[Alicia]

Lola scared the crap out of me last night.  We went to the vet at 5pm, she got 2 shots....we got home she ate.  Then just layed around.....Lola never just lays around.  But, I let her be.  I noticed her breathing was very quick and deep, I tried to wake her up...she'd open her eyes then go back to sleep.  So I thought she was having a reaction to the shots.  I called the vet...they were closed.  It took some time but I got her up on her feet and outside.  Once outside it was like she was a different dog....running around, chasing me, chasing a ball.  Come to find out....it was too hot for her in the house...we had a little heat wave here in Boston.....it was still 75 degrees at 11pm last night.  So she liked being outside where it was cooler.  Eventually we came back in, I opened windows and put 2 fans on.  She's not a big fan of water....hates baths, hates to go outside in the rain.  So besides fans & ac, any good tips on how to keep her cool.....it's suppose to reach 95 today!  Thanks

 

[caillou]

Try wiping her down with a wet sponge or wet towels? Water's the best way even if she doesn't like it :?
Voltaire did a mud roll today because of the heat (read it under the "swimming boxers anyone?" topic post :roll: )
How about also making some doggy ice lollies?

 

[Mastray]

Wow... I'm glad she's okay... I'm with Caillou. What I'm not use to is how hot boxers get... well really HOW EASILY. My chihuahua and terrier use to sun bathe outside in 100 degree weather! Odin doesn't last 10 minutes outside in 85 degree weather... though I am in FL so maybe it's hummidity that I'm not use to.

Only thing I could think of is keep the house cooler but obviously you're not able to do that. We keep ours at 73 though I turn it to 76 when hubbys at work. I've never had a problem except in TX and OK when the weather was at like 115 outside and we couldn't get it any cooler than 78 in the house.

 

[mybaddogs]

my pup did that after his seconds shots, his first shots his face swelled up.  Third shots fine though..

 

[PlaYtiMe24_7]

Wow...I guess living in Florida everything including dogs get use to the heat. 70s in the summer is such a treat for us. Were so use to 90 degree weather down here that the lowest we put our air at is 77 and even with that sometimes i get cold....74 when people come over. And snow??? Whats that?? Lived here in Florida my whole life....no clue what a REAL winter is.

 

[tootsie]

Wow...I guess living in Florida everything including dogs get use to the heat.

I wish me and my dogs would get used to the heat!! It's brutal down here. Maddie doesn't last 10 minutes outside when it's above 80. Maddie enjoys being a true couch potato in the summer inside in the cool a/c! Since she doesn't like the pool, she gets hosed down an awful lot!

 

[Alicia]

Try wiping her down with a wet sponge or wet towels? Water's the best way even if she doesn't like it :?
Voltaire did a mud roll today because of the heat (read it under the "swimming boxers anyone?" topic post :roll: )
How about also making some doggy ice lollies?

So how would one go about making ice lollies?  Sometimes I give her ice cubes....but she usually just whacks them around the kitchen floor until there's nothing but water!

 

[mybaddogs]

we put a lot of ice in their water and they love it.  You can teach her to swim by either tossing her in or getting in holding her and letting her swim back to the place to get out of the water.

 

[samsonsmom]

Boxers, because of their deep chest do not do well in heat..Samson is not good in the heat at all and every year it just gets worse, so I restrict outside activities to early in the day when it's still cool.....Get a small plastic wading pool, a cheap one from Walmart, fill it with water and get in with Lola..It's a good way to introduce her to water also...Make it a game, bring squeakies, whatever....My 2 love those popsicles that you buy at Walmart.The ones that are liquid when you buy them,,.Just stick them in the freezer for a few hours and then snip the top off and feed it to her a bit at a time..Samson says he favors the orange ones   ...You can also take a wet towel, wrung out good and lay it on the floor,then get Lola to lay on it..Or wrap it around her chest....Marq takes ice cubes and runs them down Samson's chest & he loves that...We've also taken trips to the creek to get Samson to cool off..He'll get in if one of us does...

