Yep, it's that time of year, again!

Saints are especially prone to heat stress and heat stroke.  These dogs are bred for cold climates, so you need to take precautions during the hot summer months!   What your dog can tolerate depends entirely upon his activity level, weight, and overall health.  The hot summer months are not the time to get him in shape with added activity!  The following tips will help you to ensure that your dog will spend many more Christmases romping in the snow with your family:

Don't shave him!  Dogs have hair for a reason.  If you shave your dog, you increase his risk of heat-related problems.  Here is what one reader sent me on this topic:

"It's a common misconception that cold weather breeds have coats that insulate them from heat as well as cold.  This is completely false.  I'll attempt to prove it beyond doubt:

In physics there is no such thing as "cold."  Only absence of heat.  Hence, when you place your bare feet onto a cold stone floor in the morning, what you feel is not "cold" entering your feet, but rather the heat flowing out of your feet into the stone tiles.

Heat flows from an area with more heat to an area with less heat.  On a hot day, the air outside the dog's body is still not as hot as the temperature inside his body, which is around 102 degrees.  Therefore, the direction of heat flow is always out of the dog, never into the dog, no matter how hot the weather (barring extremes over 102 degrees).

Therefore, a dog's insulating coat only impedes the flow of heat away from his body.

One positive thing a coat can do in hot weather is provide partial shade from direct sunlight.  (The few hairless breeds do not do well in direct sunlight.)  Unfortunately, many cold weather breeds have coats designed to channel the warmth of sunlight into the skin, much in the way a polar bear's clear and hollow hairs (not actually white) channel energy from sunlight into its black skin.  So cold weather breeds may have coats least suitable for providing shelter from the sun's rays.  Jeff,  Tampa, Florida"

Plenty of fresh water: change the water several times per day.   I also save those 3-lb. butter bowls, fill them with water, freeze, and re-use them for ice for the dogs' water.

Lazy afternoons:  plan walks and other activities for those couple of cool hours in the early morning and late evening.  Let your dog lay around during the hottest hours in the shade... or even better, in the house!

Purchase a wading pool or sprinkler.  The gal pictured above isn't the exception to the rule -- I have 2 at home, just like her!  They love the water... so long as the word "bath" isn't associated with it!

I've purchased cooling vests for my dogs.  They cost about $25 each, and can be frozen.  I use these when I take the girls to my nephews' ball games in the early evenings.  They're filled with tiny pellets that absorb water... when frozen and put on the dog, these help to cool the dog's abdominal area.  They make the heat a little more bearable, so that the dog can still be taken along for those short events away from the air conditioner.  You can buy them through Valley Vet Supply at 800-360-4838.

Dogs get hot and stinky in the summer (just like people do!)   You can keep yours smelling good by brushing frequently (at least every other day), and using a non-oily coat conditioner.  Brush, spray with conditioner, and brush again.  This allows air to circulate next to the skin... plus, it just feels good!

When I take my dogs along, I also carry one of those small chest coolers (it holds a 12-pk of soda), filled with ice and water.  They drink directly from this, and it allows me to dip the pads of their feet, when they're feeling especially miserable... you can also soak napkins and paper towels with icewater, and apply as a compress to the abdominal area, just over the femoral artery, to help cool your dog.

When out for walks, I carry a 20-oz sport bottle.  Both my dogs have been taught to drink from these, and Cis can stand on her back legs to drink from a water fountain (the kids at the park get a big kick out of this... their parents aren't too sure!)  Zoey will be learning, soon.