After a long walk or a romp in the park, many pet parents find themselves wondering: “Does my dog sweat?” Our dogs wear fur coats, so it can be difficult to know what precisely is going on under there. Despite rumors to the contrary, dogs do sweat! However, sweating is only a small part of how dogs regulate their body temperature.
How Dogs Sweat
When temperatures are soaring, you won’t find your dog drenched in sweat, even if you might be. This is because dogs only have functional sweat glands in certain parts of their bodies.
Dogs have both merocrine and apocrine sweat glands. Merocrine sweat glands are very similar to the sweat glands you would find in your own skin. They produce sweat and help to cool down the body; in dogs, merocrine sweat glands are only found in the paws. Apocrine glands, which are found all over the dog body, serve mainly to release pheromones, which dogs use to help identify each other.
The Cooling Process
Dogs have a threefold process for cooling themselves down: limited sweating, panting and vasodilation techniques.
Dogs use panting as their main form of body temperature regulation. Panting is the open mouth breathing and tongue flapping that you may have observed when your dog seems hot. Panting helps to cool your dog by evaporating fluid from the surface of the tongue and lungs.
Dogs also use a process called vasodilation to regulate their internal body temperature. Vasodilation involves enlarging the small blood vessels on the external body surface in order to cool more blood before it returns internally. The blood vessels of the face and ears are particularly important to this process.
Overheating
Unfortunately, our canine companions are just plain not as good as humans at cooling themselves down. Fur coats are very handy natural insulators, however, when a dog’s body temperature elevates, the extra insulation means it will take longer to cool down. In addition, dogs’ threefold cooling process is not as effective as human-style sweating. This means that our dogs are prone to heat stress, heat exhaustion and even heat stroke.
If left untreated, heatstroke can be fatal. Signs that your dog is overheating include:
- Persistent heavy panting
- Profuse drooling
- Elevated body temperature
- Bright red gums
- Elevated heart rate
- Irregular heart rate
- Muscle tremors
- Ataxia (lack of coordination)
- Seizures
- Unconsciousness
If you notice any of the above clinical signs or you are concerned that your dog may be overheated, take your pet to a veterinarian immediately.
Helping Your Dog Stay Cool
Prevention is key to avoiding heat stress or heat stroke.
The main role pet parents can play is to control the environments that their dogs live in during hot weather. Access to cool water 24 hours a day and plenty of shade outdoors are both important. Trees or overhead shade units are better than a dog house, which is not ventilated.
When inside, monitor the temperature and turn on fans or air conditioning if it gets too hot. A dog should never be left unattended in a car, no matter the weather, as the temperature inside can skyrocket in only a matter of minutes.
A few more tips for helping your dog keep cool:
- When it’s warm outside, be mindful of the time of day you exercise your dog, choosing the cooler evenings and mornings to the heat of midday.
- Let your dog enjoy a dip in the water at a dog beach or lake.
- A small shallow paddling pool can be a fun backyard treat.
- Short summer haircuts reduce the insulating effect of fur coats.
- Freeze apple slices and mashed banana into ice cube trays for a refreshing treat.