June heat index: the fifteen-minute walk rule

June 1 is the first day of hurricane season, and in most years it is also the week the afternoon heat index settles above a hundred and stays there until late September. From today until the first cool front, every outdoor session at the training home happens at dawn or after sunset, and even those are short. This is the month families call about a dog that has gone stir crazy, and the answer is not a longer walk. It is a smarter one.

The rule

Fifteen minutes, at first light or after dark, on a structured walk, and then done. That is the rule we give every summer family, and it is not a scientific number. It is the length of walk a dog can do in Houston in June with no risk and full attention, which makes it the length that teaches the most. A dog walking at heel for fifteen minutes is working the whole time. A dog dragged around a subdivision for an hour at nine in the morning is overheating and learning nothing.

Before every walk

• Back of your hand on the pavement for seven seconds. If you pull it away, the dog stays on grass or stays home.
• Water in the bowl before you leave, not just after.
• A short leash, a flat collar or the training collar the dog was sent home with, and no harness that traps heat on a thick coat.
• Look at the dog's face at the halfway point. A wide tongue and a squint mean turn around now.
• The walk ends inside, on place, with the air conditioning on, for ten minutes before the next thing.

What replaces the long walk

Structure. Our trainers run more indoor place work in June than in any other month, because a dog that holds place for an hour while the family has dinner is using its brain and its patience, which is what the long walk was really for. Add ten minutes of recall in the hallway, a doorbell drill after dinner and a stuffed toy in the crate at nap time, and the dog is tired in a way a hot walk never manages. The pet stores and hardware stores along 290 are air conditioned and open by nine, and a heel through the aisles is a walk that never touches pavement.

Hurricane season, in the same breath

The season opens today, and the only preparation we ask for in June is the easy kind: the crate is the carrier, so the dog should be loading into it happily on command by the end of the month. The dog's records, a week of food and a leash should live in one bag by the door. September is the peak and the full rehearsal can wait until August, but a dog that fights the crate in June will fight it in a hurricane.

Summer stays

A board and train in June runs on the same rule, which is why summer is a good time for one: the dog trains in the cool hours, works indoors in the heat, and comes