Signs of Heatstroke in Your Puppy!

We’re in the midst of the summer months and in most states across the United States the temperatures can rise to sweltering proportions for our pups!

The Puppy Academy Students, Mari (left) and Maia (right)

Many of us are huge fans of summer!

Swimming, camping, hiking, or just enjoying being out in your town! As puppy owners, we want to include our pups in many of these activities with hot weather though, there are certain concerns for puppies developing heatstroke. Unfortunately, puppies and dogs are notoriously susceptible to changes in temperature. In this blog, we’ll teach you what signs of heatstroke in your puppy to look out for, how to treat it in an emergency, and how to prevent heatstroke from happening in the first place!

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What is Heatstroke?

The normal body temperature rate of a dog is 101.5F but when it reaches 105F or higher, your puppy is experiencing heatstroke, a fever also called Hypothermia. Any common environment can produce heatstroke in a puppy. Closed cars are notorious situations where many puppies and dogs across the United States have developed near-fatal heatstroke. 

Our pups only have a few limited ways to naturally cool off. Panting helps release moisture from their tongues, nasal passages, and the lining of their lungs. This process helps them cool down as the cool air passes over the moist tissue. Also, the pads of their paws can sweat but this isn’t enough to help them regulate their internal temperature.

Heatstroke will occur when the exterior temperatures are too high, overcoming your puppy’s ability to adjust and receive new, fresh cool air.

What Can Contribute to Heatstroke?

Aside from the obvious--high hot temperatures--there are other factors that can contribute to your puppy developing heatstroke. Your puppy’s breed, age, fitness, weight, existing medical conditions, environment, and water are all important components to consider.

Certain short-snouted or long, thick-coated breeds are susceptible to high hot temperatures. Young puppies, as well as old dogs, have a higher propensity to develop heatstroke. Environmental elements such as being in a car or even a prolonged amount of time on black asphalt will be conducive to the development of heatstroke. Lastly, your puppy’s ability to drink cool water or have consistent access to water is highly important in order to help them regulate.

What are the Signs to Look Out for?

When it comes to heatstroke, early detection and treatment can help save your puppy’s life from serious long-term damage or death. Here are the signs to be aware of next time you take your puppy for an outing in hot weather conditions:

• Heavy panting

• Rapid breathing

• Excessive drooling

• Bright red tongue and ears

• Hot to the touch

• High heart rate

Any prolonged exposure to high hot temperatures can make any or all of these symptoms worsen. A puppy may start to experience hyperventilation and dehydration. You may also notice that your puppy’s pupil will dilate, their gums may appear blueish, and muscle tremors. In serious situations, puppies could also be unable to pee or eliminate, collapse and become non-responsive.

How to Treat Heatstroke?

We never want our pups to experience something frightening or life-threatening but knowing how to quickly react is vital to saving their life, or help someone else’s pup! The main goal is lowering your puppy’s body temperature. Remove them from the location or activity and carry them to a shaded, cool, and ventilated location. At this point, you can spray or sponge down your puppy with cool (not cold) water, especially on their belly. 

Cold temperature water is not recommended as the immediate change from high heat to cold can produce shock in a puppy. If available, keep a fan blowing cool air on them until their temperature gradually starts to lower. Lastly, check on your puppy’s condition using a rectal thermometer; if their body temperature is 105F or higher, you should consider this an emergency and take your puppy to the veterinarian as soon as possible. Try to lower their body temperature and after a few minutes recheck with the thermometer. 

Note: Try to reduce your puppy’s body temperature to approximately 103F but don’t try to rapidly reduce it any lower. Doing so could cause their internal temperature to decrease too quickly and into dangerous levels. Once your puppy’s at around 103F bring them to your vet. In serious cases, your puppy may require fluids, medication, and oxygen.

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Be Prepared and Prevent Heatstroke!

When it comes to raising and training a puppy, planning for every situation makes all the difference. Preventing heatstroke is no different in that you can save your puppy’s life by having a little foresight into where you are going, what your puppy will be doing, and preparing supplies you may need. 

Choose to take your puppy out during the coolest times of the day, either early morning or later in the afternoon or evening. Keep their outside training and playtime short and provide them rest time inside. If you do plan to be out, your puppy should have easy access to shaded and cool areas and readily available cool water at all times. In situations when you can’t be sure if you can provide those things for your puppy, it’s always the best option to leave your puppy safe and cool at home.

Do you want to learn about some safe and fun activities to plan with your puppy this summer? Join us every Wednesday at 1 pm PT on @thepuppyacademy Instagram for our live trainer Q&A!

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Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: Teach Your Puppy Not to Bolt Out of Doorways!

When it comes to impulse control, nothing is more important than teaching your puppy to calmly approach open doors. Here’s how!

The Puppy Academy student, Mars!

Puppies can be impulsive! “Oh look, a squirrel!”

As a new owner, you might be struggling with managing their need to constantly run around and explore everything! And there is nothing more exciting to a puppy than the adventure of an open door. Therein lies the issue...

One of the most important things that you can include in your puppy’s obedience training is teaching your puppy door thresholds. The unfortunate fact is that many puppies have and will bolt through an open door. And the results are running into other dogs, into oncoming traffic, or more commonly, getting lost.

We’re going to walk you through simple, effective door threshold training for your puppy that will help them learn to control their impulse to run, how to approach doorways in a calm manner, and to focus on you for leadership when it comes to going in and out of doorways! 

LEARN HOW TO TEACH YOUR PUPPY TO CALMLY GREET PEOPLE, WAIT AT DOORS, WALK BESIDE YOU, AND MORE! ASK A PUPPY TRAINER EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 1 PM PT!

Tools for Teaching Your Puppy Door Thresholds

Puppy training can involve plenty of tools and threshold training your puppy is no exception. Luckily, you probably already have everything that you need for this exercise! You’ll need: your puppy’s harness, leash, high-value treats, a door, and the most important tool, yourself! 

Body language will be a key factor in communicating with your puppy what behavior you want them to respond with. Both the door and you will create spatial pressure, physical boundaries that teach your puppy when the pressure is off (leash pressure is removed, you’ve moved out of the way, or the door is slightly opened), they can move forward, and when it’s on, they have to wait for your guidance.

Door Threshold Exercise

Now that you know what you need, let’s work on a simple routine that you can practice with your puppy right away! This exercise can work on puppies that still haven’t learned their foundational obedience commands such as “Sit” or “Stay”. 

1. Begin with your puppy in their harness and on leash. With your puppy’s leash in hand, slightly open the door a few inches to gain their attention.

2. If your puppy starts to walk toward the open door, add light leash pressure by pulling back on their leash.

3. Close the door and step in front of your puppy to block them from exiting.

4. Your puppy might pause, look at you, or even better, sit down. If they take that moment to focus on you, remove the leash pressure, and mark that correct behavior with “good!”

5. At this point, you can say “let’s go!” and head out of the door with your puppy.

In the beginning, especially with new young puppies, you can’t expect too much from them when it comes to sitting and checking in with you for guidance. They simply haven’t built up that level of impulse control and focus, yet! You’ll need to use leash pressure and your own body to create a physical barrier between your puppy and the open door, to communicate that you want them to wait instead of bolting out.

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If you’ve already trained your puppy to “Sit” on command, you can work on these advanced next steps!

1. Use a piece of food to lure your puppy into a “Sit” in front of the door. When your puppy sits, mark the correct behavior with “good!” and reward them. 

2. Place yourself between your puppy and the doorway.

3. Open the door a few inches and if your puppy stays in their “Sit” mark the correct behavior with “good!” and reward them with food! 

*At this point, you might still need to apply leash pressure, pulling back slightly if your puppy starts to get up toward the door. However, if your puppy isn’t trying to bolt, keep the leash loose and only apply pressure if they get up from sitting down.

4. When your puppy makes eye contact with you, mark that behavior with “good!” and then say “let’s go!” and walk out to complete the exercise.

Practice these steps with your puppy for a few minutes a day. You can incorporate it into their daily routine such as before you take them outside to the yard or for a quick walk. It’ll take a few days of repetition until your puppy learns to pause at the door and check-in with you. 

After you have practiced opening the door just a few inches at a time, step up the challenge by opening the door wider and wider, until it’s completely open. You can even go a step further and instead of blocking your puppy, step to the side so they have full access to the open doorway. The goal is to get your puppy to “Sit”, look to you for guidance, and wait until you release them by saying “let’s go!”

A few more tips

Some puppies with higher drives such as working breeds can be more sensitive and responsive to body language. If you have a puppy that is excitable, we recommend that when you work on door thresholds, you maintain steady, almost robotic movements. In doing so, your body language promotes clear communication to your puppy of what you want them to do.

For example, with your puppy sitting down, open the door and take a step to the side. Then, take a step toward the door without releasing your puppy with “let’s go!” If your puppy immediately starts to follow, take a step toward your puppy and block them from walking out, essentially using your body to put them back into a sitting position. 

Small, but clear steps like the ones we mentioned above help your puppy learn to always wait for your cues instead of bolting out of the door, even if you’ve already stepped out in front of them. This way, in any situation your puppy encounters an open door in the future, they know to wait and control the impulse to walk out until you release them to do so.

Let us know how your door threshold training worked out with your puppy in the comments below! Have questions about this exercise? Join us every Wednesday for our live puppy trainer Q&As at 1 pm PT on @thepuppyacademy Instagram!

Check out these blogs related to puppy training and more!

Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: Teach Your Puppy to Calmly Greet New People!

Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: Desensitization Training for Puppies!

Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: The Dos and Don’ts of Puppies & Kids!