I got a scare with my Boston Terrier. She was only in the backyard for about 90 mins. There’s shade back there and she loves going outside. She came staggering in very wobbly and panting like mad. It took her about thirty minutes to cool down. Thats the first time I ever saw her get that hot. My Chihuahua coped a lot better. He didn’t seem very hot at all.
This triple digit heat is brutal. I got overheated yesterday just going out running errands. My vans AC just wasn’t able to cope with 105. I was getting hotter and hotter just driving around.
I live in an area with that kind of heat about 8 months a year. About 4 of those months it’s more like 110-120 degrees. Nearly everyone who has a dog has small, indoor dogs. There is just no way to keep a dog, especially a long-haired or big-boned or heavier type dog hydrated and protected. And now you know why your Chihuahua fared better, as they developed under those kinds of conditions. Bigger ears to help dissipate heat, almost non-existent hair coat; poor bulldog is probably bulky and a little on the fatty side, 'cause he wants colder weather.
Not your fault, just gotta be careful, is all.
I wouldn’t leave the Chihuahua out too long in the snow, either, even if your bulldog loves it.
I’m “lucky” - my girl has never been able to stand the heat so she always comes inside quickly. I do keep an eye on the time and if she’s out there for more than 15 minutes I go get her. It rarely happens that she’s out that long, although a couple weeks ago I had to save her from running herself ragged over a supposed critter under the shed.
Thank you so much for that link. I’m careful with my dog, we walk before dawn(because of my work) and go to the dog park only when the sun has gone down below the trees. Thankfully the dog park has a fountain and provides plenty of bowls for the dogs to drink from.
I briefly considered buying a English Bulldog about 12 years ago. After researching them I decided against it. Their teething was very destructive. I read one place where a young pup literally chewed one of the owner’s deck support posts nearly in half.
Also, they are the least heat tolerant of all the breeds. Many owners keep a kiddie pool filled in the backyard for them to play in and cool off. I’m not surprised the LSU mascot died if he got loose and no one found him in time. This summers triple digit heat is the most brutal I can recall in a long time.
I don’t know what makes me madder. That the dog was left outside too long or that his death was covered up for four days. I hope the university sues the hell out of that animal worker. :mad:
Both our dogs are indoor dogs and we watch them pretty carefully, but Simone (American Pit Bull Terrier) would happily die of heatstroke if only I’d let her. She’s a devoted sunbather, and whenever it’s hot and sunny she tries to lie down in the grass and “soak in” the heat. If I try to get her up and make her walk, she plays all limp, like a “passive resistance” protestor being carried off by police. So I usually let her have 5-10 minutes and then nudge her up, by which time she’s willing to humor me. But if I didn’t make her get up and go inside she’d be happy to fry, I think.
We’re hyper-aware of the danger of hot cars. We have reported dogs left in hot cars on numerous occasions. To date, every single time the “owner” has returned to the car while we were waiting for Animal Control to show up, said person has claimed “I was only gone for x minutes” – and every single time we’d been standing there substantially longer than “x minutes” (I always measure the time, for exactly that reason).
I’m sure some of these people are oblivious to the passage of time, but a substantial percentage of them are just liars once they’ve been caught.
We have the advantage of being a couple, so whenever we do take the dogs somewhere in the car, one human always stays in the car with them, no matter what the errand.
I’m very careful when I have my Blue Tick Coon Hound in the vehicle with me during the summer, but one stinkin’ hot day I stopped at a gas station to fill up. Windows were up for the AC, but of course I had to turn off the vehicle to get the gas. In the time it took me to get out of the car, shut the door, put my cards into the pump and start pumping the gas I thought “Oh shit, how hot is it in there?” and I looked in the window and my dog was already panting. Not distressed mind you, just panting. That’s how fast it took for the Jeep to heat up even under the shade of the gas station roof-thingy.
Some carelessness on my part and a change in my dogs behavior almost got him last summer. When he wanted out in the back yard he would bark at the door. When he wanted in he barked. And my computer is 5 feet from that storm door. And if I am not there I am probably in the side yard or garage where I can here him just as well.
Well, on hot day he wanted out so I put him out. Get back on the computer. I’d guess about 30 minutes go by and wonder why he doesn’t want in yet. I go out back and there he is in a corner of the yard in full sun (there are shady areas) in pretty darn bad shape. Scared me pretty good.
Now when it’s been hot in the past he always wanted right back in after doing his thing. But he had gotten old enough (senile enough?) that he quit doing that. After that incident I’d watch him from the door. He didn’t bark to be let back in most of the time. He just wandered around the yard.
So, I guess the moral of the story is don’t count on your dog letting you know they want back in, even if they have been doing so for well more than a decade.
As you might imagine, it’s quite warm here most of the year. At this time of year, it’s starting to dip into the low 20’s (low 80’s F) at night and I was feeling good for the dogs (most homes have a couple guard dogs) who would finally feel some relief… until a few days ago when I noticed that my inlaws had put sweaters on all three of their dogs.
I lost a Boston to brachycephalic syndrome after picking him up from the kennel. “We only left him outside for about 15-20 minutes.” IN THIS HEAT??? On concrete? My friend dropped my dog off at my house, didn’t understand how to cool him down* or how emergent the situation really was, and went home. 30 minutes later I came home to a dead dog.
90 minutes is WAY too long outside for any snub-nosed dog. This is why, after my older Boston died, I adopted a dog that actually has a long nose. I can’t handle watching a smooshy-face struggle in this heat like that.
How to cool an overheated dog down: Put him in the bathtub with cool water. Feed him ice cubes. Do not leave him – if he stops breathing, give rescue breathing. Or rush to the emergency vet. You can give mouth-to-dog resuscitation by holding the dog’s mouth/snout closed, clamp your mouth over its nose, and exhale sharply. Like mouth to mouth only it’s mouth to nose. Yes, it’s a little gross, but better dog snot on your lips than dead dog on your hands.
My dogs go out and come back in within 5 or 10 minutes, just long enough to do their business. That’s the benefit of having a chihuahua and a miniature dachshund.
Yeah, Bostons don’t do well in very hot OR very cold weather. That’s the price of having a breed with a short coat and a short snout.
One of our Bostons loves to lay out in the sun - but with the temperature as high as it’s been this summer, we won’t let him do that after the early morning.
Dogzilla, I’m sorry to hear that. That really sucks.
Thank you. It really did suck and I still really miss that dog. He was my sweet, sweet Smooshy Face. I never thought I’d find myself trying to do mouth-to-dog rescue breathing, but when faced with a dead dog, I did not hesitate to try. Poor little guy.
