Hi everyone. This is my first post here.

I have a question about my 9 month old Husky and I'd appreciate if anyone could help with it.
I've been running with Lupo for a while now, but summer has come and the days are much hotter here in Brazil (even tough we run usually at night).

We usually run together for 5km (30minutes), 3 times a week and when we get back home he is usually panting A LOT! I always give him a quick shower with the water hose (he loves it) and a lot of water to drink.
I also noticed his eyes look a little bit red after running and I'm getting preocupied.

Now my questions. Is it ok to run with huskies in warm climates? Is this panting and red eye normal after the dog has done a strenuous exercise? Any tips?

Thank you very much.

First off, welcome to the site.

Secondly, you really shouldn't be running with a 9 month old. His joints aren't fully formed yet, and he's not done growing. Strenuous exercise before the growth plates close can cause serious problems later in life.

Third, what is the temperature? I want to answer your original question, but it would help to know how hot it is there.

wpskier222 wrote:

First off, welcome to the site.

Thank you =)

wpskier222 wrote:

Secondly, you really shouldn't be running with a 9 month old. His joints aren't fully formed yet, and he's not done growing. Strenuous exercise before the growth plates close can cause serious problems later in life.

I guess you're right. I read about it too and I decided to keep the running at a slow pace in the beggining because he really liked it and it felt like he was made for it.
Just now we started to increase things up... but I guess the best thing would be not to run at all with him for a while.

wpskier222 wrote:

Third, what is the temperature? I want to answer your original question, but it would help to know how hot it is there.

Well... on a hot day, usually 30°C (86°F) or even a bit higher.

I agree with wpskier's advice, 9 months is too young. I didn't start my dog running until 16 months.
9 month old huskies can be a handful, I totally understand the need to wear them out. And they do love it at an early age. I'd stop the running for awhile and just wear him out with some good old fashioned play.

When you do start running him again do not do it when its 86 degrees outside. That is way to hot for a husky and you don't want him to have a heat stroke or anything like that. Just do simple walks at night or early in the morning and he will be fine with that amount of exercise with the heat. My huskies get short walks in the summer, and they for the most part would rather be in front of the air conditioner relaxing. I'm sure he is use to the heat more than other huskies living in other areas, but I still think that is way to hot for him to do crazy amounts of exercise.

What a shame =/. That will be a real deal breaker.

Having a running buddy was one of the main reasons I got him. Summer here is really hot most days. 86F is pretty comon.
I will wait to run with him again for sure... but I guess I'll have to skip summer completly!

Can you tell me more about this heath stroke? Is that a real possibility?
I mean... won't my dog show signs before reaching that point? Or will he just run like there's no tomorrow to try to keep up with me?
Thanks

Absolutely heat stroke is a real concern. Google "heat stroke symptoms in dogs". They generally include excessive panting, pale gums, etc...Heat stroke can even lead to seizures.

daniel.bariquello wrote:

What a shame =/. That will be a real deal breaker.
Can you tell me more about this heath stroke? Is that a real possibility?
I mean... won't my dog show signs before reaching that point? Or will he just run like there's no tomorrow to try to keep up with me?
Thanks

You can still have your running buddy. It's one of the reasons I got my sibe also. But yes heat stroke is a real concern. There is plenty of information available online to learn the signs and what to do if your dog is showing signs of heat stroke. Unfortunately with our breed they will just keep going, the drive to run is usually overrun by most things. So they will work through the early warning signs.

I don't think you'll have to skip summer completely. But you may have to get used to setting the alarm to some horrible hour before the heat sets in. In the summer I run my dog around 5am. It's ugly for me, but best for my friend

Hi, I read this and thought I would chime in. I live in Arizona, and our summer temps where I am at hit around 110-120F around 3-4 pm in the afternoons. We are just now cooling down to the mid 90's. In this kind of heat my husky pup Rogue can become heated INCREDIBLY fast. I have let him out just so that he can do his potty business on some of our hot summer days, and he has come in close to dehydration just from 10-15 minutes of outside time. Now part of that is because Rogue is just now 8 months old, so every time he goes outside he is hunting and chasing lizards and other moving things (that I prefer not to think too much about)!

We learned that on these hottest days the best thing to do is hose him off and let him play in the shade with water (we spray and he tries to "catch" the water!!) so that he can get some of his exercise in. Walking him is just not an option - not when the evenings are still in the 80s. IF we feel he needs to get some energy out we limit it to a very short, slow paced walk to the end of our block and back.

I have witnessed him become so overheated that he is panting and can't cool down fast enough and it is not fun. I am lucky in that he loves water and I can dip him in the bath and get his body temp down to normal quickly. This is a good tip if you happen to see that your Husky is not cooling down within a few minutes.

Good luck!

Hi Michelle.

My dog, Lupo, does the exact same thing with the water. He tries to catch it when I spray it on him with the hose =).
Here he is doing that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7R0nVX2OM

I guess I'll have to see how summer goes with him. It will be his first.
I'm thinking about building a mini bathub for him... lets see...

Well, thank you all for your tips. I really appreciate it.

TheMightyQuinn wrote:

I agree with wpskier's advice, 9 months is too young.   I didn't start my dog running until 16 months.
9 month old huskies can be a handful, I totally understand the need to wear them out.  And they do love it at an early age.  I'd stop the running for awhile and just wear him out with some good old fashioned play.

This is especially true on hard surfaces like concrete.

They run naturally and will exert themselves all the time with other dogs, etc.

If you must run them, try to replicate what they do on their own on soft surfaces like grass. With my 9 month old I do one less than half speed jog across a squishy soccer field and it usually does the trick in conjunction with our normal walk. I started this at about 8 months. When he plays naturally with his Husky buds he does way more with more intensity and for longer periods than this on his own running free.

I'm sure there are some folks who say this is even too much, but either way it's just opinions vs. other opinions.

A run is not a run is not a run. Temperature, surface, duration, speed, frequency, health, hydration...etc. have to play some part if you think about it mechanically. There's no way these can not factor in.

Just wanted to play devil's advocate a bit and give you some food for thought.

Also if you are running him on cement you want to watch out for his paw pads, and then being burned by the hot cement!

siku&nikolai wrote:

Also if you are running him on cement you want to watch out for his paw pads, and then being burned by the hot cement!

Sure thing. But I usually run with him at night. The asphalt isn't realy that hot at that time...

But the asphalt itself is still not good, just FYI. There are safer ways to do the same thing.

Yeah, I just thought I would mention. I took my dog to the vet over the summer and even just walking into the office on the cement burned them and they started peeling. I felt so bad!