Dogs in hot countries

[stillchasingdereksheppard]

This is genuinely out of curiosity and is not meant to be provocative but I do have my hard hat on...

Obviously I am not walking my dogs in this heat. They're getting an early morning walk to stretch legs run and sniff in the shady woodland and then at home we're just doing paddling pools and lots of enrichment and training. Scatter feeds etc, frozen kongs, snuffle & lick mats and the puzzles are out. They're coping really well given how active they usually are.

However what we have for a few days as a 'heatwave' is routine all summer long in lots of places. So what do they do regarding walking etc? Obviously I'm not suggesting that anyone walks their dog in mid day heat but in general are dogs in hot countries just more tolerant of the heat or do they just walk less in the summer?

If you're living outside the UK somewhere with hot weather (lucky you) what's the norm for where you live?

They don't walk their dogs in the heat of the day. Sometimes not at all.

In the UK, there is a tendency to think that walking a dog is more important that temperature regulation, hydration, alternate ways for stimulation etc.

Often, I think this tendency is due to a) ignorance i.e. over estimating walking benefits and not considering the cons due to temperature, environment, breed type etc b) a desire to be seen to be doing something for the individual other than the dog.

So, like you, not trying to be provocative. Just sharing my experience and opinion, as per your request!

Stay cool!

I lived in SE Asia for years. My dogs acclimatised to the heat, but I wouldn't walk them on concrete, only dirt side roads. If we walked in the afternoon when it was about 35C I'd go by the river so the dogs were swimming. Most locals didn't walk their dogs at all. The dogs just lolled around, hanging out with their mates in the streets and moving at whatever pace they fancied.

I've lived in places where it's very hot either year round, or in the summer, or can be very cold at night (frost) and 25C by lunchtime. In a couple of those places, we had a dog.

The dogs cope fine. They walk on hot sand and tarmac. They lie in the shade when it's very hot until they smell food, or someone dares to walk past, or another dog appears who requires investigation. A lot of these dogs aren't walked as such, but they are free to wander around the village, trot off to scrounge for treats at the local market etc. Working dogs will work in what we'd think of as extreme heat, go back home (or camp out in the mountains with the shepherds), get fed, have a sleep, and do it all again tomorrow.

The differences are that the dogs in question are mostly landrace dogs with the shape and coat that can handle the heat, they're on the skinny side, and they're acclimatised to it. I tend to walk my dogs as it gets hotter in the UK - if it's absolutely baking we'll do shorter walks in shade etc until I'm sure they're 100% okay - so that they get used to it. They have short coats and normal muzzles, they're very slim and fit, and have no health issues or age-related concerns.

I work with dogs. Walked them fine in the morning and the afternoon. Just chose places with shade and water. One that was with me for daycare wanted to lay out in the sun. Nutter.

I called him in after a few minutes as I decided his decision making privileges had to be withdrawn.

One of my dogs is a podenco from southern Spain. He loves this weather. He was born and bred to hunt all day in their fairly desert conditions. I take him over the fields for a short walk in the heat and he’s fine. Mind you, the dirty looks I get from people on the lane in cars make me laugh! He will roast himself on the patio in this weather from choice. Back doors open always for him to come in when he wants. Plenty of fresh cool water.
My other dogs I’d never dream of taking out and they stay in our very cool stone floor cottage all day lolling about.

The main difference is that we get one-off high temps after low temps, so the dogs have no time to acclimatise.
In many other countries, it steadily warms gradually from the spring time, so the dogs acclimatise gradually.

Also, advice given is always geared towards the lowest denominator.
The advice is ‘don’t walk’ as this covers people who would:
take their dogs on burning tarmac,
throw balls continuously,
walk brachial, typically overweight dogs with breathing problems,
walk their dogs for hours
etc etc.

The reality is, most dogs will be fine on a walk on grass in a shady area, with access to water and to go at their chosen speed (not hyped up with chasing etc)

But the British public is too thick to understand these nuances, so the cry is that you are killing your dog if you take them out, as that covers all bases……..

Deoends what you mean. I grew up with 30 degree summers for months but everywhere was air conditioned including houses.

Dogs were walked in morning or evening. The adapted fine.

Of course people walk their dogs. Must people who live in cities in continental Europe (where in some places it can easily reach 38/40° in summer, 36 in Toulouse next week for example) don't have a garden, so dogs still need to be walked.

However, for the same reason they don't have a garden, it's easier to find shade. Buildings are often 5/6 floors high, streets are narrower (often there are no parking spots on either side of the street), just enough room for pavement on each side and single lane trafic.

People are also less fussed about exercising their dogs. A gentle stroll 3 times a day is generally considered decent exercise. There are plenty of smells, other dogs, noises, any sort of stimulations...less green spaces though. And rarely off lead time. But they're not unhappy. It's just different standards and habits.

It's also controversial but in Europe its very common to work all day and the dogs hold their bladder from the morning till the evening, which makes a walk at midday less frequent.

