Dogs and the weather

Well nobody can say that we haven't had a summer this year and we are only just into August.
As a dog walker I also spend a lot of my time on social media sites looking around groups and pages that are dog related. Whether it's local groups trying to promote our business or other groups that business owners like us look for advice.
A regular topic in the last few weeks has been about walking dogs in the hot weather and mainly the dont's regarding it.
Every other post was how dogs should not be walked between the hours of 9am and 9pm, they shouldnt be walked on tarmac and should never be left in vehicles.

And people in our profession being the target of alot of these posts.

While I agree walking dogs in the heat can be very dangerous, people like us who not only care about our own dogs safety and treat them like family we also have the responsibility of our clients pets and feel exactly the same way and would never want to see any harm come to them.

Have we walked dogs in the hot weather?? Yes
Have we been sensible about it?? Without a shadow of a doubt

It's like alot of things in life these with everyone seeing the bad in every situation.

So as dog walkers what have we done at dogs4walks to protect your pets from the hot weather??
We bought something called a hozelock around winter time mainly to hose the dogs down when out in the mud so they would be dropped off at home relatively clean. Then we thought 'Hey this can also be used as an alternative' so before the walks started and with the owners permission we gave the dogs a gentle shower.
We also incorporated more walks in shaded areas, didn't throw balls, took dips in the river as well as taking plenty of water out with us. Plus as usual avoiding tarmac areas.
We saw several posts about cutting walks short or only providing home visits but in all honesty we only cut 1 walk short by 15mins.
The way we see it providing home visits when all dog walkers are short on time would mean other dogs losing out as well. We can walk up to 4 dogs each in the morning with each dog paying for 1 hour. If the walks is between 11.45am and 12.45pm how would this work??
​We know as long as we are sensible there is no need to keep cutting the dog's time short.
Safety is paramount to every animal we care for.
We do not and will never let a dog wander around on a lane where traffic comes and goes no matter how good off lead they are. And we will always ensure your pet is as safe as possible when we experience hot weather like we have seen.