If you don’t know how to care for your dog in the heat, you’re an awful excuse for an owner
By Janis McMath, Contributor
Summer is a hot, miserable time—and awful dog owners insist on making it even more miserable. During these sweltering months, I constantly encounter dog-owners that clearly have done no research on their dog’s needs.
People are constantly walking their dogs on concrete in the midday sun—even though midday is the hottest time of day and concrete can get hot enough to burn and blister a pup’s paws. I’ve seen people walking their dogs in the extreme heat with muzzles on, even though a dog’s main heat regulation system is panting. I still see people leave their dogs in locked cars even though we’ve all been screaming about the dangers of heatstroke for what seems like forever.
I cannot understand how people can still be ignorant about their dog’s needs when all the information is readily available to them. Seriously, I have even seen people walking excessively-panting pugs in the heat, meaning that they literally don’t even know the fundamental needs of their dog’s breed. If you don’t already know, pugs are a brachycephalic breed—a breed that have short noses and flat faces which cause breathing problems that need to be monitored. A dog that has breathing problems is a dog that has temperature- regulation problems, and having a brachycephalic breed without knowing that, or knowing how to care for it, is shameful and inexcusable.
Could you imagine having breathing and overheating problems and having no way to communicate that fact to your caregiver? If you have a dog, you have an obligation to inform yourself on your dog’s needs. Your dog depends on you entirely to take care of them, and if you get a dog you are deeming yourself responsible enough to maintain the dog’s health.
If you are going to take the life of another living thing into your hands, the very least you could do is the proper research—or you probably shouldn’t own a dog at all.
