(141) How Hot is Too Hot?

It is HOT today. By 9 AM the temp registered 80 degrees in my car and by the time I left work, it was 90. Now it is 92 degrees out and heading higher. It’s so hot and with the humidity up the combination is deadly hot. The back road I travel to work is a mixture of tar and pea gravel or “chip and tar” as they say. When I drive these roads home in the afternoon I can hear the tar sticking to my tires. The corn smells so sweet right now and it’s the kind of hot that we say we can hear the corn growing. At night you almost can hear it. That’s hot! There’s been a 50% chance of rain every day this week and yesterday we did get some rain early in the day but it didn’t lower the temperature any. When I get into my car, it’s stifling hot. What did we do before air conditioners? We were hot inside and out! I can remember doing anything to keep any air moving in the house when I was younger and living in a non air conditioned house. There were never enough box fans. Even now, when I live in luxury within an air conditioned house, it doesn’t seem to be cool enough when it gets this hot.

I’ve been thinking, how hot is too hot to take the dogs on a walk? When is it too hot to let the dogs outside longer that it takes to do their business? Too hot to take them with me on a car errand? Last night when Brad got home from work, it was still light out and later in the day, about 7:00PM. We decided to take the dogs for a walk, like we normally do when we get a chance. Even at 7 at night the temperature was still in the low 80’s. We took a 45 minute walk with both sun and shady stretches. When we got home, Max and Beeker both panted hard. Beeks cooled down fairly quickly, within 15 minutes. It took Max a lot longer. Max pants by nature (I believe his vocal cords were injured at an early age by lunging with a chain around his neck…before he came to us). Still he has a difficult time cooling down with all of his long black hair and extra large body. Whenever we take him on a walk it takes him a long time to cool down. However, given the temperature and the length of the walk we may have over done it. Brad questioned me about this after we returned. I’ve been thinking about this since. How hot is too hot?

Some things seem simple enough. If its too hot to walk on the sidewalk, or road barefooted then its too hot to have your dog walk on the sidewalk or road as well. The pads on a dog’s paw are thick but can melt just the same. My sister found this out the hard way when she let JesseJames go on a long walk with her in Idaho. Jesse was so happy to be outside that he ran about. back and fourth while Juli and my mom walked a straight line. After one day Jesse had blisters on his pads and could barely walk at all. Juli had to restrict Jesse’s activity for nearly three days before the pads started to heal.

Taking a dog with you when you are running errands is not such a good idea if you need to leave him while the car and airconditioning are turned off. One website I looked at showed research that cars sitting in high temperatures even with the windows cracked still heated to the equivalent of heated ovens. (check out http://www.mydogiscool.com/x_reports.php) I know that when I open my car door on a hot day I can feel the heat escaping the moment I open the door.

Dogs can get sunburn and heat exhaustion as well. Heat exhaustion is somewhat common in dogs. Dogs cool themselves by panting but if they can not cool themselves enough they can get heat exhaustion and even develop heat stroke. Early signs of heat exhaustion are heavy panting, salivation, and rapid breathing (this sounds like a normal day for Maxie). But also fatigue, muscle tremors and staggering (not a normal day for Maxie). If heat exhaustion occurs, it is important to get the dog cooled down (with wet towels, in the shade, and small sips of cool water). Then call the Vet.

So, How hot is too hot? I’ve decided that it’s too hot for my dogs to be outside when it is too hot for me to be outside. If I want to walk around for a few minutes to check out the garden and yard, then it is okay for Beeks to run too, if he get water and shade occasionally. Then he needs to be able to cool down inside. Maxie is another story. Because he is larger, less active, has lots of long hair, he needs to be outside less, get more water, and generally lay low during the hot summer days. Oh, and lots of ice cubes. They love ice cubes. Isn’t that what they call the Dog Days of Summer?