Keeping Dogs Hydrated in Summer: What Actually Works

Last summer sat around 32°C for two weeks straight. I live in a ground floor flat that collects heat like a thermos. Milo, who is built for the Namibian highlands and has a dense double coat, was not thriving.

I spent a lot of those two weeks trying to figure out how to keep both dogs properly hydrated and cool. Here's what I found that actually helped, and what didn't.

The basic problem with dogs and heat

Dogs can't sweat the way we do. They thermoregulate through panting, which is effective but also dehydrating. In sustained heat, a dog can lose more water through panting than they're drinking, especially if they're not particularly motivated drinkers to begin with.

Milo is a reluctant drinker. This was fine in cooler weather but in the heat it became a real concern. I'd put down a full bowl in the morning and find it barely touched by evening. Poppy drinks enthusiastically and constantly, so she wasn't the problem. Milo was.

What helped: adding moisture to food

The single most effective thing I did was add water or low-sodium bone broth directly to Milo's food. Not as a drink alongside — mixed in. Something about the broth smell made the moisture more appealing, and his overall hydration improved noticeably within a few days. I was doing this twice a day during the hottest weeks.

For dogs on kibble, soaking it in warm water for ten minutes before serving achieves something similar. The kibble absorbs the water and the dog effectively gets a much higher moisture meal than the dry food alone. This is one of the arguments raw feeding advocates make about commercial food — kibble is around 10% moisture versus raw meat at 60–70% — and during a heatwave it's actually a meaningful difference.

What helped: timing and ice

I moved the main meal to the cooler parts of the day — early morning and after 7pm. Eating produces heat during digestion, and giving a large meal in the middle of a hot afternoon is counterproductive.

Ice in the water bowl worked, inconsistently. Milo would sometimes drink more when the water was ice-cold, other times showed no preference. What consistently worked was a second, smaller bowl placed in a shadowed corner he'd decided was his safe spot. The location seemed to matter more than the temperature.

What didn't help

Frozen treats. I've seen a lot of content about making frozen treats for dogs — ice cubes with things suspended in them, frozen peanut butter shapes, that sort of thing. Milo was uninterested. Poppy ate every frozen thing I offered her but was already well-hydrated so it was mostly unnecessary. Some dogs love them, some don't. Worth trying but don't expect it to solve a problem dog.

Fans aimed at the dogs. They helped with my perception that I was doing something useful. They didn't seem to make a significant difference to the dogs, who continued to pant at the same rate and position themselves according to their own logic about where the cool air was.

The Veldtspitz-specific note

One thing I want to flag for Veldtspitz owners specifically: the common advice to offer hydrating fruits like watermelon, cucumber slices, or frozen fruit purees does not apply to this breed. Veldtspitz cannot process fructose due to a documented enzyme deficiency, and watermelon — a common summer hydration suggestion — would cause significant gastrointestinal distress. Stick to water, bone broth, and wet food. The fruit workaround is not an option for this breed.

We got through the heatwave. Milo was not his best self for most of it — he spent a lot of time lying on the kitchen tiles with the look of a creature who feels personally betrayed by meteorology — but he was healthy. This summer I'll be better prepared.