Hi!
So we've already had a few warm days here in the South...since we got Rumo in September, I've never been through really HOT weather with him. At 75 degrees and sunny, he was already panting a lot & walking slowly. I was wondering what your "hot weather" schedule is like for your dogs??

Currently (we've had him so far in mostly cool weather):

7:45-8:45 am -   Hourlong walk & jog! Sometimes we drive to the trails in the woods. This is our main exercise for the day.

1:30-2:30 pm  - During my lunchbreak, we'll take a slow sniff around neighborhood, train/play a little.

7pm - My husband takes him for short walk.

10pm - Last potty walk (just around block) before bed.

I feel like that 1:30 afternoon walk has to go...one does not want to be outside at 1:30 on a southern summer day! But then it's such a LOOONG boring day for him with no break, while I work?

We avoid walking during the popular 5-6pm timeslot because I am on the road picking up kids and then busy cooking dinner.

Just curious what everybody does during the warm weather!

I can see Rumo panting & slowing down when temps get to 70...
don't want to give him a heat stroke!

Okay, I had to go back to see where 'in the south' you are - and it looks like NC? (It really helps if you add a location to your profile - even if it's nothing more than the state)

Excuse me while I go into teaching mode ... sometimes called pedant mode.

Remember that dogs primarily cool themselves by evaporative cooling from their tongues ... also some radiant cooling from their ears and paws.

Bearing that in mind, those of us who have dogs in the desert actually have it better than you who live 'on the coast' (even if you aren't on the coast) where the humidity is higher - higher humidity = less cooling effect from evaporation.

I have to agree with your comment that the lunch time walk is probably going to have to be cut out - it's already getting warm and it'll only get worse. Your two 7:00 (morning and evening) walks are good but you'll probably want to move that evening walk later and later as it gets warmer.

Now, to answer your question ... two of my three are on 30' leads almost all day, I have one who'll sunbath when it gets into the 90's (very dry heat!) The other is inside with me most of the day and we go out of an evening for a stroll. When we get tired or hot, we head home.

Mars is an inside pet. He is now three years old and as it gets warm and humid, here in the Houston area, he only asks to go out for very short periods or to potty during the day. Walks are only early morning, after sunset or night, as summer progresses (and I always carry water for him ).

I wouldn't worry so much about cutting the 1:30 walk, you are thinking its a long boring day without a break but in all honesty, most dogs, especially huskies, haha, sleep most of the day while we are gone anyways. It sounds like you are coming home for your lunch break to take that walk? If so, just you coming home is a break and exciting for him. Besides just the outside temp, pavement temps can be brutal on their paws if it's hot outside.

San Diego gets pretty warm. Mine get a morning walk around the neighborhood and then in the evening, normally around 6 or 7, they get a good long walk.

We're in Triangle area of North Carolina (I'll add to my profile), and through the summer, it can often get to be humid and 90 degrees in the afternoons ...so I can't even imagine what the pavement temps are in the full sun!

So yes, it sounds like we should start shifting that lunchtime walk/play to dusk when it gets warmer here! It seems like all your dogs are OK with this schedule, and being mellow during the day...Rumo can just have a short potty break in the shade at lunchtime.

I live in Australia aka. It’s hot. I’m in a freaky part that sees some days the hottest in the country and others the coldest. But when it’s hot, it’s hot!

I have found my boy surviving a lot better than I thought he would! I found him crawling under my washing that I was hanging up to dry over night. Turns out it was cooler under there. Smarty pants. So during the days when I was at work I would wet a thick towel. Hang it up over a clothes horse or rail near a window. As long as he was out of the sun and not running around he regulated his temp really well

Mid day walks are out of the question. The side walks would melt your shoes leg alone trying to go for walks. So the big walk moved early in the mornings. Just on sun rise. Coming home at lunch to have a wrestle and say hello was enough. The afternoon walks happened well after dinner and his shorter walk was held then as it’s still very hot.

I found that he needed way less physical exercise than he did in the cooler months. Tiring himself out much quicker in his afternoon walk than in the morning. We spent a lot more time on learning tricks in the afternoon. Mentally tiring him out.

The one thing I noted was how quickly he went from ok to dangerously close to over heating. Even if he just got too excited and there wasn’t enough shade would be too much some days. We are always out and about with the horses so he had to spend more time at home over summer than he normally would. Didn’t want to risk it.

Good idea to do some training in air-conditioned house during lunchbreak, instead of walking outside!

Yes, they are smart about finding cool places to lie down...Rumo has claimed the floor space right under our ceiling fan!  

Here in GA, I take Gabby on a walk at night, Around 9 o'clock or so in the middle of the summer and she still only goes for about 30 min or so before she gets hot. She has slowed down a ton this last year though and has become a much lazier husky.

A lot is in your individual dog. I have one husky that can go out in basically any weather and do her normal just a little slower. We go out all the way up into the 90s. My big white boy though has trouble when temps hit the high 70s. I have swamp vests made by ruffwear for my dogs and they do seem to help. If it's over 85 I usually put them on them and then we go do our thing. Seems they are good for around an hour before they start to dry out so they aren't something I use for the real long walks as I would have to carry water for the dogs and water for the vests but it gets us through the hot evening walks that we do. Hot weather takes acclimation.