# Soaking dog at the start of a walk in summer



## Syaoransbear (Sep 25, 2008)

I like to walk my dog to the dog park which is pretty far away. It takes about an hour to get there and then we have to walk back. Since right now the sun rises at about 4:30am and sets at 9:30pm, and the nights are going to get even _shorter_ than that, there's not really any cool time to be out when you are a very large pure black dog. About half way to the dog park there's a drinking fountain for dogs, and then the dog park is along a river so once we get there he can swim in that and totally cool off.

But the entire walk there seems to make him pretty warm. I was wondering if hosing him off and soaking him in water at the beginning of our walk would help him keep cooler until we reached the river, or would it somehow make him even warmer?


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## Montu (Oct 9, 2012)

This seems to work for my dog on hot days


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## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

Sunflowers posted a link on a thread about a cooling vest, supposed to last 2 hrs and to re-cool you just run under cold water I believe...harness type, with chest belly area slide the cooling pouches in - she posted pics, I saved the link (not her thread)

RPCM ChillyDog is the solution to heat stress for military and law enforcement working dogs - The Original Cooling Vest


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## FlyAway (Jul 17, 2012)

No, getting your dog wet will eliminate the insulating ability of it's coat. If you want to wet the underside, that is better, but not the top. 

When we go herding, the dogs get a dip in a tub of water after their session. But the water isn't deep enough to cover the dog, so only the bottom half gets wet.


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## andreaB (Nov 6, 2011)

My boy will stand or sit in water when he is hot. Seems to be enough to cool him of. But if we go bike ride with him and is hot outside he goes for swim by himself, even before ride. He know the routine. First lake is just by parking lot, so he will jump in. I believe is helping him greatly. ( but we do not bike with him if is over 90 outside) He even seek water on walks when is hot to stand there and cool down.


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

I usually wet the paws and belly and sometimes around the muzzle. My dogs seem to be more uncomfortable when they are completely soaked, unless they are going swimming.


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## mssandslinger (Sep 21, 2010)

i thought soaking their fur makes them hotter?


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

I used to soak my gsd, Basu, and my rottie mix, Chama, before walks in Wisconsin. It helped both of them a lot. You have to really soak them to get their body temp down. Just wetting them actually makes things worse. 

You can also soak their paws while on the walk.


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## Sprout (Apr 23, 2013)

Cool or cold water applied to "hot" spots during summer will drop body temp as compared to soaking the dog.

Think of it from the human side. If you're hot and had a cool towel you would delete temp by applying it to the exact area of temp.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

FlyAway said:


> No, getting your dog wet will eliminate the insulating ability of it's coat. If you want to wet the underside, that is better, but not the top.
> 
> When we go herding, the dogs get a dip in a tub of water after their session. But the water isn't deep enough to cover the dog, so only the bottom half gets wet.


This.

Also NEVER put a wet dog in a vari-kennel type crate. Better yet don't crate a wet dog in the summer without fans blowing on them.


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

Konotashi said this to me when I asked this similar question c:


I'm just going to guess here, but I'm going to assume that watering them down would only work if they have a constant source of cool water to sit in, such as a pool. 
If you just hose them down, their body heat and surrounding air would heat the water and not aid in cooling them at all. (That's just what I would assume). I'm going by how I can jump in a pool with clothes on, get out and be cool for a little bit, but then be hot again in no time in my still-sopping wet clothes.


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## TommyB681 (Oct 19, 2012)

Soak the under belly. Its actually similar to people. When you sweat and pour water on your head/ body in direct sunlight it makes you hotter and sweat more


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

its called evaporation, and it does have a cooling effect.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Many of us live in areas where the humidity is can be 80% on summer days and evaporation does not do much .......mainly creates a sauna like environment.


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