I have often wondered what it is like for dogs in summer.
Golden retrievers (like my dog) have quite thick fur so i would really like to know your opinion on how dogs feel and cope with summer.
Does anyone have any idea on how many (aproxamiatly!) degrees hotter than humans dogs like mine feel in summer?
And how many degrees (aproxamiatly!) lower do dogs feel when they pant rather than when they don't.Should i worry about my dog in summer? Or is it just something all animals including humans have to go through which isnt dangerous?
I live in London so the highest it reaches is like 30 degrees once a year in July so is this ok?
Kiri:rolleyes:

As long as your dogs have somewhere cool to go to inside they are normally fine.  Apply same rules as humans, no sunning at miday, keep walks to early morning and late evening, make sure plenty of water is avalible (and keep ice-cubes in it to keep it cool) etc etc etc

Don't shave the coat, it will only remove the top coat which will protect a dog from the heat.

All my dogs have pretty heavy-duty coats, so I do worry about them.. having said that they've always been just fine. They have the cool kitchen floor, which they splat out on, I keep an air cooler on in there when its gets hot, and they love playing with ice-cubes, chasing them round the floor too :D 

One of mine seeks shade when its hot, a bernese so quite prone to heatstroke, we try to keep her exercise to a minimum when its very hot. The other sunbathes, usually on my lounger - she adores the heat (Gordon setter so no thick coat). We usually let them in the garden during the day then take them for a long walk once its cooler in the evening. We are in the countryside in scotland though, so don't get that extra 'city' heat. Its light very late in summer too. I think if I were in a city I would get some sort of air cooler. Watch out for paws on melting tarmac too, and hot pavements.

I've noticed in Spain on holiday, we never see dogs during the day in summer, but when we are there in January or April there are lots around, so they obviously take the same steps we do.

Mine has a short coat and spends most of her time sunbathing in our south facing garden :rolleyes:  Every now and then she comes in to flop onto the laminated floor in our north facing living room but after a while she can be found stretched out on the steps again. I don't understand her myself as when she comes in she is really hot to touch but she obviously enjoys it.

I have a golden too, and we were discussing this very thing at the weekend.
I think he does get pretty hot, so as long as he has somewhere cool to rest and lots of fresh water to drink I think he should be ok!  We also give him ice cubes which he plays with, sucks, eats and then rolls on :rolleyes:

We also wondered if the sun would be reflective on him as he is a light colour, as opposed to being attracted to a black coat

Maria, I don't know if it effects the dogs but with our setters (red and whites) and when you stroke them during the summer when they have been in the sun the red patches are hotter then the white coat!  They all cope well though and living room during summer has windows open, curtains closed and ceiling fan on so it's quite cool.

While we are in all upstairs windows and doors are open and back doors are open.

While we are out fan is on in the hall which has hardly any daylight going in for the dogs, two are also in the cage in utility room where garage back door is left open, although back door to garden is shut.  Window is open and so never gets too hot.  (Gets much colder in the winter as no heating in there plus catflap is now just a hole in the door thanks to a setter thinking she's the same size as the cat!

hi all
      my black lab is not very good with the sun nice thick coat and black not good in the heat
but we have got him a nice coat it,s called the cooler it,s silver and heat reflective
and yes it really work,s . the only down side is if one more person come,s up to me and go,s it a bit hot for a coat i,m going to scream lol o well we know what it,s for and max like,s looking like a spaceman like all little boy,s do
we also spray him with lot,s of water and try not to let him go in the garden for to long

Who knows.  Some dogs with double coats are better off than those with single coats as this has an insulating effect.  Unfortunately most of us are not in a position to live in a climate controlled world and so we have to take sensible precautions such as only exercising them at either end of the day when the sun is not out or going up/down; giving them plenty of access to water to drink or paddle in; keeping them indoors rather than allowing them to sunbathe; keeping cars cool with A/C, fans, reflective covers, cooling mats, ice etc etc

I still walk mine in summer,at any time,but we drive down to the lake or any cool flowing body of water.They usually go straight for the water and then plod along fine for the rest of the walk,going back in to the water if they get hot.
Our summer temps compare to other countries spring weather,so we havnt got it too bad ;) I wonder how people and their dogs cope with 35-40 degree weather for days/weeks in a row

Simple they keep out of it.

>I wonder how people and their dogs cope with 35-40 degree weather for days/weeks in a row <

In S. Calif my Keeshond just laid her belly on the cold tiles a lot and the GR was happy running about in the deserts of Mexico and California. He never seemed that bothered by the heat. My sister's dogs (RR X GD, red, short coats) used to sunbathe at high noon in the middle of summer.

The dogs don't go out in that heat.  My boyfriends parents have dogs in thailand and all the dogs cope well in the summer over there.  They go for a walk early in the morning, and tempretures do drop considerbly at night.  During the day the dogs all laze about inside on in the shade in the garden.  They always have access to water and seemed fine when I went at christmas which it got as hot as our summer. 

All the dogs are used to the heat and cope just fine, none of them suffer from the heat.

I've just bought a paddling pool for my mob today. They don't quite have the hang of it yet, but maybe when it get hotter.

Dawn R.

We have a GR, I think given half the chance he would walk all day come rain, snow or heatwave, but I do think in extreme heat it can't be nice for him (although he swims at every chance) - when the weather gets VERY HOT he only gets walked early morning and early evening, he is very sensible when we are in the garden goes to sit in the cools spots or lies on the tiles in the house, We have a paddling pool for him too, first year we used it we let the water run from the hose slowly in and he chased it - Keeps him very cool - he loves it.

In Southern Spain at my friends most dogs are inside but he does have some outside but they are next to a swimming pool and they seem to dive in and out of there during the day.  I don't think really in the UK it's much of a problem as long as people use their common sense and not over excercise them at the hottest time of the day and not to have them in the car when it's really hot.

I'm another one who is really lucky.  Have a water park 10 minutes away so we go there, they go for a swim and then we have a nice walk in the field, BLISS :d