This is crossposted with permission from bulldog rescue however it applies to EVERY dog.

AS THE TEMPERATURES SORE TO OVER 30 DEGREES
Please follow these basic rules and please please please don't let your bulldog get too hot
DON'T take your dog outside during the day. Shut him in a room with a cool floor and draw the curtains to keep the sunlight out, if you do this early enough it will prevent the room from becoming warm as the sun comes into the room. Have an electric fan running in the room to keep the air circulating and make sure there is fresh water available at all times, put a dribble of apple cider vinegar in the water, it will help keep the phlegm levels down.

IF he needs to go outside - GO WITH HIM, don't let him lay out in the sun and bring him straight back in again when he's been to the toilet. Spray him with cold water if necessary to keep his skin cool.

If you are not home DON'T let him have free access to the garden, he WILL sun bathe and you will not be there to see when he's been out for too long.

DON'T walk your dog in this weather, it's still very hot at 8 or 9pm, wait until it's very late or walk very early in the morning - remember that tarmac also takes a while to cool off and even after the sun has gone down the roads can be very hot still.

DON'T force an overheating dog to drink water, offer water, but if refused don't force the issue. HE WILL DRINK IF HE WANTS TO - the worst thing you can do is force him to drink, he could vomit and choke.

MAKE sure NOW that you have in your cupboard a squeezy jiff lemon, use this FIRST if your dog is overheating, squirt it into the back of the dogs throat - it will break up the foam/phlegm in the throat. (Your dog will hate it but who cares)

LISTEN to your dog, panting is fine, this is the only way your dog can lose body heat, but listen for a roar - best described as sounding like an asthma attack. If your dog starts to roar IMMEDIATELY standing him in cold water, dogs only sweat through the pads of their feet and standing him in cold water has the same effect as putting a cold flannel on your head when you are hot.

IF HE'S ALREADY TOO HOT - Keep him stood in cold water, pour water over his head and especially around his neck, you need to cool the blood going to the brain, in severe cases of overheating there is a risk of brain damage from hot blood going to the brain.

Place ice under his tail (just inside his bottom if you can), keep pouring cold water over him and KEEP CALM, if you panic your dog will panic - if you suffer from asthma you will understand what I mean. Your dog will go very pale as the circulation system struggles to cope.

Keep going with the water - don't take him out of the bath until the breathing has calmed down, talk calmly to your dog - you will be soaked, your bathroom will be soaked, but you will save his life!!!!!!!!!

Once the breathing is calmer, remove him from the bath but don't dry him, he will shake up your walls and over you WHO CARES!!!! He will still be very pale (inside mouth, gums and inner eyes)

Let him wander, don't make a fuss of him, your fussing may panic him and it could start over again. Still don't force him to drink, but make up a rehydration mix and place it in a bowl for him to drink from if he wants to. You can make up your own rehydration mix:

500ml of water
2 and a half teaspoons of glucose powder
a quarter teaspoon of salt
a pinch of bicarbonate of soda
This mixture will keep in the fridge for 24 hours

If you cannot calm the dog in the bath GO STRAIGHT TO THE VET!!!! Soak  a towel in cold water and lay the dog on top of it for the journey, take packets of frozen veggies and lay them on the back of  his neck and on each side of his body. If the dog will lay upside down it will help him cool faster through his belly which has less fur on it but make sure that someone is with him to ensure he doesn't swallow his tongue!

IF YOU ARE AWAY FROM THE HOME: Find a river, pond, cow trough or knock a door, 7UP will do the same as the lemon juice in an emergency. Get in the river with your dog if necessary (many bulldogs cannot swim) but don't take him out until the breathing is calmer, unless he is obviously passing out in which case risk a speeding ticket and get to the nearest vet.

This all sounds very scary I know but I've had too many heartbroken families on the phone and I don't want any of you to be next.

thank you very much for all of this advice,although some of it may be common sense, not everyone takes enough care in this hot weather.

My house has two large "picture" style windows one either end of the living room. Every room in the house bakes, as we get full sun at the back in the morning and full sun all afternoon and evening at the front. Even with the curtains closed the heat still becomes opressive.

Well it did until I bought two of the very large silver "space" blankets from Rona Dixon. (rondix@onetel.com), I put some hooks in the top of my window frames and now when the weather is hot, I go out very early when the temperature is cooler hang the blankets on the OUTSIDE of the glass, which I have discovered works much better than hanging it inside. I keep the curtains closed as well, and the windows, so that the cool air stays inside and the hot air stays outside. The dogs spend the day in this room now, as they prefer to spend it in the shade and cool of the room.

It's sad to think that dogs do die in this weather.  However be careful.. I was planning on running yesterday morning till I looked at the weather.  Here (north herts) it was sadi to be about 23 degrees at 5 am!!!!  Now I will not but myself or dog thoguh that as a walk, let alone a run (5km)  Do listen to the forcast and try and get out at coolest time.  Today seems to be alot cooler.

Also can people think about that weather while you are at a dog show.  Yesterday two frenchies were left in a cage with no water breather heavily.  they were in shade but their was no airflow.  their owners left them for over an hour (so I was told).  I was led to believe frenchies has similar problems with heat to the bulldog?  How does any owner justify this being ok!

