Dogs handle heat very differently from us — and misreading that is how a fun summer walk turns into an emergency. The good news is that once you understand how a dog actually loses heat, the ways to help are cheap and obvious.

Dogs don't sweat — they pant

We cool down by sweating across the whole body. Dogs can't: they have only a few sweat glands, mostly in the paw pads. Their main cooling system is panting — moving air over a wet tongue and airway so heat evaporates away. That works well in dry air and much worse in humid heat, and it's far less effective in dogs with short muzzles, because there's simply less airway surface to evaporate from (Hall et al., 2022). It's why a flat-faced breed can be in trouble on a day a long-nosed dog shrugs off.

The biggest risk isn't the parked car

Hot cars are real and deadly — never leave a dog in one, even briefly. But the data may surprise you: when UK researchers looked at over a thousand heatstroke cases, the single biggest trigger was exercise, not confinement. Exertional heat illness — a hard game of fetch or a midday walk on a warm day — accounted for the large majority of cases; vehicle cases were a small minority (Hall et al., 2020). The takeaway: on warm days, the walk itself is the thing to rethink, not just the car.

Highest-risk dogs are the flat-faced breeds, dogs carrying extra weight, heavy double coats, and both the very young and the very old. If that's your dog, be extra conservative.

What actually helps

  • Shift the timing. Walk in the early morning or late evening and keep midday to a quiet potty break. Test the pavement with your hand — too hot to hold for five seconds is too hot for paws.
  • Water, everywhere. Offer water constantly, and carry it on outings so you're never relying on finding some.
  • Airflow and shade beat a closed room. A shaded, breezy spot sheds heat far better than still air.
  • Give them a cool surface. Dogs dump heat by conduction — lying belly-down on something cool. A breathable cooling bed or a raised cot that lets air move underneath both help.

Cold treats, done sensibly

Licking something cold is both cooling and calming — and it's a better delivery method than ice cubes, which hard chewers can crack teeth on. Smear a lick mat with dog-safe wet food or plain yoghurt, freeze it, and hand it over on a hot afternoon: ten minutes of slow licking beats a frantic minute of crunching. Count it toward the day's food, not on top of it.

Know the warning signs

Heavy, frantic panting; bright red gums; drooling; wobbliness, confusion or collapse. If you see them, cool the dog now — move to shade, wet them with cool (not ice-cold) water, get air moving — and head to an emergency vet. Heatstroke is a same-minute emergency.

None of this means keeping your dog indoors all summer. It means reading the day honestly: shift the hard exercise to the cool hours, keep water and shade close, give them somewhere cool to stretch out — and let the flat-faced and fluffy ones opt out when it's genuinely hot.