Dogs, Heat, and Mustachian A/C Use?

[fallstoclimb]

One thing my husband and I have always been mustachian on is A/C use - we typically do not turn it on unless we get a multi-day stretch of highs in the 90s.  Not only is A/C expensive but I really just prefer open windows and extravagant fan use, unless it is absolutely stifling.  I never really worried about how this would affect our cat - I am probably a bad cat owner - but he's always been fine.

But we got a dog this winter, who is the love of my life, and I want to make sure we keep him safe.  He's a shepherd mix of some kind, although his summer coat is fairly thin.

So what kind of guidelines do you follow to be both thrifty with A/C use and keep your pets safe?

[matchewed]

Whatever temperature you can be comfortable in your dog can. Just make sure you offer plenty of water.

There are other options for extreme situations. The Humane Society has a quick page on it.

[Cromacster]

I don't let my house get over 85 when I am not home and my guy has been fine with it.  Typically my house stays below this during the day except for the stretches when we consistently hit high 90's or 100's.

One thing you can do is leave a fan on him if you choose not to use AC all the time.  Granted this only really works if he is crated during the day.  Unless he is smart and finds the fan :).  And if crated you can put the crate in an area of the house you know remains cooler.

[MissStache]

I grew up in Alabama with outside dogs, and they certainly never had A/C during our 90+, high-humidity summers.  (Come to think of it, I didn't either- we didn't have A/C in the house) They were absolutely fine- just slept a lot during the day and went swimming in the pond when the mood struck them. 

Having a dog in a warm house isn't the same as having a dog in a car where it is going to be 120 degrees.  Just make sure they have a lot of water and they will be fine. 

[zinnie]

We don't have A/C and our dogs have generally been fine in a hot house. I just put them in the coolest room when I am not home, keep it shaded and turn on fans/ keep the windows open for air flow. I give them water, sometimes in a big container so they can get wet if the mood strikes. They have never actually jumped in but it makes me feel better knowing they have the option.

Also remember that dogs are a lot lower down than you. I know in my house even when it is 90+ in the air it usually feels pretty cool laying on the floor. 

Then again, when it goes above 90 we usually put in a window unit. For them and for us.

[rocksinmyhead]

I actually was just thinking about this. we had our first temperatures in the 90s yesterday (ugh) so I finally turned the AC on, only because our pup is home during the day (and he's a husky/German shepherd mix... so summer in Oklahoma is pretty much his least favorite thing ever). I set the thermostat to low 80s and had some ceiling fans on to circulate air. like everyone else said, if it's safe for you/a human child (e.g. normal hot temperature, NOT the inside of a hot car... ya know), as long as they can stay hydrated, they are fine.

Also remember that dogs are a lot lower down than you. I know in my house even when it is 90+ in the air it usually feels pretty cool laying on the floor. 

great point. we also have hardwood floors and he lays on them a lot more in the summer. maybe one of these really hot days I will join him :)

[fallstoclimb]

OK great.  So it sounds like this is more or less not an issue.  Thanks everyone!!

[starbuck]

Short-nosed dogs (bulldogs, pugs) have more difficulty in hot weather, but with a shepherd it shouldn't be a big deal.

We don't have any A/C in our house, and our dog still insists on sleeping on the much warmer 2nd floor during the day. The cat on the other hand, seeks out the basement or the brick hearth of the fireplace. Different strokes.

Totally unrelated to A/C, but at the shelter we have kiddie pools for the dogs in the summer. It was a hoot to watch the water-lovers play in it. (Kiddie plastic sandboxes make the most durable dog pools. The cheap blue plastic pools can split and crack really easily with a rambunctious pooch.)

[iris lily]

For most of our 25 years in this house we didn't have air conditioning on the first floor where the dogs, bulldogs, lived. Bulldogs are especially sensitive to heat and they get heat stroke easily and sometimes die. So it was always something that I watched.  We live in St. Louis with hot, humid summers.

  But we

1) DID have air conditioning upstairs, so some of that cooled air fell to the first floor (though didn't always reach the dogs in their dog room--our breakfast room)

2)   have a Victorian town house with high ceilings and few windows--it is built to be cool

3) turned a fan on the dog room when it was hot, but made sure they had a way to get out of the fan wind--that can be drying to their skin and can be stressful. I like to set an oscillating fan on the table and that makes air move through the room, but down at the dog's level, it's not blowing in his/her face.

In the two final years of our elderly bulldog's life, DH put in a window air conditioner for her. It was one that had come with a piece of real estate, and it was huge.  I remember him lugging that huge, ancient thing home and hoisting it up into the window for her, a big job for 1 person, but he loved her. And it really eased her final summers.

About 3  years ago we installed air conditioning for the first floor of our house, so now the dogs are fine in these summers.

[sunnyca]

I leave a fan on during the day when the temperature hits the high 80s to mid-90s and the cats and the dog (all long-haired) are fine.  I just make sure they have plenty of water, and usually put ice in before I leave.

[Jamesqf]

Whatever temperature you can be comfortable in your dog can.

Not entirely true, though it's a lot more relevant to exercising than just lounging around, which is what your dog probably does when you're not home.  Breeds and individual dogs vary, so pay attention to whether he looks comfortable, or is panting...

At the other end, are YOU comfortable lying in a snowbank, or swimming after the ducks in an ice-rimmed pond?  But my dogs love doing those things.

[matchewed]

Whatever temperature you can be comfortable in your dog can.

Not entirely true, though it's a lot more relevant to exercising than just lounging around, which is what your dog probably does when you're not home.  Breeds and individual dogs vary, so pay attention to whether he looks comfortable, or is panting...

At the other end, are YOU comfortable lying in a snowbank, or swimming after the ducks in an ice-rimmed pond?  But my dogs love doing those things.

Which is why I linked to a more knowledgeable source than myself about the extremes and used the term comfortable. Comfortable as in not uncomfortable, as in not having any physically unpleasant feelings, as in feel free to spike out one phrase just so you can say "not entirely true" and then proceed to nowhere disagree with what I've said.

And affirming the consequent. Bad logical fallacy bad.

:)

[southern granny]

You do have to be careful the dog does not over heat.  Remember they don't sweat.  They also need to be acclimated.  A year or so ago, a police dog in our area was retired and went to live with a family.  He was not that old, but he was dead within a few weeks just because the kids were playing with him outside.  They said that he was used to being in a air conditioned building or car all the time so just by playing outside in the heat, he had a heatstroke. We do turn the air up a few degrees while we are gone, but leave the ceiling fan on for the dog.   

[Jamesqf]

And affirming the consequent. Bad logical fallacy bad.

Nope, just pointing out that the ancestors of humans evolved to run around the hot African savannas, while the ancestors of dogs evolved in more northern climes.  We've each evolved adaptations to those environments that are largely still with us, like a largely bare skin covered with sweat glands vs an insulating fur coat.  So your dog is likely to be comfortable over a range of temperatures that's lower than what humans are comfortable with.

I think that's interesting, myself, and thought that others might think so as well.