Oh another point is cars.  Got into mumjs the other day and it was hot in their.  When you go to put your dog in the car let the A/C run for a while if you have A/C before putting the dogs in the car.  If you don't have A/C open all doors and windows untill car is airy enough to get your dog in, if you have a breed that suffers from the heat put ice packs under some towles, other breeds a wet towle shoudl be ok.

Better be safe then sorry! :)

That is very very useful.  A friend of mine is a vet nurse and was on call yesterday so she just popped up to the farm to check on her horse but had the emergency phone with her.  I was there when a family rang the emergency number to say that they had just returned to their car to find their 2 year old boxer collapsed.  They had had a day out in Redcar and left the dog in the car.  Can you believe it the mentality of some people.

That is the most stupid thing I ever heard. In Herts yesterday it was over 90 degrees, who on earth would leave a dog in the car. They are very lucky he did not die.
Even this morning at 8am it was still very humid. I tend to walk in the woods where there is lots of shade in this weather. This is going to be another very hot summer lasting about 3 months.

Thanks for the advise on what to do in case somthing like that happens.
I take mine out early and really late. go out in my cotton pjs too lol :)
shes very good in this heat always finds a cool spot in the house.
Hope you dont mind but i copied it for my friend as she has 2 bull dogs.
Jane

If you're at a Dog Show try taking a Water Spray with you, you can keep the dog nice and cool by soaking the back of the neck, tummy, back etc. and the water can also be sprayed/squirted into the mouth to refresh the dog.  I've been known to take a dog in the ring soaking wet - he was dry enough by the time the judge went over him ;) but above all he was cooler than the other dogs :)

Of course the usual precautions of staying in shade and not traipsing round the stalls, going home early, not leaving dogs in the car :rolleyes:  still stands.

I take a dog in the ring with a wet dressing gown!!! :D  Comes off when judge is looking, but rest of time it stays on.  At least my dogs are happy to move round the ring!  I have had the judge go over them wet, and too be honest I didn't really care if the judges hand were wet.

Also a god send is a space blanket if out in the sun!

At a club show once we kept all the dogs in the car as myself and mum were stewarding, dad showing and joe and dad looking after dogs.  We took 3 spaceblankets to cover the car and boy was it kept chilled.  Was lovely to get into at the end of the day.  Also please remember to make sure there is an airflow where possible! :)

Very good advice!
Another, and this is what I do with my Groenendael as he suffers with the heat.  Invest in towelling rugs, these can be soaked in cold water and put on the dog to keep cool.  Bath towels can also be soaked and layed on the floor for them to ly on.  I also find ceiling fans invaluable and ours has been on for the past 4 days constantly!

Sarah.

Yep I also have ceiling fans,when its hot i just leave them on  and close the curtains,then in the evening the dogs go for a swim in the lake just down the road.

Sheila.

Good and timely advice. I was very angry to hear a person at a show this sunday saying that she would not let her dog have a drink as she didnt want to spoil his wiskers  before he went in to the ring - someone she was with bit her head off before I did!

I would add to your good advice that the rehydration can be done with just sugar, salt and water all of which are normally easily to hand in an emergency, even if you do have to raid the burger van.

Finally I had heard and it does make some sense that you muct be very careful about putting wet dogs in cars etc as the humidity can rise to such an extent that it can cause them real problems. Has anyone else heard this?

I've not heard of it bluebell but it does make sense.  however like I have mentiond, make sure the car is allowed to cool before your dog goes in.  Anyone who has dogs and A/C in their car will agree they wouldn't know what to do without it!

I know the value of air con, sadly even that was struggling this weekend, especially to get to the boot.

Also forgot to mention that I always keep a couple of the life preservation type foil sheets in my car in case of emergences they cost about £2 each from the local army surplace store and I keep finding new uses for them, strangely so far always for other people, their children or animals - perhaps I should be thankful for that!   

RE my previous post about the 2 year old boxer left in a car ... well he did die and it wasn't their dog - they were looking after it for someone who was on holiday.  The people then phoned the vet the following day and asked what caused the dogs death .... the vet answered with "basically you have just cooked you dogs insides".  Totally devastating.

OMG that is so sad.  They wern't even aware how hot the car could get?  I can't imagin the reaction to the poor owners, come home to being told your dog's dead we left him in a hot car.  hose people should also be banned from keeping pets :(

My first reaction is OMG how can they be so stupid, but then there are people who leave children in hot cars or go on holiday and leave a 15 year old in charge of babies... <puts head in hands>

That poor dog, what an horrific way to die :( I hope these people can't sleep at night knowing what they did.......I live not far from Redcar(the next town inland) and it was so hot here over the weekend, our dogs spent most of their time inside where it was cool. The few times I went out in the car it was unbearably hot when I got in.....its just so sickening to think of him stuck in that car, dying, run free young man...

I,ve just ordered a couple of cooling dog mats - I think they're called Cooldanna - to try and keep our two as comfortable as possible over the summer months. Has anyone else tried them?

