Protection Dogs Worldwide logo
Blog

Keeping Dogs Safe in Hot Weather

28 Jun 2024

With summer approaching, it is more important than ever that owners ensure their dogs are safe in hot weather. Dogs are far more sensitive to weather changes than humans, and susceptible to suffering potentially fatal heat stroke throughout the summer. We recommend the following for all dog owners as temperatures are set to rise:

  1. Understand and be able to recognise the key symptoms of heat stroke and other injuries. Early treatment can save a dog’s life, so the sooner you are able to respond the more likely an injured animal is to survive. Common symptoms include heavy panting, struggling breathing, dribbling, confusion, collapsing, and fitting. Immediately taking an unwell dog to a vet is often the difference between life and death, so spotting and acting on potential symptoms is of the highest importance.
  2. Only exercise your dog early in the morning and later in the evening once temperatures have subsidised. Exercise is when dogs are most at risk of suffering heat stroke, so should always be avoided during the hottest part of the day. As a general rule, if a pavement is too hot to hold the bare palm of your hand on, dogs should not be walked or exercised.
  3. Ensure that your dog is properly hydrated and always has access to cool water. Dehydration can be especially dangerous for dogs in hot weather, and prevention is better than cure. We always carry a portable bowl and water with us when walking our dogs and summer, and encourage all owners to do so too. Ice and frozen stock cube snacks are another good way to help dogs stay hydrated while keeping their body temperature down.
  4. Never leave your dog unattended in a car in the hot weather. Cars in the sun heat up alarmingly fast with the potential to kill dogs in as little as fifteen minutes. A window being left open is not enough to protect a dog from the effects of the heat, and can still result in serious injury or death.

If in doubt, we recommend focusing on keeping your dog as cool as possible, away from direct sunlight, and hydrated. For more information on dog safety in summertime, please contact your vet.

Next Up

28 Jun 2024

How to Train Recall – PROTECTION DOGS WORLDWIDE

Recall training is the process of teaching a dog to return to its handler on demand, generally using its name or commands such as close and come. Recall is one of the most important commands any dog should know, especially if it is a working animal. Bulletproof recall is also…

Read More

Contact Us

We welcome any queries and are happy to provide further information, so please get in touch – we would love to hear from you!

Message Us