Walking very slowly - midday walk only

[Flora]

Hey Folks

we adopted a lovely black Spanish greyhound 2 months ago. She is 3 years old, rather shy and quiet. She loves her walkies and gets very excited when it's walk time. We walk her three times a day. Morning and evening walks are just fine but for the midday walk, she is very excited when leaving the yard but soon starts to walk very VERY slowly, head down, and start panting a lot. We tried to just stay in the fenced garden instead of the midday walk but she insists on getting outside.

My guess is that it's because of the heat but I am rather concerned because it's only spring time here and temperature have not gone beyond 20°C/68°F at midday. 

What do you guys think? Are greyhound particularly vulnerable to heat? Any other ideas?

Lots of love!

 

[HeyRunDog]

Yes greyhounds are venerable to heat due to their thin skin and coats and lack of fat and can overheat quickly. You can get silver reflective coats to keep them cool if they insist on going outside but otherwise limit the walks to early morning or evening when it has cooled down.

Have a look at this article on greyhounds and heat. https://www.greyhoundgang.org/learn/health/heat-exhaustion/

[LaFlaca]

My Lola acts likes she's dying if it's above 65 F.  Yes, Greyhounds are extremely susceptible to heat. Cooling coats are a great addition to any Greyhound's wardrobe. Here's an example: https://greyhoundtruststore.com/products/easidry-cool-coat

 

[palmettobug]

Could she also be hearing something she doesn't like? My Johnny hates lawn equipment, compressors, generators, etc., gets the pants and shakes.

[cgs]

My guess is heat also. Percy's been having trouble mid-day and yesterday refused to even go out the door, even though it wasn't that hot. He has a cooling coat, which helps, especially because he's black. He has this one: https://www.cleanrun.com/product/k9_cool_dog_cooling_coats/index.cfm

He's also shedding a lot, so I"m hoping he tolerates the heat better as more of his winter fur comes off and he gets acclimated.

[Rakete]

Heat plus lack of exercise. The spanish galgos adopted right out of a shelter need to be built up slowely.

A greyhound adopted directly off track is at least a little trained. The galgo might have spent a year or more without running or even walking more than inside a small fenced area.

When properly trained in my experience galgos (or greyhounds raised in a hot climate) can stand the heat a little better than the average greyhound - but are less tolerant to cold weather.

[Flora]

Many thanks to all  for your replies!

[cgs]

Percy now believes it is hot outside mid-day even when it's not. I have to shove him out the door and when he realizes it's not that hot, he happily trots along. Sometimes it's borderline--I think it's not hot and he thinks it is hot. In that case, we don't get very far before he stops and wants to turn around to go home.

[JohnF]

Another one here who thinks anything over 65 too hot to enjoy a walk. Peggy loved it when it went back down under 50 a few days ago. She doesn't like it when the turf dries out and gets hard either. She likes to lay out in the sun sometimes though.

[cgs]

Good thing my husband has been walking Percy at around 6am since January. He was fine with 10 degrees, but can't seem to handle mid-upper 60s and today was a total "Nope" when I tried to get him out around 1pm. I miss my mid-day walk. At least my little dog was willing to go today. Sometimes she won't go either.

[palmettobug]

It's been in the high 70s, low 80s here in the afternoons when I get home and take them out. It hasn't slowed Gino down, even being a black dog who live in PA for a few months during the fall and winter. I guess he's used to that Florida heat from the track!

[Sundrop]

Hmmm. If over 65 is too hot to walk a greyhound, ours wouldn't get walked for 8 months out of the year! Ours get walked twice per day (morning/evening) and temps here are already mid to upper 80s for our evening walks and they're panting, but fine. When temps get into mid to upper 90s and our humidity is through the roof, we walk them later in the day and may cut down the walk time if it's too hot. They are vulnerable to heat, but 68 is not very warm...

How long are your walks? We used to do three walks per day with our first greyhounds (15 years ago!) and found it was too much. They enjoyed it, but we would have to kind of drag them by the third walk of the day and that was only taking 10-20 minute walks. We cut back to morning/evening. It took a couple weeks to get them used to not having an afternoon walk, but they adjusted just fine.