Just like horses there seems like there is so much outdated information on how to cool an overheated dog. What say you COTH on the current best practice?
Good old fashioned hose on legs, belly, under carriage, working up to the back.
Having said that, prevention is your best bet. I had a dog that was very heat intolerant and prone to heat stress/heat stroke. Humidity was a huge factor. We kept him indoors in the AC when temps and humidity rose, restricted walks to early morning and late evening, shortened walks.
What made a huge difference is that we would always wet him down before walking. I would hose him all over.
A new find that I am loving is the cooling vest. I use this on my short coated dog and it makes a huge difference. Not sure if it would work as well on a longer coated dog. I still will wet her with the hose and use the cooling vest on really hot, steamy days.
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Definitely agree on the prevention is the best bet! My big guy is not a fan of heat so we don’t do much outside in the middle of the day and try to make sure our walks always go past his favorite swimming holes 
I was just curious about the COTH collective knowledge since it’s that time of year when the facebook dire warnings come out. OMG never give your dog an ice cube, never put cold water on them and I saw a new one today- never put a wet towel on a dog to cool them, only put the dog on the wet towel (um what??? lol)
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I’m going to have to give this cooling vest a try on our Vizslas.
I think that’s all mostly a bunch of baloney 
I wet my dog with a cold hose for all 13 years of his life and never had a problem. Cold hose, AC and now cooling vest are my go-tos.
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It’s amazing. You won’t be sorry!
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Related question - anyone have a good guide on safe temp ranges? That takes into account age, coat, acclimation, fitness, access to water, etc? My SO is starting to flip out about 80-85 degrees being too high risk to be outside more than 20 min with zero qualifiers. We have fit high energy dogs with short hair…i have to be able to exercise them in summer! I can do early am and late evening to stay out of sun, but it might still be 80 degrees!
Cool water and air movement (fan).
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My pittie had heat stoke from sitting out in the sun on a nice 80* day in October. It does not have to be super hot to have them over heat. He had to go to the Emg vet when he would not stop vomiting bile, shaking, and was hot to the touch. (I was at work and was livid when I came home)
What I learned from my experience. For every drop of drool/spit/water vapor in their breath, pee that exits the dogs body; that needs to be replaced. So keep water on hand at all times. Offer water frequently if hiking or on the road. Once a dog over heats suffers from heat stroke them doing it again a second time happens quicker.
Also, I tend to cool them like I did my FEI CDE horses. Belly, neck area, and scrap, scrap scrap. I also will place a ice pack on their head if really hot. Water traps heat, so scrap any water off the coat if you use a hose.
Have them stand in or wrap their feet/paws in cold water/towels is the newest thing that I have heard.
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Well, it makes sense that putting a wet towel on their backs - especially a heavily coated dog - will only make them hotter. Just trapping the heat under the towel.
Putting their feet on the wet towel would be better.
Yes. Cool water to feet and belly is typically the standard for dogs in field trials - and then let them air dry. Dunking the dog and then taking them out of a water tank is better than leaving them in the tank of water (presumably it’s the same temperature as outside, so it will not cool as much as the evaporation.)
Yes am I totally vigilant on the water in them thing. I think that’s a spill over from my endurance horses lol
The current on horses is that scraping is totally unnecessary and that they have found that water does not trap heat. You want to either continuously hose or sponge, no scraping. If you cannot continuously add water, then leaving the water on is better than scraping it off
I’ve heard that about the paws in towels and cold water thing too
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that reasoning makes sense to me. The people that were arguing it on FB were saying it was because it would cool them to fast which definitely didn’t make sense lol
How does hot water arrive at your sink if water does not trap heat???
Hosing and continuously sponging will run water off of the body. Yes. totally agree. And that water will be hot coming off of the body. So I am having a hard time with water not trapping heat.
Also, when I wear a cotton shirt and it is wet, its is hotter compared to wearing a dri-fit shirt that is wet.
I guess I do not understand the science of it.
Thank you!
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No problem- I will say that I also had some trouble wrapping my head around it after years of having scrape, scrape, scrape drilled into me. It seems to be working well, my horses cool down great at holds with a good dousing, then standing in shade with air movement if possible
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The problem with most of the facebook warnings is that many of them are things not to do if your dog is experiencing heat stroke, but they’re perfectly safe for a healthy dog on a hot day.
I don’t have much advice other than prevention and know your dog. I tend to be overcautious if we’re in a different environment, ie at my inlaws trailer since I know that she’ll already have an elevated heart rate, and will be panting more from the excitement and stress. I’ll add water to her food or use some baited water, I’ll stick her in the air conditioned trailer to literally chill, or I’ll take her to a shady area and we’ll read a book.
Last weekend I chose to hire a dogwalker to come and take her out during the day instead of dragging her to a horseshow since it was so hot and humid. SO is away on vacation right now, so too long for her to be home alone.
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That’s why I’m asking what actual protocol is. There is so much doom and gloom crazy and often incorrect info about cooling dogs (and horses) out there- even from people who should know better. I figured the COTH collective is always good for digging out the facts and real life experience
I would say that actually knowing the signs that indicate that a dog is moving from normal - to heat stess - to heat exhaustion - to heat stroke is most important.
Heat stress basically just means stop with physical activity, move to shade or air conditioning, get them drinking, cool water, a wet towel to lay down on or a cooling vest would likely be appreciated, a small frozen treat isn’t going to send them into shock (in some dogs it may be helpful to get them to stop moving and relax for a few minutes).
Signs would be things like excessive panting, pasty saliva, dog feels hot to the touch, may start to act dull.
When that shifts to heat exhaustion than a vet should be involved. This is the state where severe dehydration and shock become a concern. This is where the Facebook warnings start to become relevant. Treats of any kind can become a choking hazard, a dog that is this affected may be starting to lose control. The dog needs to dissipate heat, constricting surface blood vessels with extreme temperature changes can be counterproductive.
Signs would be uncontrollable panting, dry mouth (no saliva or drool), vomiting, shakiness.
Heat stroke would be next. At this point the dog should already be on the way to the vet. Seizures, muscle damage, organ failure etc are real concerns.
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