At an agility show on Sunday I bought a fan which plugs into the doodaa and let it run all the way home. I was really thankful for it when the traffic got heavy and we had to slow down. It's supposed to be put on the dashboard stuck on by a sucker thing but I hooked it onto the dog guard behind me and it blasted out across the whole of the back of the car. :-) At home it's not a problem as we have french doors going out into the garden and windows open at the front so there is a lovely through breeze.

Hiya.... as some of you know buffy suffers terrible seperation anxiety..  and is as happy as larry for hours in the car... v. strange dog!! therfore apart from our trips to the yard where the stables stay very cool we have been mostly house bound even though I have AC the car is warm in minutes and too hot too quickly...does anyone know if you can get a portable ac unit that runs on batterys? And what do these cool mats do? how do they work... Just in case I have to go out ...if this weather continues all summer then I need to be prepared!

its hard, cause I either have to leave her at home to work herself into hot state  or in car ( I have been known to leave ac running with keys!) .. neither are an option

She spent the weekend in the paddling pool under the tree... practising her digging skills! she has bandageds leg from haveing a dew claw removed on monday so now cant go in... she keeps looking at it in hope!!

Chloe, I have PM'd you

The night before I  travel in the Heat, I fill plastic bottles(I Do about 6) with water and freeze them. Then I wrap them in towels, keeps the car lovely and cool for hours. 

Stubled accross your advice while browsing!.....thankyou for your advice.
My family and our pup are moving from Britain to Southrn Spain shorty and hadnt even heard of many of the tips you offered.
Great, thankyou.

Your more than welcome

HOWEVER

I will need to pop over around November time to make
sure your doing it right ;-)

Wow what great advice. Thanks Carolyn for posting this.
Perhaps Admin could keep this at the top of the threads during the summer as its a good guide to helping our loved ones in an emergency.

Great advice, so many dog owners out there just don't have a clue.
It upsets me every year when I hear of dogs that have died in hot cars, there is no excuse for it.

I will make one small point about the above post though....dogs cannot swallow their tongues...humans are the only animals that can!!

Thansk for posting this, it's always good to have a reminder of the dangers of heat, even though I'm sure most of us on here are conscious of it, but if one person randomly sees this and thinks twice about leaving a dog in a car then that's good!

My chap doesn't do well in the heat, he has summer related allergies (pollen, grass seeds etc) as well as sensitivity to dust mites, so we have to be doubly careful in the hot weather.

We're lucky that our back garden faces the 'wrong' way, it's mostly shaded until very late afternoon. Not great for lunchtime BBQ's, but great for a small dog with low heat tolerance :-)

He normally has the run of the garden (supervised) during the day (OH works from home) but if we go out he's shut in the kitchen (also a 'shady' room) with plenty of water, a stuffed kong and some wet towels to lie down on. He's walked early morning/late evening during the summer unless it's a really cool day, as I'm currently unfit enough to overheat as quickly as him if we were to go out in the blazing sun!

We generally only take him out in the car on trips out 'for him' (i.e to the woods, my parents field etc) so he's never left alone in the car anyway - it baffles me to think people can leave their dogs in cars while they go off shopping etc - I just can't understand that mindset at all.

Claire

I hope to god I don't need it but the recipe for the rehydration mix is a good idea, so will make sure I have all the ingredients to hand now.

Just a word of caution about putting hot dogs into cold water..the problem is that if you immerse a very hot dog in cold water it will shock it! better to stand it in the shade in cool water to knee level and sponge down face neck and tummy/inside back legs. with cool but not cold water keep doing this untill the body temp comes down. Then go to the vet as unseen damage can be done by overheating and internal organs start to fail, even if you think the dog is OK have it checked out by a vet. I have this year invested in a cold air blower that uses a system that blows the warm air through a wet gauze to cool it before blowing it out. You can put ice blocks (Freezer bag blocks) ito the water to make it cooler and it can be used as a fan. My big hairy expectant Mum is, as I write under the desk in the office directly in the path of the cold air...and I am a bit chilly!!!! the temp outside today is rising 30 now!!! Wheww!! My old lady hairy dog is outside in her fav spot under the tree in the shade upside down fast asleep!!! she copes fine with the heat.  She is very carefull and finds the coolest spots and sticks to them.
Aileen

Thanks I will do as you say if JAke overheats but its cool at home so he will be in during sunlight hours. I didnt know re his feet so thanks again

Viv

Thought I would post a reply to keep this subject at the top of the list, if only for a little while anyway!  Merlot, where did you get your thing that blows air through gauze?

I always keep a couple of coke bottles refilled with water in my freezer, under a blanket,(not on skin) they are perfect for cooling. And If I get too hot I put one in our bed :-) bliss.

As one poster said, a lot is common sense, but "THANKYOU" for a timely reminder.

Zajak,

Replying to your question to Merlot. She posted another topic about it here. Currently out of stock according to their website(Homesbase), but someone else has put a link up to the same cooler but cheaper from a different place
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/124665.html

HTH

and BLACK DOGS SUFFER THE MOST from heat...sigh.

Thanks Sue.