Panting, Panting, Panting!

[Guest cvdrumsta]

Hi folks.

 

Depending on where you live, you, too, may be experiencing the heatwave Moon and I are enduring. Suffice to say it comes as no surprise to me that she's been panting her little head off.

 

I've done everything I can to keep her comfy--water is out at all times and we've been hiding out in an air-conditioned room. If she liked getting in the water, I'd draw a cool bath, but there'd be no point.

 

We're both currently chilling in the AC room and she's snoozing against my leg, but still with some minor panting.

 

My question is, how much panting is too much panting? I mean, if we're in a 70F degree room, she's okay, right? I'm just paranoid because she's my first grey and I know they don't thermoregulate very well.

[Booker_Aye]

Henry panted at 74 degrees, but 70 degrees suits him very well. So what if Mom is freezing!

[Guest RMarie]

I was wondering what other people set their thermostats to in the summer. Ours is currently at 75. Sometimes James pants, but most of the time he doesn't. Before we (reluctantly) turned the AC on, the house was almost up to 80, and James was panting a lot. He's the only reason we have it on now.

[a_daerr]

I thought we were normal until I started reading the other responses. Our central AC is currently set to 70, and we're also running a window unit in the bedroom. You guys would probably have icicles hanging off your noses.

[Guest cvdrumsta]

Alas I have only one air-conditioned room, but I'm about as heat-tolerant as Moon. Anything over 70 is hot to me. Difference is, I can sweat, and she can't, so I don't know what her upper limit is. I mean, we have to walk in 92 degree weather lately, so I make sure when we get back she has a drink and joins me in the AC bedroom. But I don't know how to tell if she's just normal panting or if she's really, really too hot.

[Sambuca]

Keep the walks in92 degree weather very short. They do adapt to temps in the 70s and 80s after awhile, but they still shouldn't exercise much in those temps. early morning or evenings are best. Or take them for a walk along the river like I do so the can drink and swim at any point during the walk. Even then they pant a lot.

 

Look up the symptoms for heat stroke. That's what you need to look out for.

[Guest cvdrumsta]

Keep the walks in92 degree weather very short. They do adapt to temps in the 70s and 80s after awhile, but they still shouldn't exercise much in those temps. early morning or evenings are best. Or take them for a walk along the river like I do so the can drink and swim at any point during the walk. Even then they pant a lot.

 

Look up the symptoms for heat stroke. That's what you need to look out for.

 

Hell, even I can't exercise much at those temps. We're out for 15 minutes max and then it's a drink of water and back into the AC room. Our other two walks are early morning (she sees to that!) and evening.

[a_daerr]

One thing you can try is a spritzing her with a water bottle filled with cold water and ice cubes. That might help her to cool down a little quicker.

[Guest OPointyDog]

We also walk when it's hot, but try to keep it short. I get a tea towel wet and wipe the dogs down with cold water when we get home and park them in front of the big fan. The moving air evaporates the water off their skin and helps keep them cold - I focus the water mainly on the areas of bare skin on their stomachs figuring that will help cool them.

 

I would love it if my house would cool down to 70!! But we have a house built in 1890 and the A/C is underpowered for the size of the house, so we go for 74. Even at that temperature, the dogs pant sometimes.

 

Our big greyhound reunion picnic is tomorrow - it's going to be dreadful at 88 degrees!! Lots of wilted greyhounds everywhere. We may just go for a short time.

[Guest cvdrumsta]

One thing you can try is a spritzing her with a water bottle filled with cold water and ice cubes. That might help her to cool down a little quicker.

 

I thought about this, but Moon isn't a huge fan of getting wet. Maybe she will be when she's hot. I'll scrounge around for a spray bottle tomorrow.

[Guest PiagetsMom]

We'll be in the mid 90's here next week. Finding a good time to walk will be a challenge, but we'll try to do morning walks as long as we can.

 

The thermostat here is set on 75-76 degrees, but this year Mirage (who will be 10) still seems to be panting at times When he's uncomfortable, I'll be bumping it down.

[brianamac]

Since she isn't a fan of water, you might try wetting a lightweight bath towel (cheap Walmart beach towel style) with really cold water, then squeezing it out until it's just damp. Lay that on top of her when she lays down after a walk or when she seems hot.

We do this for ours and while we have to re-wet it every 10 mins or so to keep the towel cold enough, he usually cools down enough in half an hour or so that we can just remove it. And it doesn't have the 'shock' factor of a direct water spritz or a pool.

[Guest cvdrumsta]

Since she isn't a fan of water, you might try wetting a lightweight bath towel (cheap Walmart beach towel style) with really cold water, then squeezing it out until it's just damp. Lay that on top of her when she lays down after a walk or when she seems hot.

We do this for ours and while we have to re-wet it every 10 mins or so to keep the towel cold enough, he usually cools down enough in half an hour or so that we can just remove it. And it doesn't have the 'shock' factor of a direct water spritz or a pool.

 

That's a great idea, thank you! I think that combined with the air conditioned bedroom should be sufficient. I'll try it this afternoon.

