Hunting Tests US

From the penntoday.upenn.edu website

Most of us know that dogs rely on panting to cool off. And most of us have experienced times when our dogs are at least somewhat overheated. Remedies include putting the dog in an air conditioned truck, splashing water on its underside, squirting water in its mouth to break up sticky saliva, applying isopropyl alcohol to pads. Since full-on heat stroke has about a 50% survival rate, the topic is one researchers have focused on.

Those methods help, but researchers at the University of Penn School of Veterinary Medicine has come up with an effective method for when you're in the field: "Training dogs to voluntarily dunk their heads into water that is 22 degree Celsius (or about 71 degrees Fahrenheit)." This method is cited as "the only intervention to decrease core body temperature in the first 30 seconds, and it led to the lowest temperatures six to 40 minutes after the intervention."

This approach was coupled with:

• Securing two ice packs on a collar around the dog's neck
• Putting a wet towel around the dog's neck
• Placing two wet towels under the dog's armpits

To learn to dunk, dogs were taught to fetch a toy or food from the bottom of a bucket of water. The training session took about five minutes. You can see a video here. (Start at about the 2:50 minute mark.)

AKC Canine Health provided some of the funding for this research.

You can read more here.