Dog days of summer

A Spokane veterinarian is applying some heat in a warm-hearted way to people who hike or bike with their dogs in hot summer weather.

“It can kill the dog,” said Dr. Joseph Harari.

While he specializes in veterinary orthopedics and surgery, he also owns a dog and likes to take it hiking.

But sometime Harari chooses to leave Benny home for his own good, or carefully locate the exercise route to shade and water.

Harari stresses that orthopedics is the focus of his practice, noting that his bread and butter is people who transport their dogs in the backs of pickups or in car seats with windows rolled down. “I can’t tell you how many dogs are launched out of vehicles, but it pays my bills,” he said.

He sees the heat issues related to dogs more as a dog owner than a vet. “It’s common sense,” he said.

“I’ve been blown away by what I’ve seen on the South Hill Bluff trails this summer. Even at 9 a.m., the sun can be bearing down on the south-facing slope with intensity, yet people are out there running their dogs. It floors me.”

Dogs need shade and water in warm weather, and they need a lot of care when temperatures soar over 90 degrees.

“Most people have been educated about the danger of leaving a dog in a locked vehicle in the sun, but there seems to be a lack of understanding about hot-weather exercising.”

Perhaps it’s because dogs seem tougher than we are. In good conditions, they can run farther and faster than we can. They’re always ready to go.

If I can go out and hike on the South Hill Bluff trails in hot weather, why can’t my dog?

“Dogs don’t have the same cooling mechanisms,” Harari said.

Dogs cool themselves primarily by exchanging heat through their lungs while breathing, said Dr. Mike O’Dea of Pet Emergency Clinic.

“They can’t sweat like we do,” he said. “People have their whole surface area they wet with sweat from head to feet to exchange heat in addition to breathing.”

Humans and animals are both susceptible to overexertion and heat exhaustion, but they can be affected to different degrees.

Even among dogs, breeds will have different levels of tolerance for heat. Short-snouted breeds exchange heat from their breathing less efficiently than longer-snouted breeds, O’Dea said.

Some dogs need more drinking water than others while exercising, he said.

The tricky thing with dogs is that heat exhaustion can sneak up quickly.

“Your dog can be running behind you on your bike totally normally and then, when you get home, the dog can start feeling crummy,” O’Dea said. “That could be an example of heat exhaustion. Its body temperature may be abnormally high and you don’t know it.”

Most heat-related problems O’Dea sees occur in the transition from spring to summer, when hot weather can come on suddenly before dogs have had a chance to acclimate.

“People are all excited to get out and get active, but the dogs aren’t quite ready for it,” he said.

Dogs that become sick enough for a trip to Pet Emergency Clinic can experience listlessnees and seizures or even become non-responsive. “Heat exhaustion can be profound,” O’Dea said, noting that extreme cases can affect the dog’s organs and cause issues with coagulation.

Precautions include hiking earlier in the morning when temperatures are cooler and planning outings near water and shade where dogs can cool off as needed.

And perhaps most important, dog owners simply need to know when to back off.

“Prevention is preferable to treatment,” Harari said. “I don’t think a lot of dogs know when to stop until it’s too late, especially hunting breeds that are so driven.

“Most humans know when to back off in heat, but dogs are keen to stay with you. They’re so bonded they’ll just keep going.”

Dan Hoke, Cheney-area hunting dog trainer, says he hears about a few dogs every year dying in the late summer openings of bird hunting seasons.

“I’m pretty sure that some of the cases I’ve heard of dogs dying in the field from snake bite were more likely heat exhaustion,” he said. “Hunters came all that way to hunt. They don’t always know when it’s best for their dog to call it a day.”

Samantha Journot of the Spokane Mountaineers was backpacking with Duke, her young, tough cattle dog, in the Pasayten Wilderness at the end of July as the weather changed from cool to hot in the last few days of the week-long trip. She noted that Duke was not doing well in the heat one day and took a lot of breaks to cool him and his feet.

Compared with humans standing five- to six-feet high, a dog endures warmer temperatures and more solar reflection a foot or two above a rocky sun-exposed trail. This is similar to the heat recorded at street level during Hoopfest.

So Journot’s hiking group decided to get up at 3 a.m. and get their last hard 15 miles done in the coolest part of the day – for Duke’s sake. The hikers enjoyed the light of the Blue Moon and the cool of the morning, too. The temperatures soared into the 90s by afternoon.

“I talked to some people hiking with their dogs in hot weather off the Bluff,” Harari said. “They seemed bright, articulate and intelligent, so it wasn’t a matter of boorish people out to punish their pets.

“I think they were just athletic people who didn’t realize they were pushing the envelope with their dog.

Harari said the laspes in judgment don’t always just apply to the furry ones, either. “I also see people who hike with their babies tucked away in backpacks wearing no hat or sunglasses. I see their kids in the back squinting and blinking and I think, ‘No wonder they don’t realize heat affects their dogs, too.”

Contact Rich Landers at (509) 459-5508 or email richl@spokesman.com.