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After the heat
How to cool a dog down after a hot walk
Cape Ann summers are humid, and humidity is what defeats a panting dog. Cooling down is a short routine you should know cold, and a set of signs you should never wait out. This page gives you both, and tells you where the line is.
What you need
What you need: shade, tap water, a fan and the vet's number
Cool, not cold. The tools are a bottle of tap water, a bowl, a fan or an open car window with the air conditioning running, and a floor that is cooler than the dog: tile, a shaded deck, a cooling mat. Ice, ice water and a cold bath are not on the list; the AVMA's heat guidance warns against them, and a wet towel laid over the back holds heat in rather than letting it out. Keep your vet's number and the 24-hour Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn saved in your phone.
You also need to know your dog's baseline. Count its resting breaths per minute on a cool evening and note how it pants after a normal walk. A flat-faced dog, a Frenchie, a pug or a bulldog, pants harder and cools slower than a Lab of the same weight, and a senior or an overweight dog needs the routine sooner. What is normal for your dog is what you will compare against when it matters.
- Cool tap water, never ice
- A fan or the car's air conditioning
- A cool floor to lie on
- Your vet and the Woburn hospital in your phone
- Your dog's normal panting, so you know abnormal
The method
The method: shade, sips, wet the underside, move the air, watch the clock
Stop the walk where you are if the dog is struggling; do not push on to the car. Shade first, because sun on a dark coat undoes every other step. Then water to drink in small amounts, a few laps at a time; a dog that gulps a bowl and vomits has lost more than it gained. The wetting comes next, and where you wet matters more than how much.
Blood runs close to the skin on the belly, the groin, the armpits and the paw pads, so cool water there cools the dog; water on the thick fur of the back mostly sits on top. Wet those areas, then get air moving over them, and give it time. Most dogs are visibly better in ten minutes. A dog that is not is the dog you drive to the vet.
- 01
Into shade or an air-conditioned car within a minute, walking, not running.
- 02
Offer a few laps of cool water at a time, then again a minute later; no ice cubes, no forcing.
- 03
Wet the belly, groin, armpits and paws with cool tap water from a bottle or a hose on low.
- 04
Put a fan on the wet skin or open the car windows and drive slowly; moving air does the work.
- 05
Let the dog lie on tile or a cool mat, and watch the breathing for twenty minutes.
- 06
If the panting is not easing, the gums are the wrong colour or the dog is unsteady, go to the vet now with the cooling continuing in the car.
Where it goes wrong
Where it goes wrong: ice, the wet towel, the swim and the wait
Ice is the reflex and it is wrong. Ice water and a cold plunge tighten the blood vessels in the skin, which slows the cooling you are trying to speed up, and a dog shivering on a hot day is a dog you have overshot. Cool tap water is enough. The wet towel over the back is the second reflex; it warms in a minute and then works like a blanket. Wet the dog directly and keep the air moving instead.
The swim after a hot run is the third. A dog that is already overheated and then swims hard is exerting itself further, and cold water shock is real in a New England harbor. Let the dog cool on the grass first. The last mistake is waiting: owners watch a dog pant for an hour hoping it settles. If ten minutes of proper cooling has not changed the picture, more minutes will not, and the vet visit gets harder the longer it is delayed.
- No ice, no cold plunge
- No towel over the back
- No hard swim while overheated
- Ten minutes without improvement means the vet
The Cape Ann version
The Cape Ann version: humidity, the closed beaches and the festival crowds
The sea breeze fools people. An 82-degree afternoon at 70 percent humidity on the Boulevard is harder on a dog than a dry 90 inland, because panting only works when the air can take the moisture. The National Weather Service in Boston issues heat advisories for Essex County on those days, and an advisory is a reason to walk at 6 AM or not at all. Gloucester's beaches are closed to dogs from May through September and Rockport's from June 1 to September 15, so the summer swim is not the answer it is in April.
Crowded hot streets are the local hazard: Fiesta weekend in late June, July 3 on the Boulevard for the fireworks, the Schooner Festival on Labor Day weekend. A dog carried through those crowds on hot pavement at 3 PM is a heat case waiting to happen. Leave the dog at home in the air conditioning, or at daycare on the turf with the pools, where handlers watch every group for exactly this.
When to hand it to us
When to hand it to us: pools by day, a pupsicle at pick-up, a vet for the rest
Our yard is built for July. Splash pools and shade on the turf, indoor play floors when the yard is too hot, water breaks between every play block, and handlers who know what a struggling dog looks like. A full day is $42 and a half day $33, and a homemade pupsicle ($6) or a lick mat ($5) added at booking is a cold, slow reward for a hot dog. The dogPACER treadmill session ($10) is indoor, supervised and low impact for a dog that needs to move on a day it should not be outside.
What we do not do is treat heatstroke. If your dog is collapsing, vomiting, or has gums that are bright red, pale or purple, it needs a veterinarian and it needs one now: your own during hours, the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn at any hour. Cool the dog in the car on the way and call ahead so they are ready.
At Dogtown
A cooler kind of summer day
Pools and shade on the turf, indoor floors on advisory days, and a frozen treat at the end of it.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
How long should a dog pant after a summer walk?
Can I give my dog ice cubes or ice water to cool down?
What are the signs of heatstroke in a dog?
Which dogs overheat the fastest?
Is the beach a good place to cool a dog off in summer?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- AVMA pets and heat
- National Weather Service Boston
- Gloucester beaches
- Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Shade, pools and a pupsicle.
Book the free evaluation and give the hottest days of the year to the turf yard, the indoor floors and our handlers.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
