Panting

So I was just curious, is it normal for puppies to not really begin to pant after exercise until a certain age? I had been waiting and waiting to get a picture of Coco "smiling" (panting) and realized that as a younger puppy we could play with her and keep her going and she would breath heavy while running, but never open her mouth and actually hang out her tongue while at rest afterwords.

Well, today was the FIRST day she actually started to do it, and I did get a pic! I was just wondering if not panting until a certain age is normal or not.

Gorgeous picture
Funnily enough we had been wondering the same thing at home - Fraser's nearly 16 weeks and hasn't started panting yet, it looks as though we've got another month or so to wait on your experience!

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You NEVER want to run a puppy so hard that they are exhausted just to make them pant so you can take a cute photo


Indeed they should never be run until they are so tired that they collapse down like that anyway - you are just going to make problems for yourself and your poor puppy.

Puppies need plenty of time to rest and sleep, that's when they do their growing.

When puppy starts to get tired - they usually get a bit fractious and chewy, bit like babies don't want to give in, then put them to bed with a nylabone or something to chew on and they will soon drop off to sleep.

Nicki said:

You NEVER want to run a puppy so hard that they are exhausted just to make them pant so you can take a cute photo


Indeed they should never be run until they are so tired that they collapse down like that anyway - you are just going to make problems for yourself and your poor puppy.

Puppies need plenty of time to rest and sleep, that's when they do their growing.

When puppy starts to get tired - they usually get a bit fractious and chewy, bit like babies don't want to give in, then put them to bed with a nylabone or something to chew on and they will soon drop off to sleep.

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Oh come on now, I have the common sense for that. My past dogs would begin to pant just after one or two retrievals of a ball. Please don't think I am working my puppy until she collapsed. This picture was simply just her laying down.

I would also like my question answered rather than being scolded for causing my puppy to collapse.

I'm not an expert but I believe puppies can pant from a very very young age. A dog typically pants to lower their body temperature. People sweat to cool off... dogs pant to cool off. Although dogs have sweat glands on there feet (and ears??) they are not very affective. By panting a dog cools it's body by cooling the saliva in the mouth. The air passing over the tongue cause it to cool down. That cools the blood vessels in the dogs head.

I believe Nicki was just concerned. Although we see panting dogs every day and its natural for them panting means the doggy is too hot and needs to cool down. In all my years of owning dogs I have never meet a dog as sensitive to heat as the 3 Cavaliers I currently have. We just have to always be careful because a happy panting playful dog can cross the fine line to heat stressing/heat stroke quickly. Especially as our puppies grow up and get more coat on them it is easier for them to over heat.

It is so easy to forget they are growing up :razz:

Yeah I get why dogs pant, to sweat and cool off. So I guess it is possible for young dogs to pant also, but I guess Coco maybe just never needed to until recently.

As far as heat goes, we have snow outside atm

Sorry Nicki I know you are concerned, I just got slightly offended that it was proposed I tired my dog out so much that she had collapsed.

My Lola never panted until the middle of summer when she was about 11 months old. Guess it's because it's just too cold where i live :lol:

Zumie05 said:

I had been waiting and waiting to get a picture of Coco "smiling" (panting) and realized that as a younger puppy we could play with her and keep her going and she would breath heavy while running, but never open her mouth and actually hang out her tongue while at rest afterwords.

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Young puppies are really very tender infants and require a very gentle approach, which means only letting them self-exercise and not leash walking them or "keeping them going". Not sure if you already knew that based on your statement.

Cathy Moon said:

Young puppies are really very tender infants and require a very gentle approach, which means only letting them self-exercise and not leash walking them or "keeping them going". Not sure if you already knew that based on your statement.

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Yeah I can see how my statement might indicate that. "keep on going" meant that I would continue to play tug or throw balls for her and she would want to keep playing with me and I always had to end the game rather than her getting tired and going off to lay down.