Last week I competed in a Nose Work Trial where the temperature was in the 90’s with high humidity, so I thought today I would share my 5 tips to keep your dog cool at a summer competition. Before I get to my tips, I have to tell everyone I’m so proud to have earned my NACSW NW1 Title!
I am the first GBGV to earn a Level 1 Vehicle Title, and now I’m the first GBGV to earn an NW1 Title. I worked really hard, and Mom is getting better at trusting me. Together we attained our goal! We are so very excited and proud! To earn an NW1 Title, I had to find the birch hide in four different search areas: interior, exterior, container, and vehicle, each having their own time limit. I am not fast, I prefer slow and steady, so I didn’t earn any speed awards, but my total time for all four searches was two minutes, four seconds, pretty much middle of the pack.
The Trial was held at Afton Alps, a “mountainous” ski area east of the Twin Cities. It is the city version of mountains, something most people would laugh at and call hills.
The interior and container searches were held in the Meadows Chalet, the exterior and vehicle searches were held on the outskirts of the chalet. I will have some photos of, and post more about my searches when we get the photos from the photographer in a couple weeks.
Being July, there was no snow at this ski resort, and with a heat index forecast of around 100 degrees, we had to pack to stay cool. Dogs are required to be in a kennel or restrained in a vehicle unless it is their turn to compete. We didn’t have anything fancy, but I was able to remain pretty cool all day, and cool enough to work whenever it was my turn to search. My tips are as follows:
- Bring plenty of fresh water and a water bowl. If possible refrigerate or freeze the water beforehand and keep it in a cooler during the event.
- Get a battery operated fan, and bring along extra batteries.
- We bring along my Kool Collar and ice cubes which we keep in the cooler. Some dogs like to wear cool coats, or lie on cooling mats.
- One way to cool off a hot dog is to put their paws in some water. You can bring along a flat tub or pan of some sort to put cold water in, and let the dog stand in it for a few minutes to cool down.
- Many people like to use reflective sun shades or they put EZ Up tents over their cars to keep things cool.
We used tips one, two, and three and it was plenty for me. My Kool Collar needed to be refilled with ice six times over the course of about five hours, but it really felt good, and most importantly, it matched my harness!
Many people were worried about the heat, but the dogs all did great and there were no incidents with the heat. It really isn’t all that difficult to keep your dog cool if you plan ahead. Don’t let the heat keep you and your dog from going out on a hot day, just prepare and keep a close watch on your dog! At the end of the day, I was one happy, chilled out hound, in the back of our car, with a brand new Title!
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That’s awesome news about your title! Huge congrats!
Thank you. Mom and I are still celebrating!
Congrats on gettin your title!!
I’m very proud of myself and have been walking around with my tail held high all week!
You do so well with your competitions, go Emma and mom!
It was awesome! In nose work, the competitions aren’t held all that often and I have to really practice to compete at the next level, so it won’t happen real soon. I might do an elements trial again first at the level 1 since I need to still complete that.
Congratulations on your new title, Emma!
And those tips for keeping cool are great.
Thank you. Mom and I are so extremely happy!
Congratulations Emma! I would like to sing that Marsellaise to you to honor your fabulous breed, butt I sadly furgot the text, so we can listen to the music, that’s nice too :o) many thanks for your tips, what a cool idea (literally lol) to put the waterbottle in the freezer for a while. we will do that next time. what do you think about that beach tents or the small pop-up tents some people have for their dogs? is it cool there or will that little tents turn into an oven too after a while? (we can’t use the car, they all are parked outside of the show area)
To be in a small tent would probably be way too warm. The tents everyone uses at our events don’t have sides so they provide the shade from the top and the air can flow freely around us. Without the car to be in, it would be much more difficult.
a jogger would be the real mc coy, we could maneuvre without probs between the dogs and the people and we had a place for all the stuff we have to carry around… butt sadly the weimaraner said NO! Thanks! and refused to enter that jogger… not for treats and a golden kingdom. Even some shrimps my momma placed in that thingy didn’t work (that was probably the reason that we sold that jogger below cost hehehe)
YIPPEE and CONGRATULATIONS to Emma and Joy! To be the very first GBGV is so cool, speaking of which, those are great tips on staying cool in the summer heat. XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
It is hard to be stuck in the car all day when it is so hot, but I stayed amazingly cool.
Congratulations on you title – after suffering through that heat is was well deserved – can’t believe the organizers didn’t work out something to have dogs inside a building – it doesn’t seem right having dogs in a car on hot days – even with tents over them and air conditioning on – it can still get way to hot.
Dogs are always outside. There is no a/c at a ski resort. It isn’t so bad really if you plan for it and if you sign up for a trial in July, you know how the weather can be.
We just love hearing about your competitions, Emma…and congratulations on your newest title!!! Those are pawesome tips for staying cool, Mama is noting them down, Arty overheats very easy and it is always a good idea to be prepared!!
Smileys!
Dory
Thank you! Mom says I wilt like a flower in the heat, so we were worried I might stop searching as that almost happened when I got my vehicle title, but I managed to do fine, but I did get a bit warm searching vehicles again. It was my slowest search and I had trouble finding my focus, but Mom got me on track.
Great tips Emma and congrats on your award – well done!
Thank you. I’m still trotting around here all proud of myself.
Wow! First GBGV to get both Titles. We are so impressed. A big congratulations
Now I have to keep that rolling and finish up my level one elements titles and move on to level two. I just love nose work.
We have to get you in the Guinness book for all these great firsts for the GBGV breed.
It is pretty cool to have the chance to be the first since we are a rare breed. Now that I have cornered the nose work market, we need to work on tackling the firsts in tracking too!
Congrats Emma on your award!
Thank you! I’ve been working towards it for a while, so we are thrilled to have a title!
Congrats Emma!!!! I am so proud of you. We are planning on starting nosework again in August. I’m glad you were able to keep cool, I don’t think any of that would have worked for me. Love Dolly
I’m super mellow and just lie there, so it worked well for me. Mom kept touching me to see if I felt hot, but my fur was always cool to the touch. Glad you are getting back to nose work.
We are so very proud of you and your mom. That is an awesome accomplishment! We did laugh about the main thing is that your Cool Collar matched your harness! Bahahaha! That’s my girl β₯ β₯ β₯ Bentley
Well, you know it is not just what you do, but how you look, so we have to always be color coordinated. I’m milking this title for all it’s worth. Mom is still hugging and congratulating me and I’m holding my head and tail high this week.
Congratulations on your title. Some great keeping cool tips.
Also we have nominated you to participate in the 8 photos of happiness challenge. Stop by our blog for details
Thank you. I have a nomination already, but I will mention you as well. I’m hoping to get my post up on Monday.
Good tips here, I also will leave the car running with the ac on, just to help keep cool. π
Some people do that sometimes, but it is bad for the environment and those around you have to sit in your fumes, so it is rather frowned upon. The a/c doesn’t work as well way back in the SUV as well anyway. If we were at a store or something, then Mom might leave it run and lock us in for a few minutes.
Woohooooo and a HUGE congrats!!!!
α¦ husky hugz α¦ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thank you! I’m really proud of myself and of Mom for not messing things up.
Y’all are the coolest dogs I know!
I do feel like a real cool hound π
Wow! Hold that tail up high and wag it fiercely! Well done!! (Mom took my sister Lilly to the office this week and her office doesn’t have air conditioning … one of the hottest days of the year! Lilly wishes she had had a cool collar. It was hot! I am here today and it is a nice cool day! hooray!) your doodle friend Dash
The Kool Collar is amazing as it really does help out. I’m very proud this week. It was a great weekend, fun and a title!
It is so impressive that you are the first GBGV to win these titles, Emma! Congratulations again. I’m glad you have it all figured out how to beat the heat…those are great ideas.
With Bailie and I both doing competitive nose work, we have to learn to deal with the heat as all the competitions are in warmer months. I’m really proud of myself for my hard work and for representing my breed and I’m thankful Mom didn’t screw it up for me this time. We are getting better at working together.
Congratulations on your new title! Yay! That sounds like so much fun!
It was a great day!
Mr. N will wear his cooling coat this weekend at the trial and I’ll probably take his mat too.
Good luck, stay cool!
Congrats on the achievement! Yes, staying cool is very important and planning helps.
A dog can’t sniff properly if he is panting like a fool, so I needed to be comfortable.
First of, congratulations on your title & being the very first GBGV to get it! How cool to get it despite the heat!! (Pun intended!)
Being proactive & planning ahead really pays off! What an interesting idea of putting a tent over your vehicle ~ that had never occurred to me!
Thank you, I’m quite proud! It is kind of like an umbrella for a car. Everyone at nose work has the EZ Up tent things…we don’t but they are everywhere.
Congratulations on your title, Emma. That’s big news.
And glad your mom made good plans to keep you cool. It must have been hard to concentrate in that heat.
Mom and I are pretty excited about it, and since is was so hot out it was really amazing as I don’t do real well in heat.
Kudos! Mommy keeps us indoors because I collapsed 3 times last year. Mommy doesn’t do well in heat with humidity either – heat rash
π
Thankfully no collapsing here, but we are not heat fans and Mom isn’t either but it is the way of summer.
Big congrats on the title, Emma. Here’s to a great weekend reveling on the win. π
Thank you. I’m really proud of myself and of om for learning to trust me more.
Congrats on your title!!! And thanks for the cooling tips. John and Gambler are off to another hunt test today and it’s going to near 90, yuck.
This time of year is brutal for outdoor tests/competitions!
Concatulations on the new title award! Great job (can you hear our apawse here?)
When it is really humid and hot Mommy lays a cool wet towel on me for a few minutes to help lower the heat on me (dogs are easier to cool, I think. Put OUR paws in water? NO!)
Kitties seem to deal better with the heat…just take a nap and forget about it! I’m still so proud of myself, it was a great day!
Congratulations Emma – Harley, Jax and I are really proud of you. Your tips for staying cool are great – thanks for sharing. Harley and Jax needed your cooling collar this weekend. We are selling our house and we had to leave for the Realtor’s Open House. It was 94 degrees and we were trying to find a place to hang out and stay cool for three hours! The collar would have been “da bomb”
Oh man! Where are you moving? Mom is a Realtor, so we know all about the open house thing! Maybe you are upsizing as Jax needs more space???
We use all of those tips except the cooling collars/pads. We have a thermostat in the back of our pick up and find that the ez-up can help keep it 10 degrees cooler than it is without. Congrats again on your title.
Thank you! We don’t have an EZ up so the collar is pretty “cool” for me.