To tell you not to bring your dog out in the extreme heat

[MarySmit]

It's over 30c during the day here, and yet people are still taking their dogs out during the midday heat. This includes brachycephalic dogs, like French Bulldogs and pugs, who are particularly vulnerable. I know a vet nurse, who has seen dogs die recently of heat stroke. Yet people still take them out.

We went to Spain a few weeks back and stayed in a town mainly full of locals. There were so many dogs and lots being walked during the day in the middle of a heatwave where one day the temp was 38! Made me really sad

They are but British people are well known for making a big fuss about everything.

Cheap tarmac?

As someone who works in the highways industry, I’d love to hear more about how you’d specify construction materials!

@sezzer87

Why not take him once the subs gone down? Don't get it??

Cos the pavement will still be too hot, giving off heat

Completely agree half the people saying they'd walk their dogs in this heat I bet they wouldn't walk barefoot and any burn / injury to paws can takes ages to heal

It's not still hot go outside and test it for yourself. Besides there's always grass you can walk on.

Then you'd surely know you can get different formulations and concentrations of different elements that have different melting points. In this country we don't need to invest in amazingly decent grades of bitumen whereas hotter countries invariably do (and it costs more) because their infrastructure needs to regularly withstand higher temperatures.

That was to @MagpiePi

@flyingsaucersandjellybeans

That's a huge over exaggeration. Besides why assume all dog walkers walk on pavements. We don't all walk our dogs round the block.

In Tokyo we get really hot summers, but the pavement is fine in the shade towards the end of the day. Yes, I've tested it with my hands.

Silly breeds of dogs with squashed faces are going to have issues, but sensible breeds of dog should be OK as long as common sense is shown. The dog owners here walk in the morning (not 2am, more like breakfast time-ish) or late afternoon/evening when there is more shade. Their dogs are perfectly alright.

British people do get a bit hysterical/OTT about this kind of thing. There was a thread on here by some woman who gets up in the middle of the night to walk her dog as she thought anything over about 22 would be dangerous. The dog was a lab, not some exotic breed! It was bizarre.

Our dog has been walked as usual. Tho we do live on a farm, so her walks go straight out of the back door and into the woods, no pavements and plenty of shade. Plus we walk her at 7.30/8am as standard anyway, then she spends the day mooching in and out of the house and following us around the farm to see if we are doing anything worth getting involved in 🤣

Although temps as high as 30 degrees are usually not appopriate for dog walks, it really depends on the dog and the circumstances of your walk. As usual, when these threads come up, I feel that the huge proliferation in dog ownership has caused dog health messaging to become dumbed down and unnuanced. Its depressing to see the one-note moralising in these sorts posts replacing genuine understanding of dogs.
The reality is that every dog owner has the responsibility to make informed decisions about their own dog. In a few circs (young healthy working breed, riverside walk, etc) even 30 degrees will be fine; in others (eg poorly, cruelly bred brachycephalic dogs) even much lower temps will not be fine.

Idiots always drone on about dogs in hot countries. They adapt to it. I went to Athens in May, it was 20 degrees, I was in t shirts, all the locals were still in coats.

I genuinely saw someone running with their dog yesterday. It was still about 26th h degrees. I also see so many uncomfortable dogs in pub gardens in this weather.

interestingly the dogs you see being walked in 30 degrees are never the dogs and owners I see in the depths of winter… funny that

People are thick OP. There's a lot of "well it wouldn't happen to me or my dog" mindsets. In the last 12 months whenever we have had a heatwave, I've had to intervene with dogs who needed to get to the vets as a matter of emergency. One was a frenchie who, to quote the owner, "wasn't even walking" (they were outside a cafe at 12pm in no shade and the dog collapsed). The other was a collie who was fetching a ball on a beach but it was "only 25c and he was swimming" (he was actually becoming rapidly dehydrated from salt water intake, panting from anaerobic exercise, which does not provide enough oxygen to cool down) and he started having a seizure. Both dogs survived but the one who had the seizure will have had significant health impacts following.
I'm not even a vet, I'm just a canine first aid trained bystander who was able to tie them over whilst the dog was taken to the vet urgently.

