A Guide to Walking Your Dog in Summer

1 Overview

Panting

Dogs cool down by ‘breathing out hot air and taking in cool air.’ When panting becomes especially violent, it means she is tired and overheated.

For example: it’s past 9 p.m., you’re strolling with her on the street, and after a short while she pants heavily from the heat. What should you do?

Many owners would let the dog rest a bit and offer some water.

If your dog has a long muzzle and exercises often, this approach is mostly fine — note, ‘mostly fine,’ not ‘no problem.’

If your dog is flat-faced and stays indoors a lot, this approach is downright deadly.

Why? Because dogs cool down by ‘breathing out hot air and taking in cool air.’

But on such a hot night, the dog can only ‘breathe out hot air and take in hot air’ — no cooling at all. On top of that, the ground has baked all day and is extremely hot; letting her lie on it is a vicious cycle.

When a dog ‘breathes out hot air and takes in hot air’ while lying on ‘ground baked all day,’ she grows restless and breathes faster. Handled poorly, an accident is likely.

The best response is to take her somewhere with cool air first and let her regulate her own temperature, then think about water and other cooling measures.

When a dog pants hard, the top priority is: change the environment’s temperature.

Drinking water

Always control the amount when giving water.

Imagine you’re in a very hot environment and someone hands you a bottle of water — you’d gulp it down! Dogs are the same, so at this moment a dog may inhale water into the airway from drinking too fast, or push water too deep so it flows through the nose into the airways, causing choking or even pneumonia.

On summer walks, control the amount of water — never too much.

Temperature

We all know each breed has its own idea of a ‘comfortable temperature,’ usually decided by coat length.

For short-haired dogs, the most comfortable range is 20-25 degrees Celsius.

For long-haired dogs, it is 15-20 degrees Celsius.

And for those especially cold-tolerant breeds, 10-15 degrees Celsius feels best.

Humidity

Many owners never think about humidity — so how does high humidity affect a dog?

Humidity is just water vapor suspended in the air, and high humidity makes it feel hotter. Worse, it prevents sweat from evaporating — you can imagine how miserable a dog is in humid air.

So friends in the south should get a dehumidifier for their dogs.

A few more things to note

In summer, change the water often and keep the dog in a shady, well-ventilated spot. Also, a dog’s appetite drops in summer — that’s normal, don’t worry.