Thick coats and flat faces don’t mix well with warmer climates

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

According to TopDogTips.com, some dog breeds do better in hot weather like we have here in Texas, and some breeds aren’t meant for our climate at all. Here are some of the breeds that don’t do so well in Texas heat and what to look for.

Brachycephalic dogs, or dogs with a flat face, are prone to heat stroke because of their narrow airways and nostrils and don’t do well in Texas heat. These breeds include English bulldogs, French bulldogs, pugs and Boston terriers. They are all great dogs, but they do better in a more moderate climate.

Shih tzus aren’t suited for Texas heat because they have both long hair and short noses.

Pomeranians have a short nose and a thick coat. Shaving their hair may ruin their coat so just try to keep them hydrated and brushed.

Pekinese are prone to getting overweight. Add to that their long coat and you get a fat, lazy dog that won’t do well in the heat.

Alaskan malamutes were bred to pull sleds in the Arctic. They have an extremely thick coat that keeps them warm. Siberian huskies — same thing. In case you’re confused, the dogs have Alaska or Siberia right there in their names. They are great, playful dogs with lots of energy, but they’ll work off that energy much better in cold climates.

Boxers are high-energy dogs with a short muzzle. That can lead to overheating especially if they don’t stop long enough to get a drink of water.

OutsideOnline.com lists breeds that are among the best hot weather dogs. Its list includes some of the most popular breeds — Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and border collies.

“Labs are a special mix of toughness and playfulness that can thrive in both cold and hot temperatures,” according to OutsideOnline. They’re good swimmers and love a pool or a lake.

Golden retrievers also love swimming and are smart and social dogs who will survive the Texas heat.
Border collies are one of the smartest breeds and thrive in warm climates. But they’re very energetic and need room to run, so they don’t make great apartment pets.

Among other hot weather breeds listed are some lesser known dogs like German shorthaired pointers, American water spaniels, great Danes, Australian cattle dogs, Airedale terriers and Chesapeake Bay retrievers. Australian cattle dogs like to work despite the heat and Airedales’ wiry coat is thin, allowing heat to escape.

Another great hot weather breed is the Chihuahua with its extremely thin coat of hair and small size.

Chihuahuas thrive in warmer temperatures.

Also on the list of great hot weather dogs is the American foxhound. I’ve had a foxhound, and she loved being out in the heat and running around the yard. Foxhounds are bred as hunting dogs, but mine would never have made it as one. She had absolutely no sense of direction and never could find her way home.

But she loved to play. One day after a storm blew tree branches all over my yard, I went out to collect the branches and made a pile. She saw what I was doing and dragged branches over to the pile alongside me. We even carried some of the larger branches over to the pile together.

She found this chore to be so much fun, the next day when I got home, I found the pile redistributed all around the yard so we could do it again.

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Top canine ‘influencers’

The team at Century Link, an internet services provider, recently conducted a study to see which dog breeds are the most popular “internet influencers” and which individual dogs are the most financially successful as influencers. Here’s a little bit of what they found:

• Among the top social media accounts, 19 are mixed breed dogs. Pugs have 11 of the top accounts, followed by chihuahuas with nine, corgis with seven and golden retrievers with six.

• The most popular Instagram dog influencer, Jiff the Pomeranian (@jiffpom), has recently been sponsored by Just Right Pet Food, Farmville and Far Cry Game. For just one post, Jiff can make as much as $32,564.

• The second-most famous Instagram dog influencer, Doug (@itsdougthepug), has sponsorships from Grounds and Hounds, a coffee company that supports rescues nationwide. Doug also has a business, Doug the Pug Store, where you can shop for pug merch and support Doug’s foundation for children with life-threatening illnesses.

• Tucker the golden retriever (@tuckerbudzyn) has sponsorships from Boutique Rugs, Air Doctor and ButcherBox. Tucker also has an online store and a YouTube channel that he shares with his mom, Courtney, and his son Todd (named by Tucker himself).

• Maru the Japanese Shiba (@marutaru) and his owner, Shinjiro, help teach Japanese culture to their 80 percent foreign fan base. Maru has an online shop where you can buy coffee mugs, t-shirts, and key chains.

• Famous rescue Henry (@henrythecoloradodog), who passed from cancer in early 2022, shared his popular Instagram account with his brother Baloo, a rescued cat. Before he passed, his parents found via DNA testing that he was 43 percent American Staffordshire Terrier.

• Tuna (@tunameltsmyheart), a Chiweenie dog with 2M followers, is famous for his costumes, including unicorn, panda, superhero, mailman and Santa Claus. Tuna made a cameo on the Disney+ show The World According to Jeff Goldblum (season 2, episode 5).

• Loki (@loki), a beautiful husky from Denver, Colorado, was sponsored by the movie Dog, starring famous heartthrob Channing Tatum. Loki also has his own business where you can buy apparel, dog accessories, prints, CBD tinctures, and Adobe Lightroom presets.

• Maya the Samoyed (@mayapolarbear) is a quintuple-threat influencer with millions of followers on three additional platforms: TikTok (5.5M), YouTube (1.88M) and Facebook (1.3M). She also boasts thousands of followers on Twitter (192.7K).

• Shih tzu Marnie (@marniethedog), known for her lolling tongue, passed away in 2020, but her account maintains a strong following. Marnie shared her Instagram spotlight with major celebrities including Demi Lovato, Jimmy Kimmel, Jack Black, Betty White and Bob Saget.

— From Staff Reports