How hot is too hot to walk the dog?

[firstposts]

Is there a set temperature?

Have a 3 yr old lab who needs a lot of walking. Middle of day is best time for me but days like today I do an evening walk instead. Just wondered what others did?

Thanks in advance

[BellaVita]

We have a pug so have to be careful. I wouldn't take her out in the middle of the day on a day like today. Just got back from a walk and she is panting a lot, I also took water out with me for her.

Don't think there is a set temperature but if the sun is beating down it cannot be good for either of you.

[CalamityJones]

I either do early morning (pre 7am) or take my walk alongside a river - my Weim suffers terribly in the heat but still runs around like a maniac, so if it's later in the day he needs to be able to cool off.

[fieldfare]

Before 8 or after 7 when it's as warm as it is now.

[firstposts]

Thank you .. I just find it tricky to judge for some reason. A long walk at lunchtime is our usual routine but a shorter evening one will have to do for now. DH thinks as a working dog she would be fine and I am mollycoddling!

[McBear]

Well I feel like a terrible dog owner. I often take my pooch at midday in summer. I assumed he loved it...

[Trollsworth]

If its not comfortable for you to be covered in fur from head to toe, it's probably not comfortable for the dog either.

[JustAShopGirl]

try taking your shoes off and walking on the tarmac - it is too hot in the middle of the day and can burn their pawpads too.. I often see dogs scurrying along from shade path to shade patch - they are cooler underfoot.

[Hakluyt]

If it's too hot for me it's too hot for her. I come first!

[GalaxyInMyPants]

I walked with a friend once on a hot day like today, maybe a bit hotter. 10-11am. She had a bulldog. It was young but collapsed and died.

[McBear]

I'm fairly certain a dogs feet have been designed, through a very long times worth of evolution, to cope with a warm floor?

Had we been walking barefoot from birth, our feet would be too.

[JustAShopGirl]

Not sure how long through the evolutionary period black tarmac has been around, but dogs paw pads can burn.

Our vet gives advice not to walk on tarmac (or concrete, or and hard heatable surface) in the middle of the day for that reason.

Grass is fine.

[Mama1980]

I have a 3 year old springer x she's all black and gets really hot quickly. In this weather she is walked before 9am. Has access to the garden when she pleases which in these temps isn't very often I live in a very old house and it's always cool inside and then walk again late about 9 pmish.
She is actually a nightmare,she hates the cold, and wet as well....but the heat I really try to avoid for her.

[SnakeyMcBadass]

I have a spaniel with no sense who would run until he dropped so I have to be sensible for him. At the moment, we are doing a long walk before 9am and finishing off with a swim in a lake. The poodley thing is black with a very dense coat, and he's tending to amble along on our morning walk while the spaniel ricochets around the fields. It doesn't cool down until about now, so if they were interested they'd get out again for a shorter lead walk. But they're both spread out on the kitchen floor tiles deeply asleep, so I'm leaving them be.

[CastilianHhhhidalgo]

I'm very careful with my lot in hot weather.

One of them is a mongrel who is black and really feels the heat. A gentle potter in the evening, usually after 8pm is plenty for her in weather like this.

I've also got three whippets who are much better in the heat (in fact they love it) but they also run very hard whilst we're out so again late evening is better for them. At the moment they're knackered after about 20 minutes and want to come home to chill out

[firstposts]

Really useful to hear this. I had it drummed into me that she needs to walk everyday or it's cruel. Glad I kept her in today, awful to hear they can actually die from a walk on a hot day. All seems like common sense now of course ..

[Scuttlebutter]

Def avoid tarmac and concrete - as well as the direct heat of the tarmac on pads, the heat radiates back up, and as the dog is closer to the surface it is even hotter than for us.

We do early mornings - ours are noticeably more lethargic in the heat .

DH also does not run with them when it is hot.

Heat is particularly bad if you have a brachycephalic breed - pugs and bulldogs are especially vulnerable (just thinking of that poor pug on the ferry).

[Owllady]

We live by a wood which is actually quite shady, so anytime :)

[stephenisjustcoming]

I have two big black dogs, and in this sort of weather they get a 45min walk about 8am, and then I let them potter around the garden in the evening when it's cooler. They lie around the house in a state of heat trance most of the day.

I'm not a fan of the heat myself, and they're not a breed that goes ballistic if exercise is limited for a few days, so I give them a bit less to eat and take them somewhere fun when the weather's more clement.

(I also leave a bowl of water outside the house when it's hot - I live on a popular local footpath - and the fact that the level hasn't gone down much suggests that most of the regular dog owners are sticking to garden pottering too...)

[TooOldForGlitter]

My greyhound is struggling in this heat and he has such short fur I wonder how furrier pooches cope. He is all black which can't help I suppose. We are walking before nine am and at about seven pm at the mo' and he is coping with this.

[Lovelydiscusfish]

Would echo what others have said - be careful in this heat! Our spaniel once got very poorly due to too much running around in hot weather - never again!

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

We missed Giant Hounds morning walk today, and then I thought that seeing as it got so hot so quickly today, and he's wearing a massive shaggy coat, I'd leave it till the late afternoon - and he might even snooze in the shade. Instead he spent most of the day alternately tearing round the garden like a nutter and collapsed in a heap panting. Daft mutt.

[SistersOfPercy]

Murph the Scottie has foregone his fields run for a couple of days now. It's hard work being a little black dog in heat. He's been nipping into the garden but mostly lying in a cool spot on the wooden floor in the path of the fan.

I've bought him a paddling pool tonight which he loves so I expect I'm going to have wet floors tomorrow.

[SpicyPear]

On Monday even early we spent 50 mind getting round half the usual distance, with them both running off to sit under a tree at any opportunity.

Staffie is afraid of the dark so she's missed a couple of days and little black dog has been out at 9-10ish in the evening. Both are quite happy lounging in this weather and I don't want to push them for the sake of it. DH didn't even get a welcome home last night at 8pm as it was still so warm.

I guess I take their lead, but it depends on the dog. Some will not regulate themselves so you have to do it for them.

[soddinghormones]

We've just got back from a 40 minute romp around the fields and dpup (double-coated breed originating from rather colder climate than the UK) was fine

If I can't go out very early then I make sure that we go somewhere with water so he can swim - when it's very hot he doesn't bother to shake so his fur stays wet to keep him cool

In the evening we either go out late or if earlier to the woods where it's shady and on a couple of very hot days we just got the paddling pool out and he's splashed about in the garden

[JustAShopGirl]

we trained our dog to "paw" when he wants something. So he will tap us with a paw when he wants up, tap the door with his paw when he wants a walk, that sort of thing.

Yesterday he tapped the fan with his paw to get us to turn it on - soooooo funny (especially watching the kids' reaction).