I just finished a 12 miler with my pup. As the summer has heated up I’ve noticed that he has to cool off earlier and earlier in the run. I’ve tried to start earlier in the day and ended runs early so I was pretty interested when I saw an ad for a dog cooling vest. We used it today and I really think it made a difference. He was able to do the whole 12 in mid 70’s without getting overheated. To be honest I force him to cool in our creek and get a sip of water every 3 miles but we always did that before.
be careful with humidity - looks like it would be hotter and heavier if there is any humidity at all. Also, does the evaporative cooling overcome the extra blanket of insulation on the dog’s back? Just seems a little tricked up to me.
If overheating is a problem then maybe the dog shouldn’t be going that long in that temp. I don’t take my dog that long on runs, although I will hunt her where she runs way more than any runs i’ll ever do.
The vest is pretty light-the fabric seems to be a technical fabric, the cells seem to be a gel of some sort. Even wet it didn’t phase him at all.
Believe me, I watch him pretty closely and slow down or stop at his whims. He never fatigues but does get warm and this seemed to help. I hesitated to post because I knew I’d get the judgement comments but this really seems like a nice product.
Pat, cooling vests have little benefit on an exercising dog. Dogs do not sweat! Their bodies are not made to cool off by evaporation as we are. Their cooling system works more like an a/c house. Insulation is good. Breaking down the insulating layer of fur only makes them hotter! That’s why shaving a dog does little to cool them. They often feel better when shaved if it removes mats and dead hair, but not because they are cooler.
However, swimming will cool a dog as the water will get down to the skin. Dogs do sweat from their paw pads, so cooling the feet is a great heat reliever. A good spray down with the garden hose will feel great when they get home. If he is seeming to get tired and hot, he’s trying to tell you something. 12 miles may be too much for him in the heat of summer.
I know that you willingly want to train for triathlons, but is your dog? It seems to me it’s cruelty to animals when the owners make the dogs run with them, sometimes for a lot of mileage. Extremely cruel.
miracles are happening, i totally agree.
a couple miles easy, yes.
lotsa walking in the shade, yes.
If your dog is overheating , leave him/her home ,or do short runs with the pooch.
I have an Australian Shepard that can go all day and I only do short runs with her that are non structured.
Be good to your dog and don’t force your lifestyle on your pet , that and throw that dumbass vest in the garbage.
You know I have great respect for you and your dog knowledge. I do know that dogs are sensitive to heat, I watch my pup really closely. This vest has a gel layer, they claim it provides an evaporation layer, kind of like what perspiration does for us. I was and still am a little cynical but today he just bopped along, never seemed to pant very hard.
I wish you guys could meet this guy, he’s just a ball of energy and would be really, really sad if I didn’t run with him. I’m not doing tri’s this summer and have bumped up my running for him. I think he needs the exercise. When we finish he isn’t tired. On our property he goes off lead and runs into our pond and around our yard for a while before I call him in. If he didn’t do this I would hold back. I just don’t know what else to do with him to contain his energy. He steals everything in our house, runs around constantly and I’m hoping with exercise, and yes discipline, his behaviour will improve. If I ran our other dogs like this it would indeed be ridiculous and cruel.
Not to pile on, however, dogs inherently want to do nothing more than to please it’s owner. So it may be tough for you to REALLY see how the pup is feeling. He just wants to be with you and will do anything to please you.
Just a thought
Pat, cooling vests have little benefit on an exercising dog. Dogs do not sweat! Their bodies are not made to cool off by evaporation as we are. Their cooling system works more like an a/c house. Insulation is good. Breaking down the insulating layer of fur only makes them hotter! That’s why shaving a dog does little to cool them. They often feel better when shaved if it removes mats and dead hair, but not because they are cooler.
However, swimming will cool a dog as the water will get down to the skin. Dogs do sweat from their paw pads, so cooling the feet is a great heat reliever. A good spray down with the garden hose will feel great when they get home. If he is seeming to get tired and hot, he’s trying to tell you something. 12 miles may be too much for him in the heat of summer.
So, since this vest works like an AC unit (takes the body heat and moves it outside through an evaperation chamber), it should be great. If a dog sweat this vest would not be needed.
Did anyone read about the vest? You soak it in water and then put it on the dog, as the dogs body temperature rises the water carrys the body heat away via evaporation. Sounds to me that it mimics human persperation?
Maybe I am missing something here (most likely am) but seems like all of the posts about why it wont work are not about this product and actually support why this product will work.
I’ve been involved in working dogs for 30+ years. Believe me, this cooling vest idea is not new. These things have been around in one form or another of and on over the years. They don’t sell well. Oh, the vest “perspires”, but it doesn’t touch the dog’s bare skin and does very little to cool the dog. In fact, if it heats up from the sun, it could make the dog hotter. The only output for heat on a dog is the mouth and paws. Those are his only A/C discharge vents. Dog’s suffer from sun heat more than internal body heat.
If they worked, they’d be in use for working dogs long before now. Police, security, agility. herding, dog sports and more who have to work in heat. There has been a lot of research on the subject of cooling dogs. If these vests worked, they would be used by all these people.
Without getting into a long discussion, dogs do not lose much heat from their bodies, and the vests do not touch the skin, only the hair. Wetting them to the skin cools them by lowering body temperature, not evaporation, and then only of they are completely soaked as in swimming.
I’ve been a lurker here for years but decided to join in order to respond to the posts in this thread.
Most breeds of dogs were bred for work and activity and once conditioned properly a 12 mile run at our pace is hardly an extreme workout or punishment. I regularly run my dogs in harnesses in front of me and they absolutely love to be out running. In fact I have rigged up an old mtb with a springer attachment (www.springerusa.com) to get them workouts on days they can’t run with me. I’ve also written articles about training your dog to use the treadmill and there are models specifically for canines.
My dogs go absolutely bonkers when I get the harnesses out and would choose running over treats…and not to please me but because they truly enjoy running. In fact running and pulling with dogs is becoming increasingly popular outside of the traditional sled dog areas. For more information check out http://www.skijornow.com/ for some examples of “dryland” dog events.
Now a couple of points of clarification, not every dog can or should be run 12 miles; however, with a vigilant owner and a dog worked up to that distance it should be no problem. For the record I usually don’t take mine above 6-7, more due to the program I’m using than anything else. Also, this is a very dangerous time of year in many parts of the country. I’m sitting here typing this with a golden in the treatment room with severe brain damage related to heat stroke which occurred Monday, and he was just out in his own backyard. This morning I left my own girls at home during my run simply due to the high humidity which would have been stifling, even at 4:30. In conditions like this, yes a dog will do things to please its owner that may be fatal; however, to say running a dog is cruelty without knowing the specifics is crazy.
Dogs are intelligent and athletic animals and I would argue the true cruelty is the dog that never gets to see that potential realized. Ironically, I was thinking about this subject on my run this morning. Certain breeds of dogs should look thin to most people and occassinally owners are reported for “neglect” because of this normal body type…which is how some thin-coated well-muscled breeds should look. That being said no one is ever reported for overfeeding their pet to the point the dog is 2-3 times what its body weight should be because that has become an accepted norm.
Most dogs are athletes and enjoy being worked. The benefits are not only physical but mental, ask any canine behaviorist.