I live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth TX area and have a female Schnauzer about 18 mo old. that I walk twice a day usually. She is not overweight but she seems to become overheated very quickly, showing excessive panting and sometimes stopping to rest in the shade. I am not talking about walking in 90+ degrees in full sun. The temp when we went out today was about 83 degrees with a breeze---I take water for her to drink and she stops to drink often. I have even started having her take a drink before we go out.. We try to walk on the shady side of the streets. I usually walk for about 45 min. at a time in my neighborhood. Maggie is not trained to stay by my side. She like a long leash and will run to chase squirrels or birds she sees and will bark if she hears/sees other dogs, so she gets very excited at the start of the walk and as it progresses, she calms down.
I am very concered because today we actually walked a little less than we normally do but she was very ready to go in when we got to the house. She was panting heavily, went to the kitchen and laid on the tile floor to cool off.
I am starting to wonder if she might have problem with her heart or something like Addison's disease. She does not drink water excessively during the day though when she is just staying in the house. Everything checked out perfectly normal at her 12 mo check up and she uses a topical heartworm monthly med.
The vet we used has just left the practice she had and is kind of a gypsy, working for a couple of friends in the area and I don't want to go back to the old location. And I don't want to spend several hundred of $ that may not be necessary.
Would appreciate any comments, suggestions or advice...
[align=right]