Comments on: Overheated, heat stroked Brittanys. Be careful!

By: jlmyers

jlmyers — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:37:39 +0000

One old time rule of thumb, that has served me well in avoiding heat-related problems is, “when the combination of relative humidity and temperature are above 150, then you need to be real careful about training your dog hard. My philosophy is definitely “better safe than sorry” when it comes to heat!

By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:51:15 +0000

That’s the problem with heat stroke, you really don’t know unless you take a rectal temperature. It is insidious and definitely sneaks up on you.

A good rule of thumb is that if your dog is hot, cool ‘em off even if you have to do it every 5 minutes. It is simply not worth the risk.

Many high performance bird dogs will not show signs until it is too late but some obvious signs are they become wobbly on their feet, their gums become white, rapid panting, etc.

Here’s a site with good article:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/hs.html

By: dukesjo

dukesjo — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:25:27 +0000

What are the signs that your dog is overheating and that he/she is not just hot?

By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:15:43 +0000

Thanks for the comments. I’ve never tried that but can imagine a cold towel helps as well.

Another ‘technique’, if you can call it that, is I have kicked dirt out with my foot and formed a sort of shallow puddle, then poured water into it. Most dogs will stretch out and let their belly cool in the puddle. A little messy but effective! LOL

I got the idea from watching warm dogs do that on days there are puddles and they get hot.

By: Cleveland Rhoades

Cleveland Rhoades — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:01:34 +0000

Thanks, great advices. I didn’t know about the cold water on the inside ears. I alwas have a cooler for drinks and put a towel in the water and wrap it around Striker