I see so many people walking their dogs at the hotest time in the day around midday.  I always avoid walking my 3 around this time or infact anytime if I feel it is too hot. but would rather wait until late at night or early in the morning.  Yet I see so many people walking theirs,  am I too soft.

What time to you walk yours in the summer?

i dont think your too soft  i tend to take my two staffys late in the evening when it has cooled down a bit or as you say early in the morning mind you sayin that my two dont seem to mind the heat they still run around until they are exhausted lol
mind you i did see an lady walking her siberian husky in the heat i was like oh my days surely thats not good for his health

No you aren't soft at all - I never would walk at midday!

Tend to stick to early morning and late afternoon/early evening. 

I dont think you're too soft at all, i've just took mine out the back field but only because they have a small lake and mine go in it (which saves me getting the paddling pool out) :D my dog walks are usually early morning and late evening regardless anyway..

I dont walk my dogs in the heat either in fact I even shut the gate to the garden and leave the back door open for them to roam in the dog area  where it is mainly shaded or come inside the house , if they have the run of the garden they run around in the heat playing games and I worry that they will get heat exhaustion, I let them out in the morning and late evening to play same with the walks.
Crazy ...we complain about the rain , cold and now the heat!!

I don't as a rule walk them in the heat of the day, but last weekend my OH took our Yankee on a very long walk for much of the day. I was worried and kept texting to say was he ok, but every time the reply was that he was still happy to keep going, kept pulling eagerly at the lead, was happy to sit for 30 seconds and have a drink and then keep going, and so on. When I picked them up after about 5 hours walk, he was panting a little and happy to have another drink, but in no way overheated or distressed. This walk was mostly through woods and by rivers so he could keep fairly cool, but I was surprised at how well he coped with the heat!

Early mornng or late evening here as well :)

I dispair when I see people on bikes in the hot weather as well with a dog running along side. Most of them look although they are ready to keel over but the owners seem oblivious :rolleyes:

Mine go out after 7pm or before 9am.  Though that is as much for my comfort as theris, I hate the sheat.  I like to see sunshine from the shade.

Mine are quite happy to go out in the heat - they would be absolute pests if they didn't get their lunchtime walk :D But, it would only be a walk and not a very long one. Tara would be quite happy to play ball if she was allowed and Bramble still runs around, even in the heat - so we keep it short :) :) When Bramble reaches old age (he is a very youthful 10 :D ) then we shall reconsider :) All dogs are different of course - mine are medium sized and very athletic  - they live for a walk however short :)

Daisy

Mine often go out before the sun is up and when it is going down in the heat.  They spend a great deal of time swimming.

at the beach from 9.30am this morning just got back in, and the amount of people we saw dragging there poor dogs around in the heat, we then watched as a man picked up his dog , the dog was looking in distress and then he put it in the kids paddling pool and it started to look better it was not pleasant to see , and i was not to sure what to do in this situation , the dog seemed to be ok after a while being soaked in the water did not see them leave though.
i walk my lot at 5.30am and then they will lounge around in the sun all day, my chinese crested is the worst,we move her into the shade and she will still move into the sun, then at night we train every night of the week diferent doggy sports so that is also there night time walks , we usually stop off at private woods (belong to a friend) after training and the dogs go for a blast through the cool woods they love it and sometimes will swim in the lake
carolann

My lot are happy and eager to walk in anything up to about 25C, I keep an eye on the temp each day.  At the moment they're only getting a walk first thing though, partly as I have to drive to any walk and I need to cut costs a bit (get through a lot of deisel that way) and partly because Soli isn't much of an evening walker - but if I walk the others and not her she gets upset.  So we stay at home and train instead, and they have access to the garden all day at the mo too.  The twins completely ignore the heat and play all day - they take regular breaks to head to the dog pool :)

If i'm going to walk them when it's hot i'll go somewhere where they can swim and cool off,(and i hose them off before we leave home)the heat doesnt seem to bother them when they are soaking wet ;)
We always drive to our destinations,so they have aircon both ways.

Ah I don't drive so I ahve to tiem my walks or be sure that my route will have shade.

I forgot to say that I avoid pavement walking with them in the heat - I wouldn't want to walk on pavements when they've heated up in bare feet so I don't ask my dogs too.  It's only at the park that really affects us though - I won't risk walking any of my dogs from my front door (aggressive escaping rotti one way, overexcited iffy dogs walked off-lead the other) so walking to and from routes in the sun isn't an issue either.

Work with what you've got I suppose!  I was walking today until noon, just over an hour for each walk, but it was in the woods and shady the entire way.  Lovely!

Well the vast majority of my walks will have at least 40 minutes of pavement walking (best and safest off lead walking is a good 20 minutes walk from my house, some more) if not the whole walk as sometimes road (pavement) walking is all we do, but then it will be at least an hour and usually two.

I don't think it is normally to hot in this country, but when it is we and the dogs don't get the chance to grow used to the heat... with the heat it sees very all or nothing!  Mostly I stick to the same time of day for walks but stick to woods or walks by the river or the hill tops where you get a breeze. And I keep the walks shorter and  I don't encoursge them to run about.

Mine would be very cross if they didn't get a game of ball so I just bounce the ball a little for them if it is too hot and keep it very very short. Maybe get them photographic evidence that they did play ball for showing them when they get home and complain that they didn't.

At shows it don't seem to cause a problem the show seems to go on no matter how hot it gets..even in agility. The dogs who have to work in the hotter part of the day just work less well I guess. And they are cooled off with wet towls and so on.

And no you are it at all too soft..heat can be deadly. A poor dog died of heatstroke in my park a few yer back..he was 4 years old and had been paying ball in the park... nothing too demanding and he showed no signs of heat stroke until it was to late.. he brought back the ball, collapsed and died. It was very sad. People here now who remember him take a lot of care in the heat. He was very loved and ever so well cared for.

My girl goes out early morning and late evening when it's hot.  She's not one for the heat anyway and during the afternoon she'll sleep in the shade, wouldn't be able to move the great oaf if I wanted to :-D
I know what you mean.  I went out into town on Tuesday afternoon.  It was boiling, yet so many people were dragging their dogs round with them.  Most shops in town put water bowls outside for dogs which is nice - but I wouldn't take my girl out in that kind of heat.