Poor dogs - angry HF

[Headfry]

Well, sorry if I sound angry......I AM!

How many people did I see walking their dogs on the hot hot tarmac pavements or shut in cars!!!!

I say - take of your shoes and stand on the pavement a while, are you feet hurting yet?

poor dogs !

Does this not burn the dogs paws? not being a dog owner I can only guess.

Please tell me if I am wrong, as it really upset me this weekend, made me very angry too- and I don't like being angry with things

[OverWyreGrower]

Our boys don't seem to mind hot pavements, but we wouldn't take them out during the hottest part of the day anyway....

Their pads are quite hard and rough (now they're grown up) so I guess they don't mind. However, we don't walk them a lot on the pavement anyway - we use the beach or fields!

However, don't even get me started about dogs in cars on hot days!!

[blue411]

I am the proud owner of a rhodesian ridgeback, and i didnt take her for a walk yesterday as it was just far too hot for her, she was panting all day trying to keep cool ( she weighs 7.5 stone, yes she is a big girl, muscle not fat)!, we kept her amused in our garden and kept her nice and cool with a light showering from the hose pipe,i totally agree with your comments made though.

[Headfry]

Blue411 and OWG....you are worthy pet owners, thank you for restoring my faith in....

There was a poor dog in a van at PC world yesterday, I asked the store manager to find the owner, dog looked very distressed- I know it's nothing to do with me...hell yes it IS!
I know I would have broken glass to get to the dog if I no one had come forward, it only had tiny gap in window and was in a very hot tin can!!! ggrrrrrrrr it makes me so angry.

[lynda66]

my dog lies out in the hottest part of the garden .... nearly all day, when the suns out, she just pretends she's deaf when you try to get her in ...... but even for her it was too hot last night in the house, she ende up having a cool bath at 4am lol ..... she was much better then ..... and today she is having a hair cut .....isn't leaving dogs in hot cars a criminal offence now??? some people just have no idea how to treat a dog...... makes me mad too.

[SlugLobber]

You're quite right to have been angry about the dog in a van. It takes minutes for a dog to pass out in heat like that. Yes, Lynda, it is a criminal offence and the police will come and smash the window first, ask questions later.

Last year there were TWO angry announcements over the tannoy at Cranleigh Show, complete with registration numbers, giving the owners 5 minutes to get to the car or their window would be smashed.

Not sure about the tarmac issue. I wouldn't be taking a dog for a walk in heat like we're having right now, but their pads have skin 3 x the thickness of ours, heavily calloused. Not sure you can compare human feet with paws, when the former is mollycoddled in shoes, socks, daily washing etc. It shouldn't be an issue, though, if the dog is being walked early/late in the day!

[Headfry]

Thank you, I was worried about their paws!

[lynda66]

if their paws were hurting ..... they wouldn't walk, or they'd panic or something, they would definitely let the owner know, cats have much daintier paws, and my cat wanders up the tarmac all the time, he certainly wouldn't if it was burning

[armadillo]

I'm sure their paws are fine on the pavement, but in cars is terrible. I didn't take my dog out yesterday except to nip over to a field nearby where she can splash about in the water round the edges.
I'm not sure if it's true, but I've been told convincingly by a couple of people that if you see a dog trapped in a hot car it's legal to smash a window to get them out.

[gemlady]

Took my dog out very early in morning on Sunday. Wouldn't dream of taking her out when it's very hot. The people who leave their dogs in cars - just don't get me started

[Hans Mum]

my dog lies out in the hottest part of the garden .... nearly all day, when the suns out, she just pretends she's deaf when you try to get her in ......

ours does that too....why???? yesterday he lay in full sun instead of coming into the nice cool house with us???
in the end i made him come in and shut the door so he couldnt 'cook' himself.

[lynda66]

i think they like it .... isn't there something about dogs being unable to absorb vitamin d through food?? so they need the sun ..... or did i imagine that??

personally i just think dogs are daft ..... like they say, only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun

[bluemoon]

Seeing dogs left in cars makes me so angry too. Ours have spent most of the last few days sleeping on the kitchen lino - presumably it's the coolest place they can find. When the weather is like this we only take them out in the evening, and then only through the woods as there is shade. My OH also takes them for a quick walk early in the day too. We have a small tarmac area by the back door, which does get incredibly hot, but they don't seem to notice it at all when they walk over it to get to the lawn so perhaps that's not such an issue, but seeing a dog trapped in a car - and it always seems to be a huge, hairy dog - makes me want to make the owners sit in those conditions and see how they cope.

[ScottyW]

Seeing a dog trapped in a car is always a bit upsetting. But I don't pay mind to the hot tarmac or slabs. Our slabs were boiling yesterday and walking bare foot wasn't good, but the dog happily walked around on them for quite a while.

[Headfry]

My mind has been put at rest about the tarmac thank you!