Keeping dogs cool ?

[S.ROSE]

I'd like to know how you guy's & gal's keep your dogs cool during this summer heat. Any secrets in kennel set ups, fans, misting setups or any other ideas. Mine are in the shade but when temps reach 95 to 100 degrees here in the south it can be tough on a dog. Thanks in advance for any info. you can offer.

[coolbrze]

Shade and fans works best. Mine are in a nice shady spot and I don't have to worry about heat as there's usually a nice steady breeze.

[S.R.Patch]

A good dirt hole under the maple tree is 55*. I remember I fell asleep once out on a all night fishing trip. The ground sucked the heat out of me and my back felt like I'd been ran over by a truck the next morning...

[grim]

i read on here awhile back and thought it was a good idea take a two litter soda bottle and fill with water and freeze it over nite put it in the house in the day and it will slowly melt and absorb heat out of the box i havent tried it but been thinkin about it alot been really hot here in ky

[S.R.Patch]

Thats what we'd used for keeping summer puppies cool.

We've taken to washing kennels and refreshing the water buckets at high noon during this extreme heat time, and the hounds seem to get relief by doing it at this hour of day...
Feeding is done just before dark, so it's a low time, hounds eat better and rest after eatting.
If fed earlier,they don't eat as well in the heat and if they become riled, they are apt to thro-up the groceries...

[Chain Gang]

I have a sprinkler system set up with a timer valve from Home Depot and fans. Timer for water is set for every two hours during the heat of the day and stays on for about 10 minutes each cycle. My kennel is all pea gravel and after the system cycles off all hounds will be stretched out on the cool gravel. I also only feed after dark. The frozen water bottle works great for pups but wont last long with grown dogs, they just love chewing on the cool bottle.( I have too much trouble keeping the water in the bottle until it freezes) LOL. I tried the misters first but the sprinklers seem to do a better job of cooling things down.

[NoBull]

In your kennel it's self I would definatly try the above feed at night thats what I do all summer long also if you have free water there is a system you can buy from I think Pet Co is where I seen it it's fairly cheap and is rechargable it blows a mist that isn't to large so your whole kennel won't be soaked and also makes it alot nicer for dogs that don't like direct water. If you want to go really high tech and high $$$$ take 4-5 inch pvc pip or well pipe and run along the inside edge of you kennel then outside of you kennel attach a cooling/water pump and 50 gallon barrel from TSC it's a nice set up and if your really crafty you can attach a water filter that way your end result is constant clean cool water for your dogs all day it's not a very hard set up just kinda exspensive I can send anybody the exact product name and price's if they are interested in trying this I have seen a similiar system and am working on using it on my kennel. The problem is the water pump is fairly exspensive around $400.oo for a really good one. Also I am not sure on how safe a system like this would be for pups you don't want a future FC to get sucked into a water pump. When I get mine all built I will post some picture for you guys and a diagram of how it was all done. As far as frozen bottles etc. try a coffee can with duck tape around the plastic lid so the dogs don't eat it off as fast.

In your box you can buy fans and mister's from online pet supply stores that attach right to the front or side of most box's they work great during hunts both before and after the dogs run and are fairlly cheap to buy and easy to maintain