Summer Sun Protection:

[kudzu]

Some people choose to use various cooling products to aid their dogs. This can be done effectively & safely but caution must be exercised. Too many of these have some serious drawbacks that can greatly offset any benefits they may provide. Choose the products wisely. Understand how they are designed to work & use them properly. In almost all cases if the product is no longer working to cool the dog then it is actually contributing heat in varying degrees from minimal to quite detrimental.

 

Food for thought: A dog's own coat can actually block some, even most of the cooling effect these products are supposed to provide. That's less of a problem with thin coated dogs like Greyhounds but in some situations it can effect them as well. Depending on the products design & thickness/texture of the dog's coat these products may provide only minimal help at best. In fact they can even be counterproductive at times.

 

Why I'm not a fan of "cooling coats": Though it is possible to use them to good effect, great care must be exercised. Some only cool for a brief time. If you cannot cool those down again they must be removed. Many that work for extended periods use materials that make them heavier than I care to use on my dog. Should those loose their cooling effect it is even more important to remove them. Some designs provide little useful areas for the coats cool surface to contact the dog's body. Only a few I've seen will work when dry. Those used wet or damp have potential to get the dogs own coat too moist. This can potentially cause the dog's own hair to not only retain body heat but possibly block some or all of the hoped for cooling effect. Few of these are made from highly breathable materials so cooling effects fans or breezes are greatly diminished. That means the evaporative cooling is minimal on the inner surface, right where the dogs really needs it. If not careful many of these coats can quickly go from cooling to basically leaving the dog in steam room. This is the reason they must be removed if they cannot be cooled down again. Otherwise there is the potentially fatal chance of 'cooking' the dog.

 

Sun protection helps. When outside in the Summer it is best to protect your dog from the sun. If you cannot bring your dog to shade, then take the shade to the dog. This leads me to an exception to my comments on cooling coats above. There are at least two coats designed specifically for this. They are made from mesh materials that reflect the sun but allow air transfer to reduce any chance of retaining body heat. One is the ChillyBuddy. I've heard it helps but have not yet seen or used one. It is apparently made from something like the silver mesh people often use for shade at dog events. Another which I actually purchased & have used to good effect is the K9 Kooling Coat from Saratoga Horseworks. I chose this one for a few reasons. It works dry & is light & airy. It can also be used damp. It does not absorb water & get saturated thus increasing evaporative cooling & greatly reducing any chance of cooking the dog. (One exception might be areas of very high humidity, especially if the air is still.) Also the coat & belly band can be ordered in seperate sizes at no extra cost. This gives you a better chance of getting a good fit on deep chested dogs. There are probably others available as well.

 

Water causes wet dogs.[i/] So if you have a wading pool & a dog who likes to get most of their body soaked rather than wade it may be best to at least towel them dry afterwards. This is particularly true in humid climates where evaporation is much slower. Again, the thicker coated dogs will be more prone to retaining heat with a wet coat so they require even more caution. This also applies to hosing your dogs off or spraying with water. The water needs to contact the skin to really help but you need to get most of the moisture out of their coat so it can evaporate & continue to help rather than hurt.

 

These are only a few things to keep in mind. Just wanted to get folks started thinking in this direction as we try to beat the summer heat.

[Guest kydie]

I use cooling beds,,, they are soaked in water for 20minutes,, and stay damp for about 24 hours,,, the pups can lie on them,, of coarse it takes 2 per dog,, as the dogs are larger than the beds I have found these to be a greyt help ,, I soak the beds down and place them under a tree,, all 4 of them enjoy these beds

[Time4ANap]

We had a cool down jacket made out of a wicking fabric that is used to make bath towels. It is only used if he gets overheated (for a dog that raced in Florida, it's amazing how he can't handle temps over about 70 degrees...)

 

If Rocket is having trouble cooling down after an outing or walk, we soak the coat with cool water and put it on him for 15-20 minutes. We've had great results doing this, as the coat conforms to his body and is easier to keep on him than a wet towel. In a pinch, a cold wet bath towel will work as long as you re-soak it with cool water once it warms up. We always take this cooling jacket to events where we will do a great deal of walking or spending time in the sun.

[Batmom]

I would strongly discourage people from using wet-down cooling coats. They're dangerous.

Wet jacket + sun and/or hot day = really bad idea, tempting heat stroke. Wet dog + sun on a humid, still day = bad idea, too.

 

Evaporation from the jacket won't cool the dog if the dog's fur is still damp underneath; it'll just make him hotter.

 

On a breezy day, hosing the dog with cool water is a help, but if you can't continuously run the water over him, you need to get him out of the sun.

[sarabz]

I find that Bella's black coat can get extremely hot to the touch so am very careful about her sun exposure. We're rarely places where we're exposed to too much sun and definitely take care. We were loking into cooling coats but really appreciate this thread as they are a new concept to us.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I just stay indoors or in the shade, provide lots of water, and if we're going to be outside exercising, we only do so in the water (beach, pool, etc). And that's in the worst of the worst- Florida- for humid heat. I hate heat even more than the dogs do, so it's not a big problem for us to just avoid it.

[Guest katethegreyt]

I like the idea of those reflective mesh coats. We've used them on some horses, and it can help a lot. They just need to be lightweight and super breathable so the air can get through (horses sweat all over, so these can sometimes be counterproductive if they trap in the sweat). Depending on your climate, the soaking coats can be good. In a humid place like Houston, I think they need to be used cautiously. If you can find some that aren't too heavy, the ones that use the beads that soak up the water but then are dry to the touch might be a nice option. I really like my collar that uses similar tech, but I haven't tried a full coat.

 

I said it in another thread, but I ordered this collar from Polar Products: http://www.polar-products.com/index.php?p=view_product&product_id=11 You can soak it and let it sit for a bit so the outside dries. It's not drippy after that, and stays surprisingly cool to the touch (I'll stick my hand between her neck and the collar, and it's actually still cool on a hot day even after it's been next to the neck for awhile). The little beads inside soak up the water and then it evaporates slowly without getting your pup all wet. It seems to help a our girl. And it was so cheap, I figured why not. Plus, they sent a free human version with ours, and I actually like it better for the dog (it ties instead of using velcro). And it lasts all day without needing a resoak.

[Guest KatJon]

It seems like a lot of people have baby pools for their greys to lounge in... Do most greyhounds like them?

 

We don't have A/C, but those few days a year that the house is over 90 are pretty rough, even for us humans...

Edited June 3, 2011 by KatJon

[3vagreys]

I find that Bella's black coat can get extremely hot to the touch so am very careful about her sun exposure. We're rarely places where we're exposed to too much sun and definitely take care. We were loking into cooling coats but really appreciate this thread as they are a new concept to us.

Echo's black coat get's very hot in the sun so I made her a white cotton eyelet sundress. It appears to help.

[Guest june]

I like the idea of those reflective mesh coats. We've used them on some horses, and it can help a lot. They just need to be lightweight and super breathable so the air can get through (horses sweat all over, so these can sometimes be counterproductive if they trap in the sweat). Depending on your climate, the soaking coats can be good. In a humid place like Houston, I think they need to be used cautiously. If you can find some that aren't too heavy, the ones that use the beads that soak up the water but then are dry to the touch might be a nice option. I really like my collar that uses similar tech, but I haven't tried a full coat.

 

I said it in another thread, but I ordered this collar from Polar Products: http://www.polar-products.com/index.php?p=view_product&product_id=11 You can soak it and let it sit for a bit so the outside dries. It's not drippy after that, and stays surprisingly cool to the touch (I'll stick my hand between her neck and the collar, and it's actually still cool on a hot day even after it's been next to the neck for awhile). The little beads inside soak up the water and then it evaporates slowly without getting your pup all wet. It seems to help a our girl. And it was so cheap, I figured why not. Plus, they sent a free human version with ours, and I actually like it better for the dog (it ties instead of using velcro). And it lasts all day without needing a resoak.

 

I don't know if this applies to your collar, but there are some products out there with the beads that soak up water that can be harmful to a dog if they should chew on it and eat the beads. I bought some of the scarves with the beads that you soak and I use them at meet n greets but I would never leave it on my dog unsupervised. They do a great job of keeping the dogs cooler than if I were using a cool coat.

june