Give me your best tips for keeping Eric cool in the warm weather please

[insanityscatching]

It's hot here today and so I'm thinking about how to keep Eric comfortable. He's found the coolest spot in the house, I've made his first walk early and his second walk later so as to avoid the worst of the heat. I've put ice cubes in his water and he's enjoying crunching them. I thought I might get dd's paddling pool out as he love to get wet. Any other ideas I haven't thought of? Obviously once he's desensitised to the groomers I intend on having him trimmed.

Dinner frozen in a Kong. Paddling pool yes if he likes water.

If you want to splash some cash there are several cool coats on the market.

There is interesting debate re cool coats and trimming dogs - I'll see if I can find it.

Basically it is saying that double coated dogs need to be groomed and the lose undercoat removed but actually trimming the dog makes them hotter. As the undercoat protects the skin and keeps the dog cool.

With cool coats the problem is that the dog heats up to warm the body against the cool of the coat and the coat can actually trap in the warmth so dogs again get hotter.

I lay damp towels in the kitchen when it is really hot. With my old dog who was a SBT I used to freeze a kong full of food in a child's beach bucket full of water, as he would never slow down, even when it was really hot (no sense, that dog), but playing with that would help to keep him cool. There is no way on earth my current dogs would be arsed with that though, they would just have a sleep and wait for it to melt.

Fitz struggles with the heat so we walk early and late, frozen kongs, ice cubes to crunch, paddling pool in garden, walk where there's water etc

His breed doesn't get clipped but double coats actually act as insulation so paradoxically keep him cooler than if he were shaved - not sure if Eric's got a double coat but if he has then cooling coats don't work - they cool down initially then trap the heat in - double coated dogs cool down by getting their tummies cool where their fur isn't so thick so a cooling mat would work better (or if you're Fitz, a filthy muddy puddle )

My girl is long haired and desperately in need of a clip and suffers in the heat. I bought one of the cooling gel beds off amazon and she loves it.

Having a Lab and living in a hot country I do sympathise with how Eric must be feeling today.

During the hottest part of the day, he likes to lie indoors in the kitchen which has a tiled floor in between the two doors where the air blows through, as its the coolest spot for him. Being a black lab he absorbs the heat more that a lighter colour. We are fortunate enough to have a pool, so he swims A LOT during summer he swims a fair amount during winter too though. He could lie on a wet towel, although I we don't do this for our boy as he is a bit stiff in the hips. Lots of water and don't overdo the exercise.

A hose down in the garden with a hose pipe. He loves to wander through the sprinkler when its on.