Now, even at 7pm, its still boiling hot, and those tall buildings made of old stone don't lose much heat at night so it's also very hot indoors. Not a lot of flats are equipped with AC because well, old buildings not built with AC in mind. You won't find an AC unit in an Haussman building unless it's a hotel.

I do agree though that there's a glorification of exercise here, which I tend to agree with 90% of the time, I find it marvellous to see my dog running off lead every day and I take pride in giving him 2h a day, but dog ownership isn't only about having a tired dog.

I had a corgi in Paris, wonderful little chap, he had a dog walker during the day when I was working but it was mostly for company, quite often she would just sit in a café with my dog and partake with Parisians' favourite activity of watching people. not doing anything. He was out for 2h a day but probably didn't have more than 40 mins of walking in total.

In London I now have a tiny little terrier, by all account what should be a sort of lapdog, but because he got used to run everyday, i may get away with 24h of quiet toilet breaks round the block but after that he'll be driving me crazy. He just got used to much higher standards. Good for me that despite being a british breed, he's adapted to that weather (but anything below 12° and he needs a jumper)

I don't buy the acclimatisation argument. Cities like Toulouse can be freezing cold on Monday and boiling hot by Sunday. Its as brutal as it is in the UK. My french friend whatsapp group is talking about that right now. "Blablabla I had a coat on monday and now I want to rip my skin off blablabla"

To conclude this long essay, the difference is that people WALK their dogs but they don't necessarily exercise them.

I used to live in Cyprus. No air-con or anything in our house. It could hit 45 degrees in the summer.

Firstly, windows open all night (with bug shutters), then up at 5am and walk the dogs.
In the house, close all windows and shutters to keep the cool in. Fans on. Dogs pottered around then just slept 11-4.
If we were in the garden dogs might join us for a snooze in the shade but would generally stay in the house.
Walk again after 7pm.

Bear in mind, we were all acclimatised so what feels hot in the UK to us is fine to walk in when your used to it.

Rules. For the guidance of wise people, and the adherence of fools.

I see dogs being walked all the time in towns and cities when I’m on holiday and it’s 25/30°+
I assume they are used to it.

I'd agree with this.

We live a 5 min walk away from a lovely, cool, shady woods. We can comfortably walk our double-coated, 65kg mastiff even at midday in the height of summer, in the woods. It's lovely and cool! It even tends to stay muddy in heatwaves because of the moisture from waterlogged soil. We take a bowl and bottle of water just in case he needs to cool down, but it's no problem. And 5 mins, even at 30° is ok - not ideal, but on lead, staying on the shady side of the road, just to get to the woods and back is fine.

He knows that wood walks are for sniffing and field walks are for running though. If he was running around overheating, I may change my mind.

As to the OPs question - we regularly visit relatives where winter is 25°+. Until the last decade or so, you only ever saw strays. But since Western culture has had more of an impact, more people are owning dogs as pets. Weirdly, they tend to be mostly bigger breeds. We saw more great dances there than in the UK! They seemed happy walking in the winter heat, but we've not visited in the height of summer for quite some time so not sure what they do then.

I live in Toulouse and my dog still gets walked most days even during a heatwave. He's a German wirehaired pointer though so needs a good run around. I just find a forest lake and walk around it so he can swim. Otherwise he just lies around, often in full sun, then regrets all his life decisions five minutes later and comes in to lie on the kitchen tiles. That said, we are all struggling a bit with this heatwave as it's come from nowhere and is unusual for this time of year. At least the nighttime temp isn't too high though.

I took my dog to Europe for a few months last summer and she adjusted really well quite quickly. She is 18 so long walks are out of the question but she still loved pottering around in the sun. We were in our camper so she was outside pretty much the whole time. I think she would ideally retire to Italy based on how happy she was there 😂

I've seen people in Spain bring their dogs to the beach or walk them round markets in the heat. They don't seem to give a shit.

Stray dogs in hot countries seem to mainly lay in the shade and sleep a lot during the day

I live in the Caribbean and had two large long haired shepherd retriever mixes.
We just would walk them early morning and early evening. Yes the ground is hot but you walk fast and find some grass. Wed leave them all day, they weren’t interested in midday pees and would hold it until we got home.
We’d take them to the beach, as long as they had fresh water and some shade they were happy.

I have rescue podencos from Spain. (Hi @AlwaysSometimesNever). They mooch around the garden in the sun and snooze most of the time when it’s hot. I either take them out early or late, or not at all if it’s really hot, and lose no sleep over it. They don’t either, believe me, lol.

Social media is prone to the dramatics, that’s the problem.

Most dogs are fine in most temperatures as long as you’re sensible and take precautions.

Tried to give my last dog a cooling mat. He was horrified and disgusted! He just loved to bake in the sun.

Yup, I have the same dog for in for daycare today. He is laying out on the lawn. I went to drape a wet towel over him to cool him off, and he looks at me with that whole "what are you doing?" expression.

We tend to walk them early or later here in Spain ..however... I'm just watching both my dogs chasing each other around the garden and it's 36degrees!

They self regulate I think