As you well know by now, the Leavitt Bulldog was created to be a dog that could work and still breathe. THAT SAID, we still have to keep an eye out to make sure they don’t overheat.. just like we do for ourselves. We get all sorts of temperatures here and we do sports in all sorts of temperatures. Most of our Weight pull trials are outside and occur between May and October. Usually not in the hottest summer months of July and August, but May, June and September can still get hot! and HUMID! Oftentimes, there is no air conditioned space to crate our dogs while they wait their turn, plus, you don’t want your dog to be ice cold before they do strenuous exercise (always make sure you are stretching your dogs out before and after strenuous exercises. Even something as simple as asking for sit, down, sit, stand in succession helps!)
Somebody posted this article today discussing ACTIVE cooling during exercise. I thought it was pretty good and figured I’d share! I also figured I’d share some of the things we do/prepare when we know it will be warm and we will be exercising.
I want to start by saying sometimes dogs need cooling even when it’s not ‘hot’. Hooper, for example, doesn’t tend to settle well on car rides. He’s much better traveling in a crate in the car, but most of the time he still sits and pants for the ride. We try to travel the day before an event like weight pull so that we only have a short drive to get to the venue on the day of . If our trip is longer than an hour and a half, I will often give him Benadryl as it does tend to have a bit of a calming effect for him but since it makes him drowsy, I don’t want him doing sport after he’s taken it. Sometimes, if we go a short distance and meet up with some friends that he is very excited about, I have even found leaving him crated for a bit to help the initial excitement wear off so he can start off on a long walk calmly helps a GREAT deal so he doesn’t continue to work himself up. Cool the mind AND the body!
⇒ Cooling Mats! We use this one in the bottom of crates and sometimes even after we return from a hot walk. I will warn that SOME puppies (ahem QUINT) don’t really like them and think it’s fun to chew. Overall though, they’ve held up well for us. I just monitor Quint when he’s on it and remove it when he’s cooled or after a short time.
⇒ Spray bottle with water! yep. A simple spray bottle you can find at the hardware store. Usually I’ll keep it in the cooler at a trial and give the paws, belly and underarms a spritz on occasion. (and sometimes hooper will drink from it! ha!)
⇒ Water! I know. Seems obvious. If they are hanging in their crates at a trial, I have crate bowls that attach to them. We love these kennel gear ones! I recommend the metal ones rather than the plastic.. again.. SOME puppy gets bored and the notch that locks the bowl in is plastic. Also, Hooper learned to drink from a water bottle at a young age. I have to say it’s one of the best things! It’s so much easier to carry a water bottle on a hike than stuffing a bowl and a bottle of water into my pack.
⇒ Go Dog! Okay someone turned me on to this stuff and I have to say it’s been so fantastic! Sometimes I have trouble getting the dogs to drink enough. This stuff tastes meaty and gives the water a little kick so they will drink a little more. It’s like gatorade for your dog. You just add it to their water.
⇒ Cooling vests. We’ve used them and we do like them. They are a little bit cumbersome to pack and if you get the kind that you have to activate in water, it can take up valuable cooler space but they do a great job of keeping your dogs cool on the go. I’ve linked to a dog one, we happened to have a human one that we have used on the dogs too. We’ve also used cooling bandana’s as well!
⇒ Crate fans/fans! We love these Ryobi ones! (PS, Home Depot is having Ryobi days right now and you can get these fans free with another Ryobi purchase.. get extra batteries!)
⇒ Pools or bodies of water. Whenever we compete in weight pull in hot weather, the club usually puts a plastic kid pool near the track. This serves a couple of purposes. 1. if you wet your dogs feet before pulling on carpet, they have a little better grip. 2. If it’s real hot, you can wet them down a bit to regulate their temp 3. Reward! I think this is Hooper’s favorite thing to do after he’s done pulling. He gets to plop in the pool and roll around.
⇒ Know your dog! Know what it looks like when they need a break. Often a working dog will go go go unless you actively give them a break. Don’t forget to give the brain a break too! Sometimes just letting them sniff new things actually calms them down! Also! Don’t forget when seasonal changes in temperature happen (like the first hot day after winter), it may take your dog time to re-acclimate. Take it slow and keep an eye out!
I’d love to hear what you do to prevent your dog from overheating and steps you take for active cooling! Feel free to share in the comments!
The Determined Bullblog 