evaporative cooling vests

Since dogs don`t really sweat I`m not sure how effective it would be. As long as a dog is acclimated to the local weather and has fresh water available there is no reason the dog shouldn`t keep up with you.

Shade, water and some breeze.

Shade is the problem. Lots of our walks have long stretches wtihout it.  His black coat makes him boil. 

It's supposed to work by keeping them cooler by the evaporative process, which pulls heat away from the body.  Supposedly works well, but would love to have any anecdotes. 

 I had a problem with Indie dealing with the heat.  His back is black and I think it absorbs a fair amount of heat.  He also has a very heavy coat which didn't help.  Evaporative cooling didn't help much for us because of our high humidity levels, so that's a concern if it's humid where you are.  I had him trimmed down and had his belly shaved.  Supposedly that can help the dog shed alot of heat.  I carry a spray bottle with water and spray down his belly if it's really hot and humid.  It seems to have helped him alot.  He can keep up longer than he could before his haircut and seems alot more comfortable, less labored panting, quicker pace, etc.  I wonder if a white t-shirt might help reflect off some of the heat for your dog?  I know the black dogs really suffer at our dog park where there is no shade as well.  Is it possible to walk him early in the morning or after sundown?  I've found that helps Indie alot also.  Good luck!

twelvepaws

I can't seem to find any information on how much they weigh after they're soaked

Can't help you with the weight question, but the RPCM Cooling Vest by Glacier Tek (carried by Helping Udders) info says "Much lighter than cooling vests that rely on crystals that absorb water.  Plus nothing is wet!"

You also might consider a smaller cooling bandana.

For both see the links here:

http://community.dog.com/forums/p/8148/105409.aspx#105409

I have a very large, mostly black dog with a coat that's like putting a Malamute, Chow, and rough Collie all together on a single dog, lol.  To keep him cool, I roll him over and cut the hair off his belly and privates (I just hack it ALL off, doesn't matter b/c you cannot see it) and have been keeping his coat in general well-brushed (pull out undercoat with a rake once a day or every other day) and keeping him trimmed shorter for the summer.  For both dogs if I think they are getting hot I will soak their bellies.  At our training club we have little swimming pools so we have the dogs stand in them and throw water on their bellies.

I considered shaving him, but I went to a master groomer and he said the dog's coat help keeps him cool too, so as long as I keep him brushed and trim excess hair, his coat should be kept intact.

I'm skeptical of vests especially on a dog with a thick coat because many vests I've seen just look very heavy, like the weight will make the dog work harder and get hotter.  I'm sure a high quality, light weight one would work well on a dog with a short coat (I've seen them on Catahoulas, Pointers, Weims, etc at dog shows) but my dog's coat is so think I don't see how the vest would help. 

He is fairly good at regulating himself and will often stop playing to lay in the shade or drink cold water.  Lately we have been doing shorter walks because he gets tired at a certain point, so I'm careful not to push him or let him over-exert himself when it's hot or humid. 

Thanks for the tips and links.  I never considered trimming him, which may be a good idea.  He's an English Shepherd, on the large side, and his coat is very similar to Coke's.  Maybe if I trimmed him down, an inch or two, not shaved, I could more easily cool him. 

 I do take him where there is a lake, so he cools down and swims, but getting there is a hot stretch.

Thanks! 

What I did with Coke is take all the hair off the privates and belly and then I trimmed and thinned out the feathering that's farther forward on the belly/chest, trimmed and thinned his "pants" and a bit off the tail.  I also really thinned out his ears because he was always getting tangles behind his ears and it was moist and stinky.  That has really helped with smell and preventing moisture from getting held there.  Tomorrow I'm going a full bathe so I can blow out a lot of coat with a high velocity dryer.  He seems much more comfortable after his haircut. 

twelvepaws

 He's an English Shepherd, on the large side, and his coat is very similar to Coke's.  

Ooh! He sounds alot like Indie, who is a really big BC with a thick, heavy rough collie-like coat.  Here's some before and after pics of his haircut.  We have a lake we walk to and from every day also, but he doesn't like going in to cool off like Woobie, so I have to spray him down when it gets really hot and sticky.

Before:

After:

As you can see it wasn't a shave down and it wasn't a huge amount of coat cut off on his body (though I had his bloomers considerably hacked off for sanitary reasons) but the bare belly and chest area seems to have made a big difference in his stamina and comfort.  I'd love to see pics of your dog, I love English Shepherds!  I've only met one but I think they're WAY COOL! 

you can get reflective mesh vests to cover dark dogs up from the sun. But well, dogs are very heat-intolerant and there's not much one can do about it. If the dog has a short coat or you can bring water along and regularly wet the dog down and that helps a lot, but dogs left in long coats just trap warm water against their skin. If your dog has a thick/long coat you should consider shaving the underbelly to the skin so you can apply cooling water.

hdkutz

Since dogs don`t really sweat I`m not sure how effective it would be.

Exactly because dogs don't sweat is why these work. The damp vest does the sweating for them. Sweat cools us as the moisture evaporates from our skin. The vest works because it cools as water evaporates from it. Same thing!

I don't know how they would work in WI, however they work great in dry climates like Denver. The more humid the air, the less evaporation and cooling.

If you want to try it out, a home made one would work also. A terry-cloth towel, soaked and wrung out, draped over the dog and pinned in place.

My dog sweats!!! Butttt she's a freak.

Anyhow, I've been wondering about the water soaked vests, too. Emma is a regular dog, and doesn't sweat. She also has an arthritic hip and back, so extra weight is a bad thing. I have a thin, little cooling coat I bought at a dog show. It's just terry with no crystals. I think it'll be fine for some days, but days like today (when the heat index was 107 in the dark, OUCH!), nothing will work. I had considered the one from helping udders, but I'm not sure I want to spend the money when I can't put my hands on it. Emma is only 19 or so lbs. It doesn't take much to be "heavy" for her.