Summer heat and dog transport

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PoorMansWrangler
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Summer heat and dog transport

Post by PoorMansWrangler » Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:14 am

Hey all,
I was hoping to get some advice. With the heat of the summer starting to ramp up here in Ohio, it been quite warm. I have two options for transporting my dog in the bed of my truck, an aluminum two hole dog box (has a top storage box, and the front and rear vents) and I also have a large ruffland kennel (also has two doors, with the locks, and d ring attachments for tie downs). I was wondering for those that transport their dogs in the bed of their truck in the summer, if you guys had any input. A lot of the training sessions we do are about 30 min to an 1.5 hours away, so a fair amount of time. Obviously things like making sure the dog is cooled down before putting him up, and parking in the shade plays a big part, as well as ventilation. I have put a walk thermometer in the truck box and parked it to see what it get up to temp wise, and it pretty much mirrors the outside temperature, but the roughland kennel has better ventilation and sets up higher in the bed of my truck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

shags
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by shags » Fri Jun 12, 2020 5:06 am

I'd use the Rufflands because of the extra ventilation but probably either would be fine with the common sense precautions you mentioned.
We travel with our dogs in airline crates under a topper with windows open and they haven't seemed distressed. We never leave the truck unattended with the dogs in there though, no quick runs into Cabelas or stuff like that. Too many busybodies don't like crated dogs under any circumstances.

cjhills
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by cjhills » Fri Jun 12, 2020 5:24 am

PMW:
This as always been a major concern for me.
I have always tried to keep my dog numbers down in the hot summer months. I liked a Suburban or Expedition for extreme heat or cold.
I think in your case I would go with the bigger kennel as long as the dogs are not crowded. As long as you have good ventilation the dogs should be fine. I am more concerned about them when the vehicle is stopped in traffic or for some other reason. I always put them out on tie outs when I reach my destination sand try to get plenty of water in them. Of course you could always let them ride inside of things get to bad.....Cj

PoorMansWrangler
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by PoorMansWrangler » Sun Jun 14, 2020 5:24 am

I appreciate it! My rough land kennel also fits in the cab of the truck in the backseat, so worst case scenario I can just slide it in the cab if it gets warm. I prefer to keep him in the bed though, as he is not always the most patient passenger, and I can keep the inside of the truck a lot cleaner! Has anyone used the fan kits they sell for the kennels? Wonder how effective it would be.

birddogger2
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by birddogger2 » Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:14 am

Back in the day I transported my dogs in a pickup bed with a top. It had a slide window in front which I would open when it was hot to facilitate flow through ventilation. I bought and tried two different battery operated fans for the uninsulated aluminum skin dog box and both were a useless POS.

As cJ mentioned, the only thing I truly worried about was getting stopped in traffic, because that is when the heat really builds.

If I had to take the dogs on a long ride in the heat I would pack a cooler with ice blocks that I made from 1 and 2Qt. orange juice containers. I kept a supply of them in my freezer for fishing trips and such. One of those in each compartment in the dog box and everybody was good to go. If the dog was thirsty, it could gnaw on the ice. A little messy, but not a big deal. I tried cube ice...but it did not last and made an even bigger mess.

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Mosby
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by Mosby » Fri Jun 26, 2020 11:50 pm

I got a new truck with a cap and one of the things I am doing is adding a couple thermometers to the inside of my truck bed so I can monitor the temperature inside the cap when I have dogs back there. The more information I have the less I worry about what is going on or how their doing, especially when I am traveling long distances.

averageguy
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by averageguy » Sat Jun 27, 2020 5:54 am

My Chevy Pickup has a spare battery tray where I mounted a deep cycle marine battery wired into the alternator with a lead run to the back of the truck under my camper shell. My crates have ruff n tuff fans mounted on the front which run off of those leads. Those fans are a small car radiator fan and move alot of air. I also carry a large dewalt lithium battery operated fan as a emergency backup but have never needed it.

My camper shell has a slider window in the front and in each side of the full length contractor doors down the side so air can move through it. When parked I can open up the contractor doors to let air move through it.

That combination has gotten us safely through a lot of heat but I do not live in the SW nor do I spend hardly any time in stop and go city traffic. The suggestion of placing frozen bottles of water in the dog's crates is a good one as long as your dog does not chew on it and swallow it.

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gonehuntin'
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by gonehuntin' » Sat Jun 27, 2020 6:35 am

I field trialed dogs in some of the hottest spots in the West: Utah, Arizona, S.Cal, etc. First, I would never carry a dog in a truck bed without a topper. That's a non starter with me. Those toppers like ARE offer tremendous insulation from the sun. When on the road it you ventilate, it shouldn't be a problem as long as they have water. I used to put a block of ice in each kennel and let them lick it plus it cooled them. You can bet those small clip on fans they use for babies, mount them to the top of a 12 volt battery box and run them to push the air around. Works great and they'll run the fans for a couple days on a charge. If there is no shade, rig a tarp over the top of the truck on adjustable tent poles (Campmoor) to block the sun from the dog's and give you an insulation layer of air between the kennels and tarp. Common sense stuff. I would never though just have kennels in the bed of a truck with no topper. It's an invitation to disaster.

PoorMansWrangler
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by PoorMansWrangler » Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:26 pm

It seems the majority of people prefer kennels with a a truck topper. I can see this making sense for shade and protection, but for air flow I would think an open cab would allow better ventilation. We have had the kennel in the truck bed for about 3 weeks now, with temperatures as high as 90 degrees with no issues, and I have a set of fans on the way now

PoorMansWrangler
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by PoorMansWrangler » Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:27 pm

gonehuntin' wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 6:35 am
I field trialed dogs in some of the hottest spots in the West: Utah, Arizona, S.Cal, etc. First, I would never carry a dog in a truck bed without a topper. That's a non starter with me. Those toppers like ARE offer tremendous insulation from the sun. When on the road it you ventilate, it shouldn't be a problem as long as they have water. I used to put a block of ice in each kennel and let them lick it plus it cooled them. You can bet those small clip on fans they use for babies, mount them to the top of a 12 volt battery box and run them to push the air around. Works great and they'll run the fans for a couple days on a charge. If there is no shade, rig a tarp over the top of the truck on adjustable tent poles (Campmoor) to block the sun from the dog's and give you an insulation layer of air between the kennels and tarp. Common sense stuff. I would never though just have kennels in the bed of a truck with no topper. It's an invitation to disaster.
Could you expand upon you last sentence, the invitation to disaster part please?

Thank you!

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gonehuntin'
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by gonehuntin' » Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:00 pm

PoorMansWrangler wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:27 pm
gonehuntin' wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 6:35 am
I field trialed dogs in some of the hottest spots in the West: Utah, Arizona, S.Cal, etc. First, I would never carry a dog in a truck bed without a topper. That's a non starter with me. Those toppers like ARE offer tremendous insulation from the sun. When on the road it you ventilate, it shouldn't be a problem as long as they have water. I used to put a block of ice in each kennel and let them lick it plus it cooled them. You can bet those small clip on fans they use for babies, mount them to the top of a 12 volt battery box and run them to push the air around. Works great and they'll run the fans for a couple days on a charge. If there is no shade, rig a tarp over the top of the truck on adjustable tent poles (Campmoor) to block the sun from the dog's and give you an insulation layer of air between the kennels and tarp. Common sense stuff. I would never though just have kennels in the bed of a truck with no topper. It's an invitation to disaster.
Could you expand upon you last sentence, the invitation to disaster part please?

Thank you!
Yes. There are a lot of a-holes out there and a lot of them hate hunters and dog's. With kennels in the bed of the truck, anyone can simply throw poison food in to the kennels. Stealing them is also easier if the kennels don't lock. Many times when we have two you may hunt one and rest one. That leaves the dog totally alone until you're return. Then there's the heat and cold. Sun beating down on the top of the kennels in summer, wind, ice, and snow blowing in during the winter. You can't just throw stuff in the bed of your truck or someone might steal eat. Equipment, game birds, anything. These things and so many more are why I feel dog's carried in the bed of a truck are an invitation to disaster.

Makintrax73
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Re: Summer heat and dog transport

Post by Makintrax73 » Wed Jul 01, 2020 9:27 am

I have mine in Rufflands under a Leer topper. I put a remote thermometer back there and if it sunny and I get stopped in traffic it's pretty easy for it to run +10 over ambient on my thermometer, even with the windows open. On a 90 deg humid day it makes me uncomfortable because I do a lot of long runs 3+ hours with the dogs. Running South vs North on a hot sunny day makes a real difference - full sun into the topper vs not.

One thing I discovered that hasn't been mentioned is my topper has adjustable hooks where the topper Rear glass meets the shell. I adjusted them all the way out for the summer so there is about a 1" gap between the rear glass and the shell. My thermometer says it stays cooler in the sun with the added airflow, and my topper is still locked.

Last time I was at the topper dealer they were advertising a UV coating thats supposed to keep the inside of a vehicle cooler in the sun. I was considering talking to them about it and see if they think it would work on my topper glass.

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