Heat Stress

A friend kindly pointed out that Kira's picture in my last blog post shows her with her tongue making a little bowl - a sign of heat stress.

Here's the lady of the moment, in case anyone forgot that picture:

Dogs can't sweat except under their paws and on their noses, something that makes it rather difficult to keep cool. Their fur provides some thermal insulation and they pant as their primary way of cooling down - evaporation on their tongues lowers their temperature. When they get very hot, the blood vessels on the bottom of their tongue dilate, increasing the surface area - causing a bowl-shaped tongue that is extra pink or reddish.

Talos demonstrates this beautifully:

"Some water, maybe?"

Side view:

"no, really, Nina, water... not flash photography!"

If you see this, it's definitely time for a water break. Wetting your dog can help cool them down too, but some get zoomies if they're wet, which works a bit against you in terms of getting their temperature down. 

Why does this matter? 

Well, heat stroke can set in in mere minutes, and can be fatal. It affects the brain, heart, liver and nervous system - a pretty comprehensive list of things your dog needs to keep on truckin'. 

Now the bowl-tongue is a fairly early symptom that your pup is getting too hot - a great time to cool down. If, however, you miss it, some later symptoms include:

Heavy panting
Excessive thirst

Excessive drooling

Increased pulse and heartbeat 

Elevated body temperature (40ºC or 104ºF and up - if you have a rectal thermometer available this is a good way to keep track)
Glazed eyes

Bright or dark red tongue, gums 
Staggering

Vomiting and bloody diarrhea
Weakness, collapse
Seizures
Unconsciousness

If it gets this bad, you must immediately cool your dog down, and call the vet. At 42ºC, or 109ºF, heatstroke sets in, leading to rapid death. If your dog is responsive, giving them small sips of water will help. It's worth talking to your vet about a heat stroke procedure next time you're there.

Pugs and other short nosed breeds, old dogs and puppies (and of course sick dogs, and dogs that are not used to hot temperatures) are at a greater risk of heatstroke.

Be careful, and carry water! 

  

Being a bad, bad human.

I tend to focus on the things I've had success with with the dogs. The two of them are learning fantastically quickly in training (one who only started training formally a month ago - see, even here I am bragging... :P ). Both are generally pleasant companions. Both look adorable and tolerate well whatever silly creation I dress them up in. But, I also make a lot of mistakes.

My biggest one is ignoring their feelings. I am bad at this. I tend to push through with things - like putting on collars/harnesses despite them feeling massively uncomfortable with being confined that near each other (this became a fight the other day, with my finger in the middle. Yep, I deserved that bite, but they sure didn't deserve me allowing aggression to mount between them like that!).

This is a happy Kira:

Her ears are up, her body is relaxed, her mouth is open and soft, her eyes are soft ... we were on a hike, which she loves. I didn't insist on her looking at the camera, which she dislikes. Ok, so I retyped dislikes several times. I first put it "less than loves". Truthfully, she hates it.

This is an unhappy Kira:

Why did I insist on shoving the camera in her face? Look at that squint, those puckered cheeks, the tension around the eyes and ears, all pulled back. I am a bad, bad human.

But she looked so cute on her chair! I have to shake my head at me.

Let's face it, I like taking pictures of my dogs. Now that there's two, I get to have twice the fun ... no? No. Seriously, what I'm doing is not fair to her, and it hurts out relationship. I want her to trust me to keep her safe and respect her feelings. I will try harder to not push beyond her boundaries.

This presents us with an opportunity, though, a chance to train Kira to like looking at the camera!

Step one is a solid "look at me" cue, which we're already working on in her socialisation.
To teach "look at me", you simply lure your dog's gaze to your face with a treat (they tend to watch treats closely, heh). If you move a treat to next to your eyes, you should have instant eye contact. Mark it with a 'yes', a 'good' or a 'click' (or whatever you use to let them know they've done the right thing), give your cue (I go for *dog's name* "look at me"), and reward. Kira finds this easy, we're progressing well (it's time to start asking for it at random times to generalise the behaviour).

Step two is to classically condition a love of the camera. This is easy. Camera comes out and taking pictures start means the sudden appearance of dried liver. You know you've succeeded when you bring out the camera and start taking pictures, and the pup in question starts looking for treats immediately.

One those two are in place, you proceed to step three!
Step three means asking for a "look at me" while the camera is out. By this point, your pup loves the camera (because it's treat time, baby!) and the "look at me" is foolproof, so you instantly get a nice "look at me", and you can take a beautiful picture of a lovely, attentive doggy face.

Just don't start step three in a difficult spot! This is not the time to pick a place where it's hard for your doggy to be attentive and calm. Start on a couch in your lounge, or in the kitchen, or wherever your pup is truly comfortable and super likely to pay attention to you. Reward well once you've taken your picture.

Always keep sessions short! No more than a few minutes.

I'll post the results once I have them :)