Hot Weather
Overheating in dogs is serious and can lead to Cardiac arrest
HIGH RISK DOGS INCLUDE
Dogs with thick coats or long hair.
Young pups and old seniors.
Brachycephalic breeds—ones with short noses/ flat faces.
Overweight dogs and those that suffer from medical conditions.
Very lively dogs like working breeds (E.g shepherds, spaniels…)
TIPS
Don’t push your dogs to do too much.
Ensure sure they get lots of opportunities to rest in the shade and have lots of water.
Don’t leave your dog in the car.
If you leave a damp towel for your dog we can take this with us and drape it on them for the travel.
If your dog has long hair or a thick coat, then for some breeds such as Goldendoodles, Labraadoodles, Portuguese Water Dogs, Poodles, Yorkshire Terriers, Newfoundlands, St. Bernards, Bernese Mountain Dogs a trim from a professional groomer can be helpful.
You can rub your dogs paws with rubbing alcohol to help cool them. (Ask your vet.)
Please leave a towel and hose or whatever is appropriate for your house and pet easily available if you wish for your dog to be washed down and dried off.
A little paddling pool with cool water and a fan can be great at home.
What to Do if Your Dog Is Overheated
Vetstreet recommends the following steps to approach heat exhaustion in dogs:
1. Immediately move your dog to a cooler area, either indoors where there is air conditioning or in the shade under a fan.
2. Use a rectal thermometer to check his temperature. Heat exhaustion typically occurs when a dog's temperature falls between 103 and 106 degrees. A temperature above 106 places him at risk for heat stroke. If he's in the danger zone, call your veterinarian.
3. If you're near a body of fresh water, such as a lake or a baby pool, let your dog take a dip to cool down. Otherwise, you can use cool, wet cloths or towels to help him out. Place your cool wet cloths on his neck, armpits, and between his hind legs, and you can also gently wet his ears and paw pads with cool water.
4. If he's conscious and willing to drink, give him cool, fresh water. Don't force it, however, as it may end up in his lungs. If he can't or won't drink, or can't keep water down, wet his tongue with water instead. Don't feed him ice cubes, which could cause his temperature to drop too quickly, leading to shock.
5. Get him to the vet. If you haven't already done so, call ahead so they can be ready to take immediate action as soon as you arrive.
THAT DOG GUY PROTOCOL
Therefore in the event of a heat wave we will move morning walks to be back before the temperature outside is suspected to reach 25 degrees, so this could mean 5 am pick u’s on seriously hot days.
Mid morning walk would thus join the first thing walks with an extra assistant.
Walks will head out to the country parks where there is water and shade.
Dogs at particular high risk should be cancelled. See below.
PM walks will be cancelled though if you are not home we will arrange a quick drop in instead or we may take the odd dog back to ours for you. In some cases we may offer an evening training walk but often it is still too hot or late.
Please note we cannot control the weather and just because its hot does not stop our costs and team needing to earn money. Moreover it takes a huge amount of organisation to plan these special walk times and extra assistants. Therefore if you have booked and cancelled you will still be charged but you can always pre-empt this and cancel 2 working days ahead to avoid a charge. For more info please see our Terms of Business.
