Poor Old Staffords Being Dragged Around In The Heat

[jadesamara]

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed two elderly Staffordshires being dragged walked on a Y-leash by their owner. It's generally around 2pm when I've driven past them on the main street. They are very grey, and seem to hobble (as opposed to actually walking). The dogs are generally lagging behind the owner, struggling to keep up, with their tongues hanging out.

Now I don't want to be a whinger, and believe in each to their own - perhaps they are destructive at home and need to be walked etc etc. However two days ago when I drove by, the poor dogs were exhausted - laying "froggy" under the shade of a tree in the middle of the footpath, with the owner standing by ready to move on once they were up on their feet again.

We have had between 36 - 30 degrees this week, and I just feel this is too much. I have no place interferring in this man's pet ownership, but as a fellow Stafford owner, and having an extremely soft spot for old Staffs (see thread Kudos To Jadesamara in "General Dog Discussion" and you'll read about the 13 y.o. I saved ) I just felt sick seeing this.

Am I over-reacting? Please don't me or tell me to mind my own business . I honestly just feel pity for these poor guys, and am not sure whether this is okay and I'm just too sensitive, or whether this seems cruel to anyone else

[Sandra777]

I don't think it's right at all, but I really don't know what you could do about it. Perhaps stop and have a chat about how you love Staffords and perhaps mention how hot it is and take it from there.

[Kelly_Louise]

No flaming from me - I think it's lovely that you care. And if these dogs are not comfortable, then it's definitely a problem and no it's not right.

It's a hard one though. Chloe, my 13yo dog always lags behind (in summer/winter etc)... but you just TRY and tell her she's not going for a walk!!! And my other dog, who is almost 5, will also lag behind when it's hot - I've had people comment 'oh she looks exhausted' when we haven't even done half a kilometre, it's just the way she walks when she's hot - she is panting and walking more slowly with her head down.

In saying all that though, I'd never take my 13yo old out in extreme heat. We wait until the evening when it's cooled down, and on those days we usually just take her over to the park, then sit in the shade somewhere so she can watch all the goings on, then come home again.

Perhaps you should stop and just have a general chat and pat the dogs and see up close how they seem to be doing. Then when you have reached a friendly level, maybe suggest at their age he should take them when it's cooler or not take them as far or something?

My sister has a staffy, and she lies frog legged and tongue hanging so far it's touching the ground all the time LOL - but she never lags behind, too much energy for that!!!

[sas]

I don't like to see dogs out in the heat of the day and for some reason the ones I see out are Staffies.

My dogs lag after 15 minutes on a walk, although one is 10 and the other has Osteo.

[Dogsfevr]

No dog should be walked in that heat but people do.

many may take a dog out for a quick toilet break which i have no issues with but a walk beyond that is stupid,not only the heat on the feet but the obvious heat exhaustion risk.

The sad reality is some people lack common sense .

I remember a lady on TV whose dog was rushed to the Emergency vets saying how she couldn't understand why her little shih tzu collapsed whilst on a walk in 40 degree heat ,serioulsy how stupid can you be .

Maybe contact your local radio station or paper & ask if they could remind people about the heat risk to dogs being walked in the extreme heat

[Tilly]

I have seen a lot of black dogs walked in the middle of the day. For some people they just have no realisation that it is not good for the dogs because they think that if they can handle it then the dog can too.

I rarely walk or run my dogs in daylight hours during summer.

[chiara]

I once saw on TV (I think it was rspca rescue or something) this old man was caring for his also ageing dog, someone had spotted the old man walking the dog and it looked (to the onlooker) like the dog was having a hard time keeping up and looked exausted and like he was not walking right, now the rspca was awesome talking to old man about the dog's diet the age and exercise turns out the old man was worried too but didn't know what to do and after going to the rspca vet (he couldn't affort to go to the vet) we find out the old man was walking the dog too much which was inflaming the poor old pooch's joints and also was giving him a human diet of white bread and sausages so change of diet and 10/20 min walks in the early morning/evening, they visited again months later and the dog was is great shape and doing much better, the old man was so happy that his old friend was better and even thanked the person who reported the problem to the rspca!!

So might not be always the case but maybe just maybe your imput on those poor dog's well fare will be taken well by the owner personally I would leave it to the rspca, they are trained to deal with all sorts of people and that way if the owner is a not so stable person you won't have to fear retaliation as you will be anonymous.

Good luck

[casowner]

I am one that gets upset seeing dogs walked in the heat of the day, especially older ones. Can you imagine how hot that cement is on their pads? I am normally standing out in the heat holding a hose so my emus, alpaca and joeys can keep cool there is no way I would be exercising them

[BCPuppy]

How about carrying a bottle of water and bowl and next time you see them stop and offer a drink, I have done this before to be able to strike up a conversation, sort of 'oh isnt it a pain when you forget water for them in this terrible heat' and I continue babling on and throw in a gentle suggestion of walking at a cooler time being better for both two and four legged walkers. Hard when you dont know all the circumstances.

I am lucky to be able to walk on the beach as often even at midnight, it is still 30 degrees and we would never get a walk otherwise! so a cooling swim and short walk is all we can do in summer here, especially with a dog with 'big' hair .

[SparkyTansy]

I've stopped kids once running around with a young GSD pup along a path in extreme midday heat. I told them to feel the concrete and tell me if it would be comfortable to run around bare foot on the concrete with a fur coat on. they understood and left for home quick smart.

[mumtoshelley]

I don't like seeing people walk there dogs in hot weather either, I specially hate seeing people go shopping and leaving there poor dog in the car by itself. I'm quite lucky as i have a channel just up the road so if its quite warm and Shelley needs her exercise i take her to the channel. What is also good is there are trees at the channel which shade most of the water so i satnd in the shade while Shelley is swimming in the shade.

[OSoSwift]

I see it here as well and I hate to see it. There is no way I would walk my old boy when it is hot, he can't go far on a normal day and melts in the heat.

I would never walk the whippets either when it is hot, they melt as well.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Last summer, on a day when it was around 33 or so degrees, I was driving near a local sports oval field where there was a lady jogging around with her very hairy and overweight Cavvie, tongue hanging a long way out and panting massively.

I stopped my car and watched and the woman kept going so I walked over and said "excuse me" and then explained what she was doing wrong, in a nice way. Now, many people these days would just say "f... off" but this lady was very concerned about how to get home, a couple of kms up the road. I took her and her poor little dog home and she was very grateful that I'd stopped to help.

[Staff'n'Toller]

No flaming here, if you can tactfully say something to the man go for it. I would.

An amazing amount of people walk their dogs in the middle of the day...mostly they are double coated breeds from what I see driving to work at midday!

[fuzzy82]

I usually wait until it has cooled down before taking the dogs out, but I will occasionally take them for a quick 10-15 minute walk during the day even when it's hot. Not on the very hottest day, but in summer pretty much every day is hot here in Brissie.

I try to avoid it, but when my 7 month old JRT is bouncing off the walls and won't leave the kitten alone and keeps barking while hubby is taking business calls, what can you do?

[jadesamara]

I did pull up next to them last week, and gush over how gorgeously old the Staffords looked (through the car window). The man was less than talkative However last time I saw them, a lady was walking them. I might try my luck with her, I think. I will keep you informed. Thanks for everyone's advice, and support, with this.