Dogs and heat - what is wrong with people

[honeyandbutterontoast]

I know this topic has been talked about a lot but I will never understand why people go out in the heat with their dogs.

DD has just phoned me in floods of tears over someone she has just seen out with their dogs. In a very nice part of London (not that it should matter I know), in about 32 heat. A woman striding along with 2 black pugs on the pavement, not on leads. One was visibly distressed but trying to keep up with her, the other quite a way behind who was drooling and stumbling. There were quite a few people staring but nobody intervened.

Why have a dog if you are going to cause it this kind of suffering?!

The ones round here are predominantly owned by older people. A couple are therapy dogs. Definitely not an Instagram thing in my area. Any we see out on walks ( we don’t see many) are fit and healthy for their breed.

We have a very grumpy Lab I’m just about ti take out now for a walk on grass.

It’s very breed dependent, some dogs will be mine, others struggle as they are native to cooler climes. Know nothing about pugs

@honeyandbutterontoast I dont understand anyone at all who takes a dog out for long walks in the heat of the sun. the pavements are too hot for their paws! the best place for them is the shaded side of the house. mine like the big bathroom, never gets the sun apart from 5 to 5.30am, and it has a cold ceramic tiled floor. brachycephalics like pugs always have difficulty breathing, more so in the heat. we can stop for a drink if we want but dogs rely on humans to get water or them. she should have called them out though. some people dont think.

My dogs had a super time today, but I drove them in a car with AC to a shady spot in the woods and they were permanently in the pond. ☺️

My poor elderly dog hasn't had a walk since Tuesday. I can't get up at 5am due to medication, she's panting just in the house and chooses to sit next to the fan. Poor thing wants to go out, and does through the dog flap, and come in moments later and sticks her face in her water bowl.

I can't understand anyone walking their dog out in this heat. I've been walking around the house in just a pair of pants but a dog can't take their coat off.

I walked my large dog at 9.15 this morning and thought it was veering on too hot. We were in the woods though and he was playing in the stream a lot. I think tomorrow I will go a bit earlier though

You know that dogs have thick pads on their feet? It's not the same as a human walking on the pavement.

Yeah it’s called empathy might wanna try it sometime….

Then why have a pug if your dd hates cruelty to animals?

A friend of mine was talking about wanting a pug at a dinner party once and some friends and I put him off the idea by telling him about the difficulties they have breathing etc - and that was nearly 30 years ago.

Random pugs in 32 degree heat? Well done to her for caring.

The irony of the OP talking about cruelty to dogs and then saying she owns a pug!

And then saying her dad was in tears because nobody intervened. Including the dd herself.

What the hell is wrong with everyone attacking OP for owning a pug! You people have absolutely no idea what you are talking about! I would worry more about the owners that can’t train their dogs and end up attacking people than whether or not someone chooses to own a pug!

My dog wasn’t walked yesterday which is extremely rare as I couldn’t go early or late. He had full access to a garden.
He was as grumpy as I’ve seen him.
Going out now just to cheer him up.

PS I see plenty of pugs on my walks that seem lovely and healthy.

I have spent a lot of time in very hot climates.
When you've seen both barefoot people and village dogs walking on dry, hard-packed, sun-baked earth, it's hard to worry about how hot the surface is in the UK.

I've seen street dogs walking on hot tarmac...

To be fair my black standard poodle is loving this weather and sunbathing on the stones of our terrace that I can’t stand on in bare feet (Ignoring the acres of shady lawn). But she does retreat inside and drink every so often.

anyone with a pug at all is a rubbish dog owner in my opinion. They should not be perpetuating the existence of this deeply flawed breed.

There is a very good argument being made that anyone who buys a dog that is bred to suffer (and that includes those buying dogs not from fully health tested parents IMO) really doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to animal cruelty.

No. Pugs shouldn’t be walked in hot weather. But it’s that owners choice. Just as owning a breed that defective is a choice OP made. And TBH, the negligent owners are usually the ones with our of control dogs…

ok we get that you shouldn’t buy pugs but what are people getting out of slating op for a decision she made 9 years ago and admitted she was ignorant to the information she now is aware of? Do people want her to feel bad and guilty? The dog is here and being loved and cared for? Do people want her to give the dog up or get it put down? Jesus! Get off her back! People preaching about dog cruelty whilst being cruel to people online. People also comparing dogs in Spain and other countries doesn’t make sense! Op my dd would’ve got upset too, it’s nice that you have raised a loved empathetic dd and take good care of your dog!

And also people have no idea if the pugs they are seeing with their owners are rescued or not!

So someone who owns a pug can’t have any say on animal cruelty matters? Is that the same for a frenchie owner? Other flat faced dog owner? Mini dachshund? What about owners who have unclipped out of control cockerpoos? Etc etc.

If I hadn’t been honest and said that I owned one nobody would have felt the need to criticise my ownership rather than replying to the actual topic!

I won’t say I regret getting mine because she is the best dog I have ever owned, the absolute light of my life and has a fabulous life. Shes a very healthy happy example of a flawed breed - that is the actual phrase a vet used last year when we saw him. I would never get another and warn many an interested potential owner about the serious health concerns. It’s sad that there is the potential for the breed to easily be bettered significantly but pug breeders aren’t doing that.

Tone deaf comment of the week!

Well of you’ve seen it, then the advice from welfare charities and vets must be rubbish then 🙄

@honeyandbutterontoast I really have to agree with you, at 12:30 yesterday, I saw two local dog walkers with 9 dogs between them walking dogs to the local park. I honestly thought people would not be that stupid, but several of the dogs had heavy coats, think Pyrenean Mountain dogs, and frankly in London it was far too hot to be walking dogs in the middle of the day. I hoped that several of them would do down dog and refuse to move!

If you have a dog that isn't elderly or ill, and has no inbred challenges (such as a short muzzle or a coat that has evolved for cold climates) that undermine its ability to cope with heat, you can take it for sensible walks in any weather that you yourself can cope with.

If you have a pug, your perception of what dogs can cope with may be altered by theyour dogs own struggles. Btw, the health difficulties of pugs and similar dogs have been very widely known about for decades. It is cruel to breed dogs like this imho.