How hot is too hot for a walk?

Here in Virginia it's been in the upper 90s and even up to 100 on a few days. When it's that hot I don't like to go out and Chester seems to prefer the air conditioning too. The problem is that several times a week Gabriel likes to take brisk 30 minute walks after work (around 7pm) and he always asks if he can take Chester. I tell him no, that 30 minutes in 90+ degree weather is too much for the furbaby. He has argued with me a few times and said that I'm babying him too much and that dogs are fine in hot weather. I tell him that they can overheat quite easily and that when it's 90+ outside I only want him to be walked for short periods and preferably at dusk when it's cooler.

Gabriel is sooo good to Chester but he's being very stubborn about the hot weather issue and I'm getting very irritated with him. Any advice or suggestions? I keep telling him that dogs can overheat very easily but he just doesn't seem to get it.

Dogs are not fine in hot weather, you're right; they can over heat really fast. Plus, many dogs don't know how to regulate themselves--they just keep going until they pass out.
On hot days like we've been having, we just hang out with the dogs in the backyard, and even that is been too much--they stand at the door wanting back into the a/c! Early morning or late evening walks are about all you can do in this weather!

I am not sure what would be too hot, but I do know that last year I brought Prince for a walk on a hot day (now we are talking Ireland here so it would probably be a cold day in Virginia ) and he had a seizure, the vet said that his blood pressure was very low. Since joining this site I have discovered about Episodic Falling and I think it was that, I really do think the heat brought it on though because he was panting alot but he still wouldnt drink some water. I would agree with you about not bringing them out for long walks in that heat.

men eh?! ;p

Personnally I think that if you are hot and uncomfortable in the heat then your dog will be too! You can always check how hot your dog is by feeling the pads on his feet, if they are cool, so is he, if they are hot so is he!! There you go, now you'll all be feeling your dogs pads eh?

I think a brisk 30-minute walk in 90-degree weather is definitely too much. We still take Annie on walks when it gets very hot, but we limit the distance. We walk pretty quickly, so the pooch practically has to trot to keep up with us (when she's not pulling us down the street in the direction of the nearest squirrel).

Nah I wouldn't do it. That's around 32C on our scale and when we get up around the high 20s I don't got our, nor do my dogs. I'd be sticking to my guns on this one.

Cathryn said:

Personnally I think that if you are hot and uncomfortable in the heat then your dog will be too! You can always check how hot your dog is by feeling the pads on his feet, if they are cool, so is he, if they are hot so is he!! There you go, now you'll all be feeling your dogs pads eh?

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You know that is what I love about this site I think every day I learn something new, now I will feel the pads of my dogs when they get over heated thanks.

I wouldn't either. Holly is a B/T with a very dense coat- she gets very hot VERY quickly, so no walks on hot days for her. Amber isn't bothered by the heat, per se, but she has no idea of being sensible and being slow, so she'd drive herself to heat exhaustion pretty quickly. And that's before we talk about my opinion of temps higher than 24 degrees centigrade...I HATE the heat, so from my pov the very cool summer we've been having has been ideal.

we went for a bike ride today (25c ish) early afternoon and jadan got too hot! panting like mad because he kept chasing butterflies etc so i had to put him in my bike basket (wizard of oz style!!) and let the breeze get to him, i dont ride that fast so it wouldnt be a full blown wind!!! got funny looks from people but could tell he wasnt comfortable with the heat so didnt care. we had water for him which he took but should we have given it to him or waited till he had cooled down? he was and is fine but i was worried at the time if maybe he shouldnt have had it straight away? maybe because it was the first decent bit of sun we had for a while and none of us was ready for it....barmy british weather!!!!