Should you 'force' your dog to stay cool? Or let them trust their own instincts?

[PucketyPuckPuck]

I know all the general guidance for dog-safety in hot weather. Don't walk during the day, mind their pads, water, no cars etc.

But at home - how much do you 'force' your dog to stay cool?

Ddog has numerous cool places to relax. But we have the patio doors open all day and she often chooses to go and lie in the garden in full sun in the middle of the day or to walk around on the patio sniffing etc. I looked up earlier and she was stretched out full length on the patio, belly touching the patio slabs and they felt fairly hot to touch! Yet she seemed quite comfortable, a sight pant but not much.

Do you trust your dog that they'll move out of the sun themselves if too warm and leave them be? Or is my dog just particularly dense and I need to save her from herself, block off the patio doors etc?

You need to look after them. In my experience, they can’t be trusted to look after themselves.

I don’t have any answers but such an interesting question! Our old spaniel used to lie to full sun panting when there were paddling pools, cool mats, cold tiles etc. and just would not move - she would actively seek out the hottest parts of the garden 😂

We had to say goodbye to her last month but every summer I was shocked she hadn’t died of heatstroke - ridiculous dog.

I think sun bathing is different to being active in heat - my dog will lie in front of the log burner in winter and move away eventually when he gets too hot, so I figure he’ll do the same with sun.

Where, he’d not stop playing or walking if he started getting hot.

Watching with interest. I bought a cooling mat which he ignores and a cooling vest which he hated. He also seems to like lying in the sun, it’s a battle to get him to move. Now I just make sure I don’t walk him at the hottest point of the day, make sure the windows are open at night, and top up his water regularly.

I'm interested. I have a border collie, and by nature she is highly active and will never say no to a walk. She does seek out shade at times but is put out when it is clear we can't take her out because we are worried the hot pavement will hurt her feet.

At home I mainly let her do her own thing. Only during the really hot weather (30+) last year did I make her come in and that was mainly because I wasn't leaving the doors open and had curtains drawn etc to try and keep the heat out. She's quite happy laying on her back, belly to the sun when it's 28 degrees, she comes in for a cool down then goes back out again.

My dog is capable to cool down herself when she needs it.

Can only speak for cats - mostly they can sort themselves out but in really hot weather they need to be prevented from outright idiocy.

Used to have a black cat who liked to hang out in the greenhouse. Fine normally but in the middle of a heat wave it was positively dangerous in there. He was furious we stopped him from getting heat stroke.

Probably much like kids that some will make the sensible choice if you leave them to it and some won't. Mine definitely self regulates and moves from heat to shade but she copes well with heat anyway

To add she'd definitely never use any of the cooling products. Shade is more than enough to keep her happy

My border collie likes sunbathing. Stupid thing. I do call him in but he just goes out a few minutes later. He's drinking more though. He's being walked after dark

Used to be ok this couple of weeks ago the heat had been affecting her think it went too hot too quickly and she is getting old so having to reduce her spells in hot garden also got plenty shade etc but she would stay in full sun thankfully she is doing better now.

Unless you have a breed prone to overheating like a bulldog or the dog is very elderly, I’d say just leave them too it. My dog loves laying on the patio which is almost too hot for my bare feet, he moves into the shade or inside after a while. I freeze kongs and licki mats for him sometimes for extra cooling but mostly just leave him to do his thing

I used to think dogs knew what was right for them until I saw my friends dog who likes to swim swim out to sea and drown 😢 Now I think their instincts might override their common sense.

I mainly let the dog choose tbh. She likes to sunbathe in the conservatory. I open both doors to create a through draft but it’d still warm. We have a nice cooling river in the middle of the drive so I take her down for a drink and a dip every hour or so.

Downstairs bathroom is the coolest room in the house so she has a bed in there too. She’d be very offended by the notion of lying on a hard floor.

On a hot day a lick mat with frozen natural yoghurt/ peanut butter but she tends to pick it up and take it into the conservatory where it defrosts pretty quickly.

My dog is a BC, and the same - I exercise some caution but leave much of the decisions up to him. He would play frisbee in 90 degrees given a choice, but I don't allow that. But he will chose when to be in shade - he has a UV protection dog shelter - and when not, and no amount of discussion changes his mind. But he is also a service dog, and if I am in the garden he won't leave me there anyway. He takes his job very seriously....

That said, years ago I had a Heinz57 (I think they call them designer dogs now 😀) and I used to refer to him as my "little hot dog". In summer he would find the sunniest spot and refuse to move. In winter he would lie right up against the radiators, and given the ability of a cat, he'd have slept on top of them! Lived to the age of 17, so it didn't seem to do him any harm.

Our dog doesn’t seem to be the brightest, but he spends his days moving between full sun in the garden to shade in the garden (if there is any) or inside where it’s cool. He’ll only last 15-20 minutes in any one place before moving. He seems to keep himself happy and healthy doing this
so we leave him to it. He only gets walks first and last thing though because that’s much harder if you’re away from the house and there’s nowhere to lie and get cool.

I don't worry about it at home.
Our dog has access to several bowls of water and I pull the curtains to on a scorching day anyway.

Definitely watch them and put inside if too hot. I have just this week heard of a dog dying of heatstroke from sitting out in the garden with their owners. So sad. Our dogs get free choice usually but will certainly be making them come inside to cool down from now on.

I let my springer get on with it at home. She also likes to lie out in the sun. There’s plenty of shade in the garden and our house is quite cool, tiled kitchen floor, access to water, etc

It’s different on walks in the heat though, she does everything at 100mph, doesn’t just mooch.

We live near the beach so we tend to go down early before work for a swim, and then again in the evening

Mine is a black dog who sunbathes in this heat, taking himself off to shade or under the bushes in the dry dirt when it gets too much. He drinks plenty. We leave him to his own instincts.
We walk him early morning/late evening on grass at the moment and never when the pavement's hot.
Bit tricky as he refuses to go the the toilet in our garden despite being trained as a puppy/adolescent, so he hangs on for hours if it's too hot for a walk.
Mad dogs and all that...

I leave mine to it. When I was a kid we had black dogs in a very hot climate. I've lived with dogs for about 30 years in the UK. All of them have been allowed to decide how much they sunbathe. Never had a problem, but then none of them have been overweight (except one, who got a tad porky towards the end of her life) and they've all had proper noses.

They're not stupid. They now how to cool down if they get uncomfortable.

I agree. My dog wouldn't move from the sun unless forced and the vet said dogs aren't able to appreciate consequences of sunstroke. So some will instinctively just feel hot and move but others will become too lethargic to move and become unwell.

Well my Mum’s dog lay so close to a fire that her fur was actually smouldering, I don’t think they can be trusted to look after themselves.

It depends on the dog.

My beagle will move inside or to the shade if he's not but I've heard of dogs who have given themselves heatstroke because they've baked themselves in the sun and nobody has thought to move them.