People also can't seem to ditch the idea that dogs need walking daily. They don't. Even collies and german shepherds can skip walking for a day or two, although people refuse to believe it. There's plenty you can do at home to keep their minds busy.

And for the dogs in hot countries posts that I'm sure are here (I haven't RTFT yet), the difference is that they are acclimatised to it. Most dogs here aren't. I know a foreign rescue that can comfortably walk in 26c because of where she is from but this would be too hot for most dogs who have lived in the UK for a long period of time.

There are also other individual factors to consider, such as age, breed, health (a dog that has heart issues is going to struggle a LOT in the heat for example), and if the dog is overweight or a breed that doesn't have enough body fat to help regulate their temperature (like a greyhound).

Whoever commented on the silly person with a lab getting up in the middle of the night. I also have a young, fit lab. He doesn’t tolerate temps of over 24 very well because he is GO GO GO on walks. So during high summer/heatwaves, he is walked early/late before the heat peaks and once the sun sets and we stick to grass under foot and shady woodland areas with water. Fortunately we don’t have to cross any pavements/tarmac to reach them.

It is somewhat breed dependent too, I wouldn't because my boy doesn't do well in heat (but is amazing in snow!) however if I had a chihuahua then I'd be less concerned at the 27 degrees yesterday. People do have dogs in hot countries and they do walk them in daylight, some breeds are fine

@user1477391263

I do agree some here are extreme but my collie isn't walked in temperatures over 20 because they are prone to heatstroke, they are hill dogs perfect in snow though. He's an old boy so content with an 11pm stroll these days plus access to a stone floor

Probably not since people from hot countries do not go out in that heat themselves if avoidable

They do not go out 3 x a day like most people on MN seem to feel is necessary.

I have posted previously on these sorts of threads, and been slated and told how lazy I am 😂

Early morning or later in the day would be when people usually walk. There are not a lot of dog walkers here as during midday in the heat is usually too hot.

I have two dogs who love a walk. But they do not love a walk when the tar is so hot that it is burning their paw pads. We do not have a regimented system. I go with their reactions tbh. If its too hot and they are just laying about trying to keep cool, they don't get taken out. Instead they will have a swim in the pool, or I put up a sprinkler and they chase the water. There are many ways for dogs to get exercise that are not just walks.

We have quite large properties though, so they are not inside all day if they do not want to be.

For a start, the dogs are more acclimatised to it, rather than random heat waves from 15 degree to 30 then back down to 15. The owners generally are more aware of issues caused by heat and walk at cooler times anyway.

My friend who lives in Spain walks her spanials before she starts work still, so they are not out in the heat.

Is this actually true, I understand the point about brachycephalic dogs, but other dogs?

Living in Singapore currently and Australian previously and people seem to walk their dogs at all times of the day.
Do they just tolerate higher rates of heat stroke and mortality?

Do dogs have impaired thermoregulation, any vets care to weight in?

I am very European in my habits then @isthismylifenow
My dog gets one long walk in the morning. And flops around the rest of the day. Apart from an evening bathroom break. I really wouldn't have the time to do lots of small walks

so you don't consider that dogs born and raised in those countries are acclimatised? You cannot remotely compare to what we are talking about here, which is random very hot heatwaves.

Dogs won't die from missing a few walks. but they could, and do die, from going out in it.

I walked my dogs yesterday at 3.30pm. Someone made a comment about the heat to me while I was out and I thought of MN.

Firstly, I didn't see it as being extremely hot. And neither did my dogs presumeably otherwise they would have refused to come (they refuse in other weather they don't like).

Secondly, I would have been perfectly ok walking in the pavement in bare feet.

Thirdly, when we got back from walking, they both went and lay in the sun in the back garden.

I think you need to trust that people know their own dogs.