Helping hot dogs chill out

From cool coats to clippers, there are a whole host of ways to keep your canine companion comfortable as the summer heat intensifies, says David Tomlinson

- David Tomlinson

IF ONLY dogs could talk. I'd love to ask my indoor-living spaniel what it's like to wear a fur coat all year round. On even the frostiest of winter days she's always eager to be out, and doesn't appear to notice the cold, while in summer, wearing the same fur coat, she appears equally unperturbed by high temperatures. However, I do try to make sure that she's comfortable, whatever the weather.

Dogs are rather better at coping with cold rather than heat, which reflects their lupine ancestry. Wolves are essentially northern animals, though grey wolves do occur in India and the Middle East. These southern-dwelling wolves are never active during the heat of the day. They are also smaller and more lightly built than their northern cousins as well as being thinner coated all adaptations to living in a hot environment. Both dogs and wolves lose body heat by panting and, to a small extent, by sweating through their pads; consequently, their ability to lose heat is limited. Excess heat can lead to stress, heatstroke and even collapse, so it's something to take seriously.

Though I never work my spaniel in a coat, on a winter shooting day I will rug her up at lunchtime or at close of play, as thin-skinned dogs such as spaniels do feel the cold when they stop moving. It's common practice now to put coats on field-trial dogs (both spaniels and retrievers) between runs: a relatively new convention but one that clearly makes sense. Even tough dogs such as working labradors benefit from being kept warm when they are not working and burning up the calories. Racehorses are rugged up after they have run, so why not dogs too?