22/23 degrees sunny and no wind - walkies?

[hollyblueivy]

It's hot in the garden and I'm a relatively new dog owner - medium sized breed

Do we still walk at this temperature- would an hour be ok?

If I know it’s going to be really hot I tend to walk them very early (5am) or not at all.

Mine are perfectly content pottering around in the garden and doing a little bit of training/playing with eachother or me. I do have big gardens though.

I never walk them at specific times to avoid them anticipating walks so missing one or two isn’t an issue. They are fine with missing it and don’t tend to pester or pace about. I have specifically trained this though because I have small children and sometimes work shifts so timing is unpredictable. Sometimes they get one walk, sometimes 3…nobody not even me half the time knows the schedule 😄

I never walk them at specific times to avoid them anticipating walks so missing one or two isn’t an issue

I think this is so important and we never did set walks for this exact reason.

Sometimes we go out at 6am, sometimes 9am, sometimes 2pm or 5pm or not at all. He's happy to skip a walk or two and it doesn't change his behaviour in any way.

Remember a dog won't die from missing a walk on the hotter days. You can keep them somewhere cool and do some not-too-energetic brain training instead.

Is it just walking them that's a risk? I have an American Bulldog x Border Collie mix and he loves laying out in the garden but I do worry when it's really hot.

He's 9 or 10 so quite old.

No, just being out in the heat can be dangerous too - it depends on the breed, age, health etc.

Thanks, I don't feel so bad sending him inside now then.

Have a feel of the pavement with your hand. If you can hold your hand on there comfortably then it's fine, otherwise it's too hot (consider driving your dog to somewhere like woodland where they can walk on cooler natural surfaces)

It's worth a reminder that the temperatures given by the weather forecasts are SHADE temperatures.

If you are in full sun with no shade, those temperatures go up by about another 10 degrees or so because of the sun exposure.

24/25c tends to be my cut off for walking my own dog out in the open (ie not under shade) - 30kg and pretty hairy but otherwise young and very fit.

I'm due to do the Battersea muddy dog challenge at the weekend, likely to be 28 degrees upwards at our start time. I was hoping they would postpone but they haven't

I don't walk my small hairy 12 year old dog in temperatures higher than 20/22 degrees, only go out if it's 22 if there's a strong breeze.

She's very good at keeping herself to the shady part of the garden when it's warm. I know she doesn't like heat, she never has.

Last summer, during the very hot weather, we went for our daily walks at 5am.