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.

I wonder what the British Vet Association think?..

Ooo... this:
https://www.bva.co.uk/news-and-blog/blog-article/dogs-die-in-hot-cars-and-on-hot-walks-new-evidence-on-heat-related-illness-in-uk-dogs/#:~:text=At%20the%20more%20serious%20end,illness%20died%20from%20the%20condition.

This. I've always taken my dogs out on hot days (NZ) and they never showed any distress. One of them absolutely refused to walk on snow however. People on MN do tend to overreact to a bit of hot weather and don't give others any credit for a bit of common sense.

Nobody is saying that dogs don't die of heatstroke @PurpleMonkeys .
What they (I) am saying is that we all make our own assessment of risk based on what we know about our own dogs and the weather in our particular locality.

I walked mine at 8am this morning when it was 17degrees and I always take her travel bottle of water with me. She refuses to drink in a morning before her walk and then ends up really thirsty. 🙄

I've seen plenty of stupid dog walkers around here, the last time the temperature reached the 30's was it June? I drove past a man walking a black NEWFOUNDLAND at 2pm, its not the first time I've seen it either, poor thing was plodding and panting.

Yesterday I drove past an RSPCA rescue kennels then about a mile away I drove past their worker walking a Husky.

Good.

I hope that it never leads to you or anyone else having a dog dying a slow and agonising death as their organs shut down one by one and it literally takes hours for them to die... just after YOU decided it'd be fine to walk them.

How anyone could live with doing that to an animal they supposedly love is beyond me, especially when such a stupid risk is so easily avoided by walking the dog a few hours earlier or later. I'd rather get up early and walk my dog at 7am and 17c than at 2pm and 29c and risk having a dead dog by 11pm, but that's just me.

But I'm out. These threads are always the same. You can show evidence and stats and proof that it's not worth the risk, but like flat earthers being shown a globe, people put fingers in ears and hand wave it all away and do and believe what they will.

People leaving life and death decisions up to their dog 😅

I'm from a really hot country but a couple of summers ago I got heatstroke on a day I didn't even consider to be particularly hot. Heatstroke isn't something that is brought about entirely by external heat but also depends on your electrolyte levels at that time, your hydration levels at that time and a host of other reasons. I'm a person and could communicate my distress but dogs can't do this so easily. I personally wouldn't risk it in a country that is cold most of the year but goes to 30+ for a week or two out of every 52. I've had dogs in the country in from and in the UK. At home, even with the dogs being acclimatised, I would still tend to morning and evening walks. Where I'm from it can be 30+ by 9am in peak summer

The amount of people that think they know how the insides of their dogs work, when the scientific evidence says otherwise is baffling.
and the "they wouldn't want to go out if it was too hot" people even more so! As if dogs, who love a walk, think "hmmmm, probs should stay in today"

I hope, for your dogs sake, they don't end up dying of heatstroke one day through your utter stubborn stupidity. It happens.

i'm in the South. it was FAR TOO HOT yesterday to be walking a dog just for the sake of walking.

i know right!! madness!

Wankers. Plain and simple.

I'm in the south and it was fine in the shade. Appropriate place to walk your dog in the south yesterday would have been the woods and by water where there was shade.

Not that mine were only walked on pavements, but they found the discarded chips, bits of kebab, other dogs' pee, and the neighbourhood cats pretty interesting 😁Pavements may not have the charm of a woodland, but they aren't necessarily dull to dogs

Will you just look at this poor, suffering animal?

I live in a flat, and my dog won’t wee immediately when I take him out so we have to do 5 mins minimum. He does have a cool coat but I don’t put it on for quick wee break. I wish I could avoid midday sun but I take him at 7am before I start work and he’s ready for a wee around 12-1pm.

The thing is, the current UK temperatures are not extreme heat by global standards - that Peta link is US-based and lists areas that genuinely do get dangerously high temperatures.

Admittedly many UK dogs won't be used to or enjoy highter temperatures but I hardly think a woodland walk with a swim in a stream is cruel or dangerous in this weather, for instance.

We were volunteer dog walkers at a shelter in the Middle East a few years ago. Admittedly they didn't take place in mid-summer but even in autumn it was nudging 40 degrees.

It's a lot cooler in woodlands compared to a city area, so the extreme heat rule likely doesn't apply here.

I'm talking about dogs being walked on the concrete in the sun. It happens every time it's hot. I can often hear the dogs wheezing.

Well you could tell me but I may tell you not to dangle your children out of windows or patronise me.

How many children do you see dangling out of balconies? I don't see any, but do see lots of dogs out in the dangerous heat.

There is a lot of survivor bias here. Just because someone has done a dangerous thing and haven't had a bad outcome, does not mean it is safe. For example, lots of kids used to travel without seat belts and car seats in the 70s, and are adults now. Doesn't mean it's safe.

Yeah that's about the level of argument I'd expect tbh

D dog is pestering me for a walk. I am ignoring him. He is lying on the yard in full sunshine.

I saw a woman out yesterday when it was about 30° and oppressively humid, walking a fucking husky. Poor dog looked like it was about to drop.

My three are currently slumped under the ceiling fan like dead bumblebees wearing doggy cooling vests. I don't think I could drag them for a walk if I wanted to. They're being walked at 6am and 9pm currently, and along a nice breezy riverside where they can jump in and splash to cool off.

I have two dogs from abroad that have temperatures 30c+ in summer, and temps of down to -5c in winter.

My dogs are struggling in this heat. They are used to fairly steady seasons - not cool temps followed by a week or two heatwave. They're sat next to me now, with an elevated respiration rate. Windows closed and curtains closed to keep the heat out.

We're in Scotland, it's no excuse (previous poster). I went out at 11am and saw someone walking with their wee dog 12 feet behind them, clearly fucking struggling. No sniffing, no enjoyment, just head down trying to keep up. I have a friend who moved here from Pakistan recently - temps of 40c. in their home city. They are struggling in this. I quote 'I'm fine with the temperature, but when the sun comes out here it's so strong, it's too much!'. Having lived in England most of my life, can confirm - when the sun comes out in Scotland it's fucking strong - burn very quickly. Probably a combination of UV index/slightly further north, but also that when it comes out here, it's a bloody shock and no one, animals included, are used to it.

The amount of people who can't grasp the difference between dogs abroad and in the UK is actually moronic. Heatwave folks. It's not just about the temperatures, but acclimation.

People also need to understand the difference between warm temperatures and sun, and exercise in warm temperatures and the sun. It's a different ball game entirely.

People need to read their own dogs and other people need to keep their noses out. Good grief.

But clearly some people are too stupid to read their own dog & need to be told. That's the point. Safeguarding is everyone's business and i believe that should include animals.