Over the past few weeks it's been obvious the dogs have been getting a bit uncomfortable with the heat. I have been putting plastic containers in the freezer, probably hold 100 cc or so and adding them to the dogs water as over sized ice cubes. The dogs seem to really like it but I sometimes worry if maybe the really cold water is not too good for them.

Any thoughts from anyone out there?

Plenty of opinions on this current thread:-

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/629965-is-your-dog-coping-with-the-heat/

i used to give ours water straight from the fridge he loved it,but i was advised against it so he now has 2 thirds room temp.and the rest from the fridge,he also loves ice cubes.he is an alskan malamute.his favourite treet ice cream and mango.

i used to give ours water straight from the fridge he loved it,but i was advised against it so he now has 2 thirds room temp.and the rest from the fridge,he also loves ice cubes.he is an alskan malamute.his favourite treet ice cream and mango.

Do you know what the actual issue is with giving straight from the fridge as we do that all the time- and give them ice cubes?

Yeah, it's pointless. It doesn't provide much cooling. To heat 1/10 of a litre of water from zero to body temperature requires 4 kcal. A big dog can produce that in a minute. To vaporize the same amount on the tongue takes 54 kcal out of the dog. Trust the physics, and don't risk a stomach ache. Just provide enough water.

i used to give ours water straight from the fridge he loved it,but i was advised against it so he now has 2 thirds room temp.and the rest from the fridge,he also loves ice cubes.he is an alskan malamute.his favourite treet ice cream and mango.

Do you know what the actual issue is with giving straight from the fridge as we do that all the time- and give them ice cubes?

it was well over a yr ago in this forum the advice was in the topic double coated dogs.considering how hot it has been[3months] ours has coped quite well although he has access to the house he loves to go in the downstairs shower room,its floor is all tiled and shaded.bedtime he sleeps with us airconditioned room.

Yeah, it's pointless. It doesn't provide much cooling. To heat 1/10 of a litre of water from zero to body temperature requires 4 kcal. A big dog can produce that in a minute. To vaporize the same amount on the tongue takes 54 kcal out of the dog. Trust the physics, and don't risk a stomach ache. Just provide enough water.

It's not just a matter of the physics of cooling the body - it's a matter of how the dog feels. I think most of us would prefer a glass of something cold when we're hot - and that includes dogs.

The physics of a dog's thermal regulation is dependant almost solely on blood flow within their lungs and tongue, dogs have a few sweat glands in their paws but none elsewhere.

So the combination of moisture on the tongue and airflow from breathing allows body heat to be transferred from blood to expired breath in the lung and via evaporation from the tongue's blood supply.

Technically eating an ice cream will make you hotter as the calories add more fat to your body than the cooling effects in your mouth, however it feels good and people consume ice cream in hot weather.

Our dogs like both ice (mostly small sheets taken from the fridge) and a shared ice cream.

Our Golden likes his water bath.

Having an elevated bench where they can lay and catch any breeze helps too.

we have a large marble stone table under cover he loves to lay on it early morn.and evening looking up the street with his head held high as proud as a lion keeping watch over his patch.

My GSX is one of the laziest dogs I have ever known. He has the run of our 3-rai enclosed garden, but walks? Those are for dumbos!

Curiously, he has joined me and the other dogs on our morning walk (up to 2 hours) several times in the past three weeks. He seems to enjoy it too; but one thing I can guarantee, if he sees a muddy pool somewhere in the rice paddy, he'll go and lie in it. (Bath needed afterwards!)

In the house, mostly he lies on the polished granite floor, which is fairly cool, but if I turn an aircon on, he's in that room like a shot (so are the rest of our dogs, which are 4 small toy poodle types).

The water they drink comes straight from the tap.

The water they drink comes straight from the tap.

Given the choice do the dogs drink tap water or water that has stood in an open bucket etc for a day or so?

Often tap water has a chemical smell that dogs will avoid when possible.

An experiment you can try given a dog's nose is x1,000 better than a human's: Fill a bottle with tap water and allow it to stand for a day, then shake it to allow the bubbles formed on the side to rise to the bottle's neck, then place your nose near the cap as you remove it, that is an approximation of what you dog smells.

If you have the space use an open barrel that is topped up as required.

ours seem to have a clock in his head,as there has been plenty of football on early morn.i have been going to bed early 9pm.i go to the fridge in the kitchen to get a tablet and water and he see's me from outside as he lays on the marble table,off he gets go's and has a pee pushes the mossy guard and door open up the stairs he knows the aircon is on up on the bed on his back legs wide apart so as to feel the cold air on his belly,thats it till 5am then he will come to my side of the bed and rub his nose on me,and then a moo-moo thats for me to get up i want a pee he is definately part human.

The water they drink comes straight from the tap.

Given the choice do the dogs drink tap water or water that has stood in an open bucket etc for a day or so?

Often tap water has a chemical smell that dogs will avoid when possible.

An experiment you can try given a dog's nose is x1,000 better than a human's: Fill a bottle with tap water and allow it to stand for a day, then shake it to allow the bubbles formed on the side to rise to the bottle's neck, then place your nose near the cap as you remove it, that is an approximation of what you dog smells.

If you have the space use an open barrel that is topped up as required.

Our tap water is from our own well, so comes from deep down in the earth. High on calcium, I think. But not 'chemical' in any way.

The water they drink comes straight from the tap.

Given the choice do the dogs drink tap water or water that has stood in an open bucket etc for a day or so?

Often tap water has a chemical smell that dogs will avoid when possible.

An experiment you can try given a dog's nose is x1,000 better than a human's: Fill a bottle with tap water and allow it to stand for a day, then shake it to allow the bubbles formed on the side to rise to the bottle's neck, then place your nose near the cap as you remove it, that is an approximation of what you dog smells.

If you have the space use an open barrel that is topped up as required.

both my dogs like my pool water very much and hardly ever pass the pool without sampling it.

note: extremely low CL content (0.25-0.5ppm) in the water, no other chemicals added.