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?!

Arseholes, my ddog hasn't been out for three days.
She wants to, giving me the sad eye treatment.
She also keeps bringing me her ball, she's out of luck on that one too.
It's far too hot to be chasing the ball round the garden.
She's got full access to a large garden so she's not deprived.
It's been too hot to even walk her at night.
I'm the responsible adult and I'm in charge(kinda😬)

Arseholes, my ddog hasn't been out for three days.

Where in the UK has it been too hot to walk early even with health conditions. You use the word arseholes but I think similar of people who don't walk their dogs.

It has gone the other way, it is ridiculous the amount of hysteria about walking dogs. It is dog and weather dependent, where I am there is a good breeze and the max weather is 25 but they way FB is going on you would think it was 40.

I went in the sea with my dog this morning and it was cold.

Over the last couple of days he has been a bit restless in the heat but thinks that cuddling me will relieve him of his discomfort! So, it was lovely to give him some proper exercise today.

Similar @Lovemyassistancedog
My dog was full of beans today after a lethargic few days 😀

It’s sad that there is the potential for the breed to easily be bettered significantly but pug breeders aren’t doing that.

Not in the UK, but there is a massive retro pug movement in Germany and Scandinavia, so lets hope that spreads. Mostly introducing some other breeds to lengthen muzzles back to what they would be before stupid humans fucked them up and to bring more genetic material into the gene pool because the pool in the uk only includes genetic material from about 50 individuals.

When people stop to interact with my pug, I take the opportunity to encourage they educate themselves and rescue if they still want to get a pug - there are tons of them needing homes because of the people who get them just for looks.

Meanwhile fuck the 'ban all pug' people and enjoy your lovely dog - my girl is one of the most loving dogs I have ever had (after many years of rescuing dogs). Give your one a pat from me.

When what you're told by someone conflicts with what you've seen yourself, you start to doubt their expertise.

Which is not say that I'd walk my dogs on a baking hot road for more than a couple of minutes - crossing a road, getting to a park, whatever. I've done it many times, and none of my dogs has ever had an issue with it.

Today is considerably cooler than the past two days, if you'd shown a graphic for Friday or Saturday at 7am it'd of been quite a bit warmer.

It was too hot to walk my dog where I live (Scotland) on Friday even by 7 am. My dog is big, hairy, old and would find 25C much too hot. He might be unhappy at no walks for a day but it's better than taking him out and him over-heating. Whereas yesterday was cool enough where I am for an early and late walk. And today there's no issue at all.

I've started saying something to these type of people. They are often rude to me/swear at me in return. I'm 50 now and don't care (as much) plus I used to be a vet nurse. Maybe if enough people say something to them they'll stop their awful, neglectful, cruel behaviour.

Your dogs have coped with you forcing them to walk on baking hot pavements. They've tolerated it. You can't ask them if they would choose it or if they enjoy the experience. You have to decide for them, very much as you would decide for a child under 2, and you should have chosen to not walk them at all on boiling hot days. Sensible dog owners should ALWAYS chose to err on the side of caution and not risk their dogs health. And I say this as a former vet nurse who has personally treated dogs with severe heat stroke and its awful to witness and treat and not all dogs survive it.

But you were calling people who walked their dogs 'arseholes' you were judging based on your dog, not on dogs in general

'forcing them'?
You have never met my dogs. One of them has been scared of geese and swans ever since she was chased around a pond she was swimming in by an outraged swan. If we pass geese or swans, I have let her go on the side of me away from the evil birds, and divert well around them - or she digs in. I won't drag her. She's not one to be 'forced'
'You can't ask them if they would choose it or if they enjoy the experience.' I think I know my dogs well enough to judge when they are happy, pissed off, overjoyed etc. They bloody LOVE their walks, whatever the temperature.
'you should have chosen to not walk them at all on boiling hot days.' I'd really prefer not be bossed about by someone who doesn't me, or my dogs. On very hot days we take shorter walks, with lots of shade and access to water, and I see how they're coping. If they're fine (and the current two always have been), we might go a bit further, including a stretch in the sun. I have once had an elderly dog decide that he'd had enough: he kept stopping in the shade. So we immediately turned back to the car, let him have long shady rests as well as a drink and a wade in a pond, and after the 15 min drive home he was fine.
'Sensible dog owners should ALWAYS chose to err on the side of caution and not risk their dogs health.' See above.

I can understand that you might feel a bit militant about this if you have witnessed dogs die from heatstroke. But please don't jump to conclusions about how I handle my dogs.

Don't be surprised if someone has a go at you on here or accuses you of virtue signalling but I say well done! We all have a duty to speak out - so long as we fail safe to do so - when we witness animal abuse, cruelty or neglect.

I see so many people dragging their dogs out in the heat and I just don’t get it

they ought to go bare foot in a thick fur coat before deciding.

I think you've mistaken me for someone else, I've not called anyone an arsehole. I was just commenting on your post that it was cool enough to walk a dog early in the morning and that it was negligent to not walk your dog in hot weather - neither of which I agree with for my dog at least.

My apologies, I didn't notice the name.

I completely agree, it's what is right for our dogs.

I do test the tarmac with the back of my hand, much like you would a babies bath water and despite the hysteria on my local FB the pavement hasn't been too hot.

No worries. For my dog the pavement isn't the issue, it's the air temperature and the risk of over-heating. I think you're right we have to go by our own dog, older dogs, short faced breeds etc will struggle more so have a lower cut-off temperature. But there will be a point where it's too hot to be safe for all dogs. And it's better, in my opinion, to skip a day's walks if you're unsure than to risk your dog getting heat stroke.

You mean your dogs can speak? Nah, because you got away with it doesn’t make it right!

It can depend on the dog.
I know someone who had a rescue mutt from Spain who was fine in the heat.

For all those blithely suggesting that heat-induced deaths in dogs are somehow all exaggerated, here's the actual research evidence indicating that exertion - i.e. walking your dog in the heat - is the most likely precipitating event causing death through heat-related illness; that those deaths increase considerably in hot summers in the UK; and that flat-faced dogs are some of the most vulnerable: https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.4153?fbclid=IwY2xjawLCBOZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETExc1ZWU0p0RG1kM2t1R0RIAR5B5CVBwfBW20PKzfXi3-StqXsJPyB_X-2iQMAPurgmdFUic_nQdKbn947JEg_aem_EiOSfjUKjHP2JkaaEhBmew

Ok, I get it. You're one of those type of dog owners 🤷‍♀️ no point arguing with you at all.

An ad hom.
Cool.
(No pun intended.)

Very interesting article, thank you.
Brachycephalic dogs are at more than 4x the risk - almost half the cases recorded were brachy dogs.

The article isn't as clear as you think

The final breed-focused multivariable model identified seven breeds (Chow Chow, English Bulldog, French Bulldog, Newfoundland, Pomeranian, Pug and Staffordshire Bull Terrier) with significantly higher odds of HRI

So again, it is breed dependent.