[Guest june]

Temps here set at 75 during the day. Used to be 78, but one of mine now has a heart condition and needs it a bit cooler.

[Guest HHHounds]

Candyman was always panting unless it was the dead of winter. He was a big hound with a thick coat of fur. His favorite place to sleep was on the marble floor... I keep the thermostat on 74 and we use ceiling fans in most rooms. We live in Alabama so we deal with hot weather for most of the year so the walks out doors tend to be short when it is hot and we like to go out in the evenings...

[Guest chickenpotpie]

Took her out for a pee earlier and she wanted to do zoomies like a crazy hound as hot as it i! I tend to take her out early in the morning for a walk as most of our neighborhood is shaded. In the evening, we go out after 6pm. yesterday we were on the deck for about an hour and she was panting like crazy (thats with water, icecubes, wet towel, AND a fan)

 

Too cool her down I have a fan by her favorite pillow, I also put a damp towel on her after walks. We generally have our AC system set to come on at 78 but I've been overriding that at 75 (not just for her but me too!)

[BatterseaBrindl]

One thing you can try is a spritzing her with a water bottle filled with cold water and ice cubes. That might help her to cool down a little quicker.

 

 

Mine have all come to enjoy getting spritzed!

 

I do the tops of their heads, under their necks, along their bellies and between their back legs.

Ruby just lies right down and roaches for her cooling mist.

[greysmom]

One of mine loves getting "watered" with the outside hose! She also loves her wading pool for cooling off after playing or when it's just too darn hot. The others? - meh - about the pool and do NOT like getting sprayed. But they will stand for getting rubbed with a wet towel and laying in front of the fan.

 

One thing to remember - once you use the squirt bottle for a good thing, it's not going to work as a negative reinforcer if you need to have discipline over something. The opposite is also true - if you've squirted her for barking or whatever, she probably won't like it for this purpose.

[Guest Doggone]

Here in Austin, it's been hot for a while, plus more humid than usual. I'm having to shorten our morning walks because Autumn just gets drained . I've been carrying a small spray bottle with water, and occasionally pause to spray her down; I notice that it seems to perk her up a bit, especially if there's a breeze. When we come back, she has her water and her breakfast. After that, she "collapses" on the cool stone floors for hours, panting a lot at first.

Since it'll only get hotter for the next few months, I doubt that we'll go on more than the one walk per day. Luckily, she's pretty sedentary, whether due to age (7) or nature.

I've generally kept the thermostat set at 78 in the warm weather, but with Autumn here now, I may have to lower it. She just doesn't do heat well .

[seeh2o]

Carl runs hot, if it's 70 or more we don't walk...it's just too hot for him. We walk in the morning when it's cool, it's pretty rare in LA for it to be 70 by 8 or 9am. He had a really thick winter coat this year, which I'm working hard to brush out, so he is extra hot even at 75. I've been spritzing him with a water bottle and rubbed his belly with some mint moisturizer. That combination seemed to be a hit this afternoon. I keep my a/c set at 71 - 72 with multiple fans on to keep it moving, it's a window unit in a pretty small house. Doodles doesn't run as hot, but always seems to pant in the afternoon no matter what!

[Guest KPS915]

Our central a/c is set to 75 when we aren't home. I keep the ceiling fan on in our bedroom and a regular fan directed at her bed in the living room. If she's panting for more than a few minutes after we get back from a walk on a really hot day, I'll wet a dish towel and drape it over her or will toss some ice cubes and broken up cookies in her water bowl to encourage her to drink a bit.

[Guest Scarter55]

Lady rarely pants in our house, and it's usually around 73-75 downstairs in her domain. We haven't turned the AC on yet this summer, it is still managable to open windows in the evening. When she runs around outside a lot or just wants to lie outside when it's hot out, she'll pant with the best of them. I make some frozen treats (pumpkin and peanut butter) and give her one of those when it is really hot out, that helps cool her down. I've used the wet towel in the past before as well.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Greyhounds can regulate just fine. Realize that they race year-round in Florida. Also, from what I understand a lot of the kennels in Florida don't have a/c. I wouldn't take a hound for a few mile walk in 90+ weather, but 70-80 they are just fine. They may pant, but the are fine.

[3DogNite]

your gonna think we are nuts! but when it's 105+ outside - our house feels darn COOL the the AC set at 80!

i turn it to 78 at night for sleeping.

 

i only have one that will pant when the house is set for this temp. and i just spritz him with water and have a ceiling fan on.

not much more i can do beside go broke with electric bills in the summer in the desert!

[greytpups]

We have a small plastic kiddie pool set up on the patio when it gets really hot. They usually step in it to get a drink and I will splash cool water on their belly which also helps cool them down.

 

Even with AC, we set up fans to circulate the cool air which also seems to help. We rarely use the AC though and I would find 70F way too cold. Our greys must be able to tolerate the heat better than others. Of course, our summer temps are probably more comfortable and we rarely get heat waves where temps reach 90-100F for any length of time.

 

I think someone here on GT actually sets up a kiddie pool inside their home.