How to help Amstaff in the heat

What you need to know to help your amstaff weather the heat
 
During the hot season, your Staffordshire Terrier can overheat in the sun and get heatstroke. Here are a few simple rules that we recommend you follow to avoid this.

1. Try to go for a walk early in the morning and late in the evening, when the main heat has either not yet begun or is already subsiding.

2. If you walk in the heat, be sure to take water with you. There are many different drinking bottles, from which it is easy to water the dog and they easily fit in a bag / backpack / or hang on the hand. Offer your dog water periodically, but don't let him drink it all at once.

3. Remember that in hot weather, the asphalt in the city gets very hot and can cause discomfort to your dog's paws or even cause paw burns. Choose walking areas where your Stafford can walk on grass or dirt.

4. Limit the wearing of a muzzle. If it is necessary to wear it, then select such a size and shape so that the dog has the opportunity to breathe with his tongue hanging out.

5. Don't leave your dog in the car. The heating rate inside, even with the windows open, is so fast that the dog can easily die from overheating (after 5 minutes, the interior heats up by +4°C, after 10 minutes by +7°C).

6. Move training and physical activity to an early time. The optimum temperature for active training is 17-20°C. For training, choose park areas with plenty of shade.

7. On the hottest days, you can slightly reduce the portion size or completely transfer feeding to the evening. Of course, this scheme is not suitable for teenagers and puppies, but you can slightly reduce the portion in the morning and afternoon and add a little in the evening. If your amstaff refuses the usual amount of food on hot days - do not worry, he will "catch up" with his "catch up" when the heat subsides.

8. Carefully observe the behavior of your pet during the walk. If you see that the dog begins to stop often, tries to go into the shade and lie down - these are the first signs of overheating. Offer water, moisten your belly, and head home as soon as possible, or at least to a cooler place. At home, put your staff on a damp towel or cooling mat, moisten the stomach with water. You can cover the whole dog with a wet towel if he doesn't mind. And be sure to watch his behavior.

For those who love theory 😀

Almost the entire body of dogs is covered with wool. Some people think that dogs can't handle the heat. But it's not. Wool is a barrier. It protects both from heat in summer and from cold in winter, creating a kind of thermos.

Thermoregulation in dogs occurs through sweating and with the help of blood circulation. The main thermoregulatory parts of the body are those on which there is less hair - the stomach, tongue, genitals, paw pads, ears.

Dogs have two types of sweat glands: apocrine and merocrine. Apocrine glands are located throughout the body of the dog, but they do not actively participate in thermoregulation. Dogs sweat through the merocrine glands, which are located on the paw pads, interdigital membranes and nose.

In all dogs, including Staffordshire Terriers, the main cooling occurs through the tongue. In a calm state, the dog performs approximately 30 respiratory cycles per minute, and in the heat, their number can increase to 200. The dog inhales air through the nose, while absorbing moisture from the air, and exhales the heated air through the mouth. Thus, the nose is cooled, and the tongue is cooled due to the evaporation of saliva. At the same time, the blood that circulates through the tongue also cools.

The spleen is another organ that helps control body temperature. It is much larger in dogs than in humans. And in case of overheating, a large amount of blood is released from it into the main bloodstream.

Try to follow these simple rules, take care of yourself and your ponytails!

© Tatyana Lazko, co-owner of the American Staffordshire Terrier kennel "Strider in Diversity"

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