But it might kill them if you walk them.
That’s the conversation I had with Hubby last night about walking the dogs today. Let me just say that Hubby’s not that big on walking the dogs. Most days I walk them myself, in the park/woods at the top of our street. Some days he will join us, but most times when I ask (even on the weekends) he prefers not to do it. If I have a day where I can’t walk them at lunch or after work, I will ask him to walk around the block with me after dinner. Most times he does this reluctantly. It is only about an 18 minute walk, but it’s better than nothing.
Yesterday was the first day of summer and the eastern half of the country kicked it off in a big, hot, way. Here in New England it reached into the upper 90’s and it was extremely humid. Too hot even for my little grandson to start his first day of baseball. 🙁
There was no way I was going to walk the dogs at lunch. I debated going to work late and walking them early but in the end decided to shoot for an around the block walk, after dinner.
We ventured out about 8:40 pm and it was still hot, so hot that both dogs were panting half-way thru the walk. Back into the air conditioning we headed. Delilah was still panting an hour later.
About 10 PM the dogs headed out for a last potty break before bed. When I opened the door, it was still like opening an oven door. I have no idea what the temperature was but it was ugly.
Once everyone was settled in bed, I debated our exercise for today. Temperatures are expected to reach the high 90’s if not into the 100’s. Since my niece is graduating from High School at 6:00 pm my choices for walking the dogs are very limited. There is NO WAY I would walk them in the heat of the day, which leaves later in the evening with Mr. Reluctant or first thing this morning.
As the opening lines read, Mr. Reluctant feels it won’t hurt them to miss a day of exercise.
I disagree.
I opted for a quick 20 minute walk first thing this morning. We were at the park at 6:40 am, and it was already 73 degrees outside. Both dogs were panting by the end of the 20 minute walk, so we went home and I had them lie in the bedroom with the air conditioning on to help cool them off, and wait for their tummies to settle before getting their breakfast.
I’m not sure what time we’ll be back from graduation tonight so eating their breakfast a little late will work to my/their benefit, and I figure when I get home I can work a little with them on training. Specifically Delilah on her drop it command.
I’m pretty sure she ate part of a potato in the field this morning.
How do you make adjustments to your exercise schedule when the weather just isn’t cooperating?
I feel your pain! 101 here today in MD… heat advisory till 10PM. My dogs are pretty used to not going out much when it is hot. And if they do it’s just in the yard usually as the pavement and gravel is just way hot. They usually get a lot of their exercise on weekends when I have time. When it is beastly we usually try and do more training inside to wear them out a bit… maybe hit up a store to work in instead of outdoors. Hot weather is also a time we end up giving them chews/toys to play with more often in the evening. Thankfully an order of thick chips and cow ears just came in today. So when I get home today from the chiropractor I shall give them one of those. I have the same problem with the Mr. often I am the one walking the dogs or getting them out as he is old school and doesn’t think they need it as much as i think they do. Not worth fighting over most days, I just take advantage of the cooler weather when he does want to go out.
Also the river is a great option for the hot days, I really should have gone there today but listened to weather people and we stayed indoors. Hopefully we can get there for a swim this weekend though.
Anna
http://www.akginspiration.com
I cannot even begin to think of it. Rather cruel of you to mention it really. We are mid-winter here and even in good old sunny South Africa, we feel it
Bad WINTER and Scalding Summer days we just have INSIDE Play time fur our exercise…. we like fur mom to throw somethingy down the steps and we race down and back up with it…Wednesdays are always SHEET SHARK days… that is fun and good exercise. and stuffs like that… When weather is BAD we just go out fur QUICK Plays and fur Potty times.
I might have to side with your husband (WHAT?) When it’s too hot, the dogs seem to easily get overheated . .they would naturally just take it easy, so I think it is okay if they miss their walk . . .a dip in the swimming pool would be nice instead, or perhaps a run through the sprinklers?? 🙂
Same here in Michigan Jodi, unbearable at times. There is supposed to be a storm coming through that should help cool things down a bit for us, hope you guys get some relief soon. I’ll be honest training or any outdoor activity comes to a stand still when the temperatures rise that high. I am going to invest in a kiddie pool for them to cool off in when they go outside 🙂
Since Hurley panted for 2 hours after 15 minutes of backyard play at 78 degrees last night, I think it’s safe to say if we ever see anything over 90 degrees, there will be walkies & no outside play. We will hide out in the basement like the sunshine fearing trolls we are here in the Pacific Northwest!
Well, it depends – we don’t walk every day, but my dogs normally get two daily play/training session, one w/Nick and one w/Me. On days like this, Nick will only give them about ten minutes, because he has the mid afternoon shift…since I have the evening shift, I just extend their play then. Also, I do it later. Normally, I’d be outside right about now playing with them, instead, I’ll wait till around 7:30 like I did last night. It was semi-tolerable.
When we DO walk in the heat, Toby gets very short walks, (15 minutes or less), as he never does well in this weather (like yours, he’s panting within minutes, and it takes him an extremely long time to cool down.)
Meadow doesn’t seem to mind the heat as much, and can walk longer than 15 minutes. (Of course, we keep an eye on her).
Leah gets short walks in general, she’s never needed a ton of exercise like these sporting dogs do, and is happy just going about two blocks and back, especially over the last year or so, if I see her start lagging, its back home we go.
On the other hand, come winter – Meadow HATES the cold, and Toby loves it, so the length of their walks get flip-flopped. Toby could walk for an hour winter and love every moment of it, (while I’m bundled up freezing my you-know-what off!)
And finally, Toby is the ONLY one who will walk with me in the rain. The girls think it’s battery acid.
P.S. – I know we are little more south than you, but Nick got home at 10:00 last night and checked the outdoor temp when he got in – and it was STIL 87*!
We walk every day because Honey really seems to like checking her p-mail. It’s more about the stimulation than the exercise. But I take my cues from her.
Do you have any local creeks or streams you could walk in? That would help cool everyone off.
We live in a low humidity desert climate so even on the hottest days it gets into the 60s at night so we do all our walking in the early morning hours. None of which is the slightest bit of help to your problem.
We also have an indoor mall not far away and they allow dogs to walk there if we register them first and pay a deposit.
Sixties at night, not the eighties.
We do not exercise them in this heat and humidity. We do obedience in the basement and let them run a very little in the yard or play on a sprinkler We do not even do water training because the water can be too hot for that kind of exercise. If we could get out at first light in the morning, then maybe, but I agree with your husband, missing a day due to weather won’t hurt them.
We had a dog a few years ago that we were walking in the heat like we’ve been having and he almost had heat stroke–I should have watched him better and heeded the warnings I’d been given–Thankfully he was okay, and I learned a lesson to do shorter walks, and if needed a little more frequently–It’s even what we do now and it seems to work for our pups.
By the way, THANK YOU for checking in on me on FB–It has been a hard week, but I’m feeling better today due mostly because I feel the support of friends like you who really do understand.
OMG, I think we are married to the same man! My husband is the same way! He sees no reason why the dogs have to go for a walk every day and he is a little too excited when I tell him I will just do it myself!
I actually haven’t walked the dogs the last 2 days.Leroy doesn’t even want to go outside for potty breaks in this heat and Sherman is out for 5 minutes and he is panting hard.
We are suppose to have a cool front move in tomorrow, so I will make up for it.
This weather is SO miserable for Mazzie. It’s not just the heat and humidity, it’s the hot sidewalks and streets. I sent her to daycare yesterday and today so she wouldn’t go out of her mind due to lack of exercise and stimulation. I can walk her there early and pick her up late. It was just too hot and dangerous for her to be out. When it’s hot, but not crazy hot like the last 2 days, I extend her AM walks, push her PM walks to a bit later and have her midday walker walk her (on the shady side of the street) to a park a few blocks away and sit in the shade for a bit with a huge bowl of water. At least this way, she gets to people and squirrel watch, which she loves, without having to overly tax herself and risk overheating.
It is hot here too Jodi – too hot to walk after mid-morning. We have always preferred early morning walks so iour long hot summer is not usually too much of a problem. The weather doesn’t usually impact upon our daily routine. We walk in the rain and snow and when it’s cold. The only thing that stops us is ice. Tall person fell over several times last winter so we now avoid ice.
We’re not walking just now because of Flo’s leg… but when she’s fit we walk rain or shine. We do try to stick to the evenings after 5.30/6pm so that it’s cooler. If we do have to go out earlier then I try to take her somewhere where there’s water she can jump in or through the jungle where it’s cooler. During my holiday I’ll also take her out earlier in the day, but we’ve got to be back before 9am or it’s too hot. The dogs here cope with the heat fine but I don’t think they’d know what had hit them if it ever snowed, whereas yours cope fine with that don’t they. I look at how pathetic Flo is when the temperature drops to 17 degrees overnight – whimpering away for a blanket! Just like her owner! 🙂
With collies we either go very early or very late when very hot…. when they go out it is for short times only.. with all that fur heat stroke is a big problem for them.
Hey Sampson, Hey Delilah, Jet here. Hi Miss Jodi.
Here in the tropics, 90 is a typical day for about 6 months of the year. Mom walks us before the sun rises around 6:15 or 6:30 and then around 7:00 p.m. I guess we’re used to panting and resting and drinking lots of water… We go for a quick potty in the blistering late afternoon because nature calls and what can you do!
If Pearl misses a walk she WILL let you know- usually by waking us up before the crack of dawn the next day. I worry more about her burning her feet than I do about her panting- she seems to handle the heat pretty well and we end up doing more shorter walks rather than two long ones. When its absolutely too hot to handle we try to play games or do some training sessions inside to take the edge off, but honestly it doesn’t really work. Missing one daily walk won’t kill her, but it makes her so full of energy and annoying that I want to kill her!
Hi Jodi, I checked my spam folder and didn’t see any from you but I just deleted a bunch of spam the other day so I will watch it now.
We’re lucky as even if it gets over 100F in the day it nearly always cools down at night and it’s not very humid here in California – when it’s really rainy, sometimes Mum takes me to the Pet Store in the car and that seems to work off some of my energy – is there somewhere indoors you can go sometimes?
Wags to all
Your pal Snoopy 🙂