Summer has arrived too early!

[sanford]

I overdid it with Ruffy! I have to admit I didn't use common sense and I'll be very careful about this in the future!

Two days this week the temperature almost reached 90 degrees and it was insufferably humid. I kept Ruffy inside with the A.C. for most of the first day, but on day 2, we went to the park. I took plenty of water which I offered him several times, stayed mostly in the shade and also sprayed him all over with water. Inside the dog run, Ruffy chose to cool himself by spreading flat out on his belly in the wading pool.I thought this was all sufficient to keep him comfortable.

As we approached my apartment on the way home, Ruffy was panting heavily and walking very slowly. Just outside the door he stopped and lay down in the sun on the warm concrete sidewalk and was reluctant to get back up on his feet. This was very uncharacteristic behavior and I was startled by this... he's never done such a thing before and I interpreted this as heat fatigue. I picked him up and carried him inside. I watched Ruffy carefully for the next few days and he seemed fine and now and the weather has cooled considerably.

Ruffy was born at, and spent his first 3 years at the (cool) Canadian border. This is probably this first time in his life that he's experienced such heat & humidity and I'm sure we'll be in for more of the same and worse during the summer. I thought I took proper precautions, but apparently not.

I know from reading the posts on this site that many of our cairns live in the South and the Southwest. Does anyone have any tips or guidance for me & Ruffy? I want to keep him exercised and active. Is this basically out of the question during July and August?

P.S. From now on I'll confine our walks to early A.M. and evenings in hot weather. I'd appreciate any suggestions/tips you might have to offer!

[KShep]

It's been hot here too! From what I understand, the double coat actually helps to keep them cool. I think it's normal for them to sprawl out like that when they come into the a/c. Ripley likes the tile for cooling off. I would just make sure that you are giving him plenty of water. And I would keep the trips outside brief, so he's not getting overheated. I think they handle it pretty well though.

[Dempsy's Mom]

Early morning and evening is a good idea. Also I was wondering how far the park was from your apartment? Is there a half way point somewhere where Ruffy could take a break from the journey to the park and home? Also this is a good time to strip Ruffy and shave his little belly. I wonder if you could take a cooler with you with some stuff. I know that you are looking for excerise, but this lady at the fair had a little stroller for her pooches - maybe stoll him to the park - excercise and stroll back. ? I don't know - I am just throwing out ideas. That old concrete has got to be hot and if you had a stroller that would relieve some of the heat. You could even pack his seat with cold packs. Good luck with little Ruffy and the summer months. Demps likes his pool too. Isn't it cute how they sprawl out in them.

[josie&holly]

When we get it hot [20 degrees] I only take Holly out early morning or evening. She will lie down at regular intervals on the grass/pathway/pavement if I take her out when it is warm and only carry on walking with reluctance so it is rare that I take her out in the afternoon as she obviously dislikes it! When she lies down she gets sympathy from passersby who probably think I am ill treating her[she can look very pathetic when she wants to!] - I regularly get asked if she is old and I say no!

If I do take her out when warm I make sure I have water with me and there is always water in car too.

[Idaho Cairns]

When the weather gets torrid here (and we have no humidity to speak of) the only exercise the girls get is in the water. We suspend long walks where there is no pond or river for them to swim in. Swimming seems to exhaust them as much as walking so I know it is good exercise. If there is no swimming then we walk after dark when the temps always drop by 15-20 degrees. We humans don't even like hot, hot weather so it is a win-win for us and the dogs.

I would suggest finding some bodies of water to let Ruffy romp in.

[finncaraid]

So glad you posted your question! I hope you get some good ideas because I, too, am very concerned with Finn & the heat. Since temps every day are now above 70, he's really struggling & I don't know what to do. Have stripped him, trimmed his belly hair real close, taken off the really heavy hair around the neck & he's still having a really hard time. I've been walking him early, taking water & trying to get him to walk at a slower pace but he still gets over-heated. Last week it got in the upper 90's here for a few days & I wound up at the vets to have him checked. He has a really low grade heart murmur & I was scared it had turned into something worse. We lost our 14 year old Pom this time last year to congestive heart failure so I'm paranoid about heart disease. The vet said he was fine & looked very healthy- perhaps he just had low heat tolerance. He suggested the same things everybody else here has said. But I, too, don't know how he's going to get his exercise every day when summer really gets here. By late July, it stays about 70 even overnight. And 70 seems to be about his limit. The swimming thing sounds like a great activity but Finn does not like water. I feel so bad for the little guy- he loves to be outside, running around, having fun but when he comes in he practically collapses. I'll only take him out briefly during the hot time of day but he doesn't seem to get it that he can't be doing his usual. The vet seems to think that he'll adjust to the heat as the days go by. Don't know about that. If you find something that works, please let us know!!!

[Lynn in TN]

Ok, I hope that since my pup and her family was born in TN they can take the heat a little better. It can reach 105 in July and August.

[hheldorfer]

I agree with Dempsy's mom - early morning and late evening would be the best time for walks in the hot weather. I don't know how early your dog park is open; if you have to take Ruffy when it's warmer, you may want to try throwing a lot of ice cubes in the water. Buffy loves to chew on ice cubes when it's hot outside. The grooming ideas are good, too - stripping and getting rid of some undercoat should help.

Everyone will probably be in the same situation very soon. Hang in there!

[Idaho Cairns]

Cairns are pretty adaptable little dogs--very rugged and they will adjust to most weather quickly. Just use good judgment. I'm not sure about any radical attempts to alleviate the heat by thinning the coat. I used to have Labs, another dual coated breed and after the spring shedding, nothing was done to their coats in the summer. Regular brushing out of the dead hair should be adequate to prepare a healthy Cairn for any weather condition it is likely to experience.

[Vinny & Tucker]

Hi, I live in Tampa, FL and we deal with the heat here year round. So my cairn's heat tolerance is pretty high, but we still struggle in the summer when upper 90's to low 100's with 100% humidity is a regular occurrence. We limit walks to early or late but even then it can still be brutal outside. One trick I use is to wet a little dog bandana with ice water and tie it around Vinny's neck right before we leave the house. This seems to really help him to be more comfortable for longer. We try to keep walks short, or take lots of breaks when doing longer walks. Even then, there are days where it's just too hot to venture outside for more than a bathroom break, on those days we just play some high energy fetch inside.

[sanford]

Thanks for the responses. I'll follow some of the suggestions and also curtail activities during the hottest parts of the day. Luckily, I just discovered 2 air conditioned doggie play groups right in my neighborhood. They each have a free night every week, so that should help. I also found a site: HeatReliefDepot.com, that has a MiraCool bandana for dogs. It has (polymer?) crystals inside. You soak the bandana in cold water and it stays cool on the dog for hours. With shipping, the cost comes to more than $16.00 which I think is pretty high for a bandana, but I'll probably give this a try and I think it will look pretty cool on Ruffy... Pardon the pun!

[Tuesday]

I'm just North of Vinny & Tucker in Florida. We do have some hot temperatures in the summer (NOTHING compared to the AR summers though). Thank goodness for the wonderful sea breezes!

We spend a lot of time on our back lanai and pool area. We have an area that's totally shaded and under the roof with a ceiling fan always going. Murphy isn't a fan of the pool (fell in while he was on "patrol" when we first moved in) so we just hose him off and he lies on the cool shaded part of the deck with the fan blowing over him.

We limit outdoor time for zoomies and walks to early morning or late evening.

[hheldorfer]

Thanks for the responses. I'll follow some of the suggestions and also curtail activities during the hottest parts of the day. Luckily, I just discovered 2 air conditioned doggie play groups right in my neighborhood. They each have a free night every week, so that should help. I also found a site: HeatReliefDepot.com, that has a MiraCool bandana for dogs. It has (polymer?) crystals inside. You soak the bandana in cold water and it stays cool on the dog for hours. With shipping, the cost comes to more than $16.00 which I think is pretty high for a bandana, but I'll probably give this a try and I think it will look pretty cool on Ruffy... Pardon the pun!

I think Ruffy would look quite the dashing gentleman wearing a bandana. Let us know if it helps - I may just buy two for my pups.

[kjwarnold]

Yep, early morning walks for us or just swims. Packy & Kirby are lucky to live on a lake, so they swim daily and get most of their hot weather exercise in the water. Each dog seems to handle weather differently. Packy will purposely lay in the sun on a hot dock when it's 95* out; he says he's working on his tan. Kirby tends to stay in the shade more and pants quite a bit. When it's really hot and we're out quite a while, I make sure they are in the water a lot to cool off. Although here in Missouri, our water temps can reach 92* in August!

[TazTalk]

105 in the good ol' dessert here today!

We walk only in the very early am or later at night. Tonight we played ball in the backyard on the grass area which was a little wet still from watering. Taz got a lot of exercise with that - but he is panting quite heavy right now.

We also try to arrange play dates with other dogs that are closer to Taz's age -- they run around (usually in the house if it's a hot one) and do zoomies together and tire each other out.

And when we have time ... we drive 2 hours to Mt. Lemmmon in Tucson where it can be in the 70-80's in the summer. Taz loves hiking there.

[KShep]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Outward-Hound-Cool-Cooling-Bandana-Pink-Small-8-14-/110550792050?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19bd573772

Col Potter Cairn Rescue has them for $7.00 on ebay.

But they are pink I got one for Ripley but I don't want Ruffy to have a gender identity crisis!

[hheldorfer]

After seeing our forecast yesterday (in the 90's this week) I went out a bought a doggie pool for Buffy and Ziggy. They're both still getting used to the idea - I guess it's not the same as splashing through a mud puddle at the dog park. Buffy seems to be the most adventurous. I tossed some of her tennis balls in the water and she ventured in to get them. Then the game started: Once they were rescued from the pool, I had to throw them for her. She'd chase the ball once, bring it halfway back and stare at me. So I threw the balls back in the pool and the cycle started all over again. She was cool and happy; I was hot and sweaty from fetching balls. Who's training who?