 

[Flutterby]

It was extremely hot today... Toby took over my niece's swimming pool .. He'd disappear around the side of the house and I caught him laying in it to cool off. lol Too hot for me too! I spent some time in the basement on the computer.. Too hot in the rest of the house.. Then we went to my boyfriends in the evening and it was hotter in his house than it was outside.. So the dogs were like KNOCKED out..

And Toby has a really deep chest too.. But he does okay in the heat.. Is that because his muzzle is longer? I want to learn now so I don't expose Mia to anything that she won't be able to handle... I wouldn't mind hopping in the kiddie pool with her though...  :wink:

 

[PlaYtiMe24_7]

Xena loves ice cubes in the water....even when it isn't hott. When she's outside she tries to keep cool by laying in this ditch she dug under a tree in the backyard. The kiddie pools are also a good idea...she loves jumping in them and laying down in them at the dog park. We have a pool but the most shell do is drink from it....shell only drink near the steps so that had to be blocked off. I wish she would go in the pool...she doesn't like it though. I've also noticed that when were in the car coming from the dog park and she's heated, shell let the air from the vents go in her mouth...that's a dogs way of sweating so I guess the air cools em off. Try putting a fan in front of him or somehow getting air near the mouth.

 

[PlaYtiMe24_7]

I just reread the initial post saying "besides fans and ac"....so disregard my part about the fans.

 

[tootsie]

Boxers, because of their deep chest do not do well in heat..

I've always thought that was why they weren' really known as great swimmers!  
Boxers are brachycephalic breeds, their mouth and nose areas are significantly smaller, which makes cooling off very difficult for these breeds. This is why boxers have a greater chance of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The longer the mouth and nose, the better they are at cooling themselves off in extreme temperatures.  :wink:

 

[samsonsmom]

Lol Tootsie, and here I was thinking that it was that little nub that made it hard to swim!! When it's real hot, you can see Samson's nostrils just working away..When he does that it's time to cool him off!!

If I remember correctly, I believe dogs sweat thru their feet? Am I correct on this? I like to dunk Samson's feet in a tub, pail, whatever of cool water when it gets hot

 

[tootsie]

If I remember correctly, I believe dogs sweat thru their feet? Am I correct on this? I like to dunk Samson's feet in a tub, pail, whatever of cool water when it gets hot

They do sweat thru their feet.. Hence the lovely frito foot smell! I actually love the smell of frito feet, 8O  although I can't say I can ever eat a frito again and not think of boxer feet!  

 

[Flutterby]

[quote="samsonsmom\";p=\"10260":3qas78ib]Boxers, because of their deep chest do not do well in heat..

I've always thought that was why they weren' really known as great swimmers!

 

[caillou]

I'm a freak too  :crazyeye: - i love the smell of Voltaire's ears! Love to have a good sniff - i think they smell of bacon, my husband says i'm just weird & gross :crazy: Haha!

 

[Honeyec]

Alicia, the other thing you have to be careful about with whites is not to let them sunburn.  Tink got a right roasting last year (burn time in Ireland in summer can be as little as 8 minutes because we're so far North), I felt AWFUL!  It had never even crossed my mind that she would be at risk.  Now I know better, and once the summer (such as it is!) kicks in here, she'll be getting sunblocked before she goes outside.  Any formula that's suitable for children can be used on a dog.

I make ice lollies by diluting orange juice with water and freezing them in lolly molds.  My two love them.  You can also freeze yoghurt, but the juice & water combos seem to be more refreshing.

 

[Alicia]

Thanks for the tips!  When we were working on the house this weekend we had her outside and would occasionally spray her with the hose...she kind of back away and looked at us like "What the heck is that?", but she didn't seem to hate it.  I also gave her lots of ice cubes to play with.  I'm going to get a kiddie pool this week I think and see what she does!  I'll be sure to pick up some popsicles too!

 

[beckhamboxer]

[quote="Alicia\";p=\"10502":27usa7xf]Thanks for the tips!