Dogs do not sweat the way we do. They lose heat almost entirely by panting, and on a Coast summer day with high humidity that mechanism simply stops working. A dog can go from fine to in trouble in the time it takes to walk back from the beach to the car.
Who is most at risk
Flat-faced breeds first: pugs, bulldogs, French bulldogs, boxers. Then anything overweight, anything elderly, anything with a thick double coat, and any dog that has been running hard. Puppies too, because they do not know when to stop.
The signs, in order
It usually progresses like this
- Frantic panting that does not settle when the dog rests
- Very red gums and tongue, thick or ropey saliva
- Unsteadiness, seeking shade or lying down and refusing to move
- Vomiting or diarrhoea, sometimes with blood
- Collapse, glazed eyes, seizures
If your dog is panting and will not stop, and will not get up, you are already past the point of waiting to see.
The first five minutes
Before anything else
- Move to shade or air conditioning immediately
- Wet the dog with cool, not cold, water — tap water is right, ice water is wrong
- Put them in front of a fan or the car’s air vents if you can
- Offer small amounts of water but do not force it
- Phone us on the way, so we can be ready
What not to do
Do not use ice or iced water. It constricts the blood vessels at the skin and traps heat inside, which is the opposite of what you want. Do not cover the dog in wet towels and leave them, for the same reason. And do not assume that because the panting has eased the danger has passed: the organ damage from heat stress often shows up over the following day, which is why we want to see the dog even if it seems to have recovered.
