I took my dogs to a show yesterday and it was very hot.  I had the car all open with reflective sheets over and both dogs had water.  But by the end of the day they had hardly touched it.  Quite often there is a source of water around a show - but this one had a lake that was out of bounds.  I have been told about a rehydration formula that I can buy but it is very expensive.    Would anyone recommend that I buy the rehydration stuff?  Or is there a simpler way to keep my dogs drinking and hydrated?   I have seen recipes for making up one's own electrolyte mixture using sugar and salt but don't know if it is good to use. 

My vets used to sell me rehydration support sachets that you add to water, but I don't think they do them anymore. Then we went onto a bottled drink from a petshop with electrolytes etc, meat flavoured, for the life of me I can't remember the name of it at the mo, and now I take a small amount of goats milk and add to water. This is for very hot days at competitions when I really need them to drink. Goats milk does the trick and is in most supermarkets :)

Used to find having a small amount of milk to add to the water at shows will get the dogs to drink. The rehydration packs you talk of are, I think for use following bad vomiting and loose stools particularly in puppies. You can get it but it for humans and that can be given to dogs.

My friend told me goats milk too - I wonder why goats milk in particular?

Because it's safe to say that dogs don't get the runs with it.  I know it's pretty safe on their tummies.

http://www.petfleas.co.uk/acatalog/Lectade_Small_Animal_Rehydration_Sachets.html?PFGoogle_base&gclid=CIaxpuDGjr8CFQXnwgodTggAow

Think this is the stuff.
Zuma got it prescribed after some problem - can't specifically remember what- but he wouldn't drink the water with it in so just gave him tap water which he did drink.

you can by a canned drink called Pow Wow I think (!) I looked into it ages ago for my agility dogs but have never used it. I used to make meat stock (boil bones in water and drain, no salt) and freeze it in little blocks, they would drink forever when I diluted that with water.

meat stock ice cubes - that sounds an efficient idea - I think it would have to travel as frozen - wouldn't want to have anything going off in the heat - I suppose I could freeze goats milk into cubes too - then I wouldn't have to throw the remainder away.  Thanks for the ideas.

My friend told me goats milk too - I wonder why goats milk in particular?
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Goats milk is close to b itch milk in make up and so is perfectly good to give dogs to drink - much as I've never given this to an adult!!!!   We weaned all our puppies onto this first, and then onto solids.   If you n eed yoghurt, it's a good idea to use goats yogurt rather than cows.