is she over heating

[gracie's_dad]

after a 30 min of playing fetch with her she seams to be overheating, panting hard, but she does not want to stop. and when we go in she will spend 20 min laying on the floor panting, real hard and fast. just does not seem right.

thoughts?

thanks

[Maralynn]

How warm is it outside? If it is under 65 or 70 you are probably OK as long as she is used to that much activity.

 

Does she have access to water while playing? Missy usually has access to water (river, mud puddle, stock tank, etc) and will take a break to go cool off. A child's wading pool filled with water would well. Something else you could do is hose her off with lukewarm (not cold) water.

 

Panting like that is not really abnormal, but it is best to err on the side of caution especially with a BC (they often don't know what quit means). Just use common sense - if the weather is pretty warm I would play for 10 min then take a 5 min break before continuing.

[Jodie]

My dog does the same thing but she pants for 2-3 hours. I have had her checked and she is fine but it worries me also. Especially when she doesn't know when to stop running. I thought they were the smartest dogs.

[gracie's_dad]

thanks for the replys. i have been conserned. she does have water at hand while playing. the temp has not been a factor this year so far. and she is typical of the bc, she does not no when to say when. chasing a ball is her lifes work. she is not a working dog. she needs the exercise. she gets at least 2-30 min play sesions a day in the dog park, so she plays hard.

thanks again

[Pipedream Farm]

Many are so driven that you have to monitor their condition and determine when it's time to stop.

 

If your dog is wobbly on its back legs when you stopped (assuming it's in good physical condition), you're dog has likely overheated. Get it cooled off right away, have it lie down in cool water. Don't just wet its back since this will trap in the body heat (wet matted hair on a heat generating body).

 

Mark

[Debbie Crowder-BaaramuLuke]

VERY important...remember, Border Collies keep going when they ought to stop because they think it's being asked of them. When we play with them, they think WE need to play, it gives us joy and that's their reward (if they can't do stock work), not unlike bringing us sheep. Wobbly legs and confusion are emergencies. Mark is right about allowing them to cool off in water (not cold..tepid is best) and allow evaporation to take away the heat. SOmetimes they'll get too mentally gone to seek out the cool they need, and you need to do it for them. They are smart dogs, but they are driven.