a difference during hot days? It's quite a bit of money for me at the moment but if it makes the life of my dogs easier I would go for it.

I am not sure that a sprinkler is a good idea. I know there are dogs that like them. But I learned something when Arwen had her first litter. It was hot -- 90s outside and not much better inside. But I thought that the puppies would need it warm anyway.

Arwen was not eating, so I took her temperature and she was 105! I took her outside and with the hose, wetted her down. Then I went in and called the vet. I put the pups in a laundry basket and took her and the pups to the vet.

He said I did everything right, except that when the dog's coat gets wet, it locks their heat in. So what we needed to do was put a fan on her, after wetting her down. She and the litter survived in spite of me.

selzer, never thought of that with the sprinkler. Makes sense though when you think about it! Thanks for the tip...

From this article it looks like the biggest problem with "locking heat in" is submerging the dog in still water, like a tub - they recommend running cool water over the dog. But they also point out that misting them won't cool them much if it's really muggy and/or there's no air flow.

So from that (if accurate) I think you're probably safe using the sprinkler but important to keep an eye on your dog just like any other activity during the heat since it may not be cooling them as much as we'd like.

Quote: Chris, I looked at the link and this vest seems to be very nice. Do you (and Abby) like it and is it really makes a difference during hot days? It's quite a bit of money for me at the moment but if it makes the life of my dogs easier I would go for it.

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Oksana, last year, I tested several products that are designed to help dogs stay cool in hot weather. I tested a cooling bandana designed for dogs, a vest that works by evaporation, and the vest I linked from Helping Udders. I found that, out of the items I tested, the RCPM vest performed the best and did a great job keeping Abby's body temperature stable (and normal) even on days that were both hot and humid. Out of the items tested, this was the only one I kept and I do use it when it gets very hod and very humid, and definitely recommend it.

If you're interested in how well the vest works in the heat and humidity, check out this article I wrote about testing the cooling products and the conditions I tested them under here - http://abbyk9.blogspot.com/2007/07/summer-heat-study.htm It has reviews of the items at the end, including what I did and did not like and why.