How to Walk and Exercise Your Dog Safely in Hot Weather

Short answer: yes, you can walk your dog safely in hot weather, but time it right and know the warning signs. Press the back of your hand onto the road — if you can't hold it there for five seconds, it's too hot for paws. Keep walks off the midday sun from March to October, split one long walk into two shorter ones, and change your dog's water bowl three times a day once the heat sets in. If your dog is panting hard and won't settle, has bright red or pale gums, or seems wobbly or confused, that's heatstroke — an emergency, not something to wait out at home.

Heatstroke: Know the Warning Signs Before You Head Out

This is the one thing worth reading before anything else on this page. A dog can't sweat the way we do — it cools mostly by panting — and once that stops working, its body temperature can climb dangerously fast. Watch for:

• Heavy, rapid panting that doesn't settle even after you've stopped and moved to shade.
• Bright red, pale or bluish gums, and thick, ropey drool.
• Vomiting, diarrhoea, or a wobbly, uncoordinated walk.
• Collapse, disorientation, glazed eyes, or a seizure.

If you see any of these, stop the walk immediately. Move your dog to shade or an air-conditioned space, offer small sips of cool (not ice-cold) water if it's alert enough to drink on its own, and wet the skin — especially the paw pads, belly and armpits — with cool water while you get to the nearest open clinic. Running a fan or the car's AC on the way helps too. Don't force water into a dog that's collapsed or not fully alert, and don't wait to "see if it passes" — heatstroke needs a vet the same day, even if your dog seems to perk up on the drive over.

The Five-Second Test: When It's Too Hot to Walk

Tarmac and concrete get far hotter than the air above them, and hot pavement can burn paw pads before you even notice your dog is uncomfortable. Before you step out, press the back of your hand flat on the road for five seconds. If it's too hot for your hand, it's too hot for paws — wait for a cooler window or move the walk to grass or shade.

As a general rule from our own 11-Step Gut Reset guide, we keep walks out of the midday heat from March to October and rely on this five-second check every single time, whatever the season looks like on paper.

How to Walk Smart Once You've Passed the Test

Once the ground checks out, a few habits make the walk itself safer:

• Two shorter walks beat one long one. Our guide splits daily exercise into two 10-minute walks rather than a single long session — easier on a dog's heart and breathing in the heat, and it still adds up to a full day's activity.
• Early morning or after sunset is usually coolest — but don't skip the five-second test at night. Roads and pavements hold heat for hours after the sun goes down, especially in built-up areas, so what feels cool to you underfoot can still be warm enough to burn paws.
• Carry water and let your dog stop to sniff. A slower, sniff-led walk is lower-effort for your dog than a brisk one, and it's still real mental and physical exercise.
• Refresh the water bowl three times a day once it's hot, not once — a bowl left out warms up fast and dogs drink less of it.

Heat and humidity can also make a dog's skin produce more oil, which is part of why some dogs seem itchier or smellier in the hottest, stickiest weeks. If that's what you're noticing alongside the heat, our guide on the signs of poor gut health in dogs is worth a read alongside this one.

Flat-Faced Breeds Need Extra Caution

Flat-faced (brachycephalic) breeds — Pugs, Shih Tzus, Bulldogs and similar — have narrower airways, so panting does less to cool them down. That means they can overheat faster, with less exertion, than a longer-nosed dog on the exact same walk. Of the households who've told us their dog's breed, 66% are Shih Tzu homes, so this isn't a footnote for us — it's most of who we're writing for. If that's your dog, keep walks shorter, stick to the coolest hours, and watch for laboured breathing even on a walk that wouldn't tire another dog out.

Too Hot to Walk? Exercise That Doesn't Need One

Some days the honest answer is: skip the walk. Your dog still needs to move and use its brain, so try instead:

• Sniff games indoors — scatter a few pieces of kibble around a room and let your dog hunt them out. Sniffing is genuinely tiring for a dog's brain.
• A puzzle feeder or a stuffed, frozen treat to work on in a cool room.
• Tug or short fetch bursts indoors or in shade, with breaks to drink.
• Supervised splash time in a shallow tub or paddling pool in the shade — a few minutes of cooling off does more for some dogs than a full walk would.

A short, slow sniff-led walk in full shade during a cooler hour still counts as exercise — it doesn't need to be a brisk lap of the park to be worthwhile.

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