Preventing Your Dog From Overheating
With summer temperatures soaring into the mid-90s now, it’s necessary to keep our dogs and ourselves cool through extreme heatwaves. Dogs overheat much faster than humans because they’re encased in a fur coat. It’s critical to understand how a dog overheats to prevent it from happening, and how to keep your dog cool during scorching summer months.
How Dogs Cool Themselves Down
Humans are covered in sweat glands, and we sweat when overheated. Sweating causes evaporation, which works well to cool our bodies down when it’s hot outside. Dogs have very few sweat glands. The very few that exist are mostly located on their paws where they will sweat through their pads. With limited sweat glands, dogs have a different method to cool themselves.
When a dog’s core temperature rises, he will pant to cool himself down. Science ABC explains the process of panting to cool a dog’s body down:
“The moisture on the tongue evaporates while panting, while the heavy breathing allows moisture to evaporate from the moist lining of their lungs. Furthermore, dogs cool off via vasodilation. The blood vessels in their face and ears expand, enabling the blood to flow closer to the skin, allowing heat to be exchanged with the outside environment” (2015). While panting is effective at cooling dogs down, dogs can still overheat quickly.
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Signs of a Dog Overheating
When it’s warm inside or outside, dogs will pant. As they feel warmer, dogs will increase panting to cool themselves. If they’re unable to cool themselves quickly and still exposed to high temperatures, their panting will become rapid and heavy.
Signs of a dog overheating are: heavy panting (mouth open with rapid and loud panting), drooling, eyes widening (white of eyes showing), and inability to get comfortable.
If a dog is showing signs of overheating, immediately cool him down with cool water and AC. Give the overheated dog cool water to drink and wrap his body in cold, wet towels. Instead of wrapping cold towels around a dog’s trunk, place cold towels under his arms (armpit area), tummy and inside of flanks. Now, in an air-conditioned car, immediately transport the dog to the closest veterinarian just in case.
Keeping Dogs Cool During Summer
Prevention is key because dogs can overheat within minutes in extreme weather. Keep your dog indoors with the AC blasting. While it’s tempting to raise the AC temperature while you’re away at work, this is not best for your dog. Keep the temperature at or under 78 degrees during the day, and even lower at night.
Ensure your dog has plenty of cool water and frozen food stuffed Kongs to snack on. If your dog is crated in your home while you’re away, turn ceiling fans on high and possibly add a box fan nearby too. Even though air conditioning is running indoors, having air circulating helps keep dogs cool.
Choose wire crates during summer months, so air is able to circulate better. Also, add a cooling pad to your dog’s crate. Lastly, walk your dog during the early mornings as temperatures are cooler and never leave your dog outside alone—ever.
How do you keep your dog cool during summer months?