**Guest post from Ellen B.**
Can you imagine wearing a fur coat on a hot summer day? A few modifications can really help your dog be comfortable in heat. Dogs who are older, obese or those with short muzzles are less tolerant of the heat; keep an especially close eye on them. It’s always smart to limit outdoor activities to early morning or late evening hours when it’s cooler. And, in warm weather, NEVER leave your pet in your enclosed vehicle for any amount of time. Even with the windows cracked, it can be deadly for a pet. Here are 5 more “cool” tips and pet supplies available to comfort your dog in summer heat.
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The most important item to always have available for your dog is fresh, cool water — whether on a walk, in the car or in the house or yard. Remember, hot sun can quickly make water too hot to drink. Add ice chips to the water to help keep it cold. |
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Just like an ice pack on your neck or forehead cools you down, this Cooling Dog Bandana cools your dog. It’s easy to use, very inexpensive, reusable and washable – and I must add stylish!
Barb S. uses this for her Newfoundland dogs and says, “When I go out for a hike with my dogs, I always bring water, and keep them cool with a Cooling Bandana around their neck. They seem much more comfortable.” |
Cooling Bandana for dogs. |
My dog, Kobe, modeling the cooling dog bed. He looks pretty comfy! |
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This cooling dog bed can be used indoors or outdoors. The Cool Bed III has tremendous cooling power – without refrigeration. It feels like a cold tile floor does on your bare feet. It absorbs heat from your dog, and dissipates it back to the surrounding air. This bed is very easy to use, durable and much more comfortable than the floor! |
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While you enjoy a refreshing popsicle, your dog will enjoy the cooling that comes from this Hydro Bone. It features a spongy center covered in flexible rubber. Simply soak the bone in water to fill the sponge, freeze it, and then award it to your pet as a cool, refreshing chew. | 
Hydro Bone |
For more information on keeping your dog safe and cool during summer heat, read our Summer Healthcare Guide.
See these and other dog cooling products available at Drs. Foster & Smith!
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My dogs like to play with the Doggie drencher from affordableagility.com. I’m thinking of getting them some of the other water obstacles, too, once I get a hose splitter so I can run two.
After watching that video, I want to buy a kiddie pool, they’d LOVE it.
Good suggestions. Megan is already starting to get hot. I think she’d especially like the Chilly Bone.
Kongs freeze beautifully. Smeared with canned food, they make a great cool way to give a dog dinner.
Brittany-that doggie drencher does look like fun! And, yes…that dog in the kiddie pool is another example of a wonderful, simple thing in life.
Sheryl-I thought the Chilly Bone looked like a good idea, too. Going to buy a Chilly Bone today-will let you know what Kobe thinks of it!
mlgm-Frozen kongs are a great idea to keep dogs cool, and putting their dinner in there is good so they don’t end up with too many calories. Made me wonder if it would work to tape 1 end, and then fill it with water or chicken broth (something cold but not a lot of added calories). Hmm, might have to give that a try.
Thanks all for the ideas – keep the comments coming with how you help keep your dog cool!
We use the kiddie pool daily in the summer months! And my dog wears a variation of the cooling collar with we go on walks too. The cooling bed looks interesting. Great ideas!
All great Ideas Ellen!! Fritzie likes to lay on the cold basement floor. He does not like to be outside during the hot weather. I am always filling the neighbor’s dog dish with cold fresh water from the hose or sticking it though the fence and he gobbles the water. Cracks me up.
I LOVE the video of the Dachshund doing circles in the kiddie pool! My dog races to get out of the pool whenever we put him in it, but maybe if he can touch the bottom it would be a different story – we’ll have to try it!
We used to keep ice cubes in her water dish and put a nice cool sheet on her bed so she’s not lying on hot blankets. I love the ideas and products you’re showing here. I would also make sure she wasn’t left outside without adequate shade – if there wasn’t a big tree with lots of cool shade, she was kept indoors. And, of course, brushing her a lot to keep her coat thin.
Since I live in FL, I give my furry pup a few small pieces of cold watermelon to cool her off! This does the trick pretty quickly and keeps her hydrated.
These are all great tips. We are going to buy a kiddie pool for our dog Snarf because we know he’d love splashing around in it. Also, since we moved to Texas I’ve been wondering about those cooling bandanas but never knew if it would work for Spunky, our husky/shepherd mix. I didn’t know if it would even work through all his thick fur but if it helps a Newfie then surely it could help him too. Thanks again for the tips!
I have a Chow and she gets over heated a lot in the summer. Last year we purchased her a baby pool and she loved it. I think I’m going to look into the doggy cooling bed, I bed she would like this as well. whenever she is in the house, she sleeps on the tile floor.
Good comments – thank you for so many ideas on how to keep your pet cool! It hasn’t been quite as hot here in Wisconsin this week, but I did buy the Chilly bone. Kobe definitely likes the coolness of it when we get back from our walk. I’m also giving him a water break every 1 mile. It’s amazing how hydrating him BEFORE he gets thirsty gives him more energy for our 3.5 mile evening walks. Kobe also got a cooling bandana. I think I’ll save it for boat rides rather than for walks.
Might I also add that if you have take your pet with you in the car,and it will be a long trip, don’t use a dark colored carrier. When we had to evacuate for Hurricane Rita in 2005, the only carrier I had that I could get my older black cat into was a navy blue PetMate two door Pet Porter Jr. (he wouldn’t go through the front door of a carrier without me getting bitten or clawed). To make a long story short, we got stuck in traffic, the temperature was 110 degrees, and he almost died of heat stroke. Thanks to some nice stranger who had a cooler full of melting ice (ours was all gone), I was able to get him and the other seven cats and the dog cooled down, and everyone was fine once we managd to get out of all the horrible traffic.
And Ashley, I don’t know where in Texas you are, but if you’re anywhere near the Gulf Coast, start making your hurricane lists now. Whether you stay or evacuate, you have to know what you will need. We evacuate because both of my kids are autistic, and my son panics if the lights and computer don’t work like he’s used to. I make a list for each person (4 of us), a cat list (we currently have 6), a dog list (2 of them), a bird list (only 1, thank goodness), and a general list of things like maps, food, batterries, etc. Then, I dodn’t forget something important, like the oldest cats prescriptions, my daughter’s favorite toy or the roadmap so I will know where I am if my husband and I get seperated (we have to take two cars).
We live in an apartment so no room for a kiddie pool but thankfully have a great creek right across the street. It’s the perfect antidote to a hot day for our Boston Terrier, Hamlet.
Another thing I’m dying to try at the end of the summer is a day at the swimming pool. Many local pools will offer a dog day after Labor Day weekend when the pool is closed to humans but before they drain it for the winter. The people who run the pool don’t have to worry about all the dog hair and general mess interfering with the humans’ swimming atmosphere and the dogs get a great day to swim.
My dogs tend to enjoy the kiddie pool but I have seen some dogs who don’t enjoy swimming as much stray away from them. If I have time though taking my dogs to the river near my house has always been a great way for them to stay cool and get exercise.
If your dogs are hot at night and they currently sleep in a dog crate at night, try putting the crate in a cooler place like the basement or garage. If you turn the lights off or only leave one running then they will never know the difference.
A kiddie pool is perfect – I just wish they made collapsible ones that dog nails wouldn’t tear through so easily. I’d love to bring the pool with me when I go to my trailer camping on weekends or when I bring the dogs with to family houses.
This is a very informative little blog. My E. Mastiff gets overheated very easily. He would love a kiddie pool. What a good idea! He would also love that cooling bed, but like so many other things, it just isn’t nearly big enough for him! I doubt the bandana is either. It has already been so hot here in WV this season. We don’t ever walk until the sun goes down. Hank wouldn’t budge out the door otherwise. My little Chihuahua on the other hand loves the heat. He will go out and lay in the driveway with the sun beating down on him if he could!
I have a Great Dane who doesn’t cope well with the heat at all, probably partially because she’s jet black. She has the bandanna, which helps a lot, and this summer I’m going to try the cooling vest as well. Anyone have any reviews on that? She has a cool bed too, but she doesn’t really like it for some odd reason. However, I throw her regular bed on top of it, and she loves that – and it keeps her a bit cooler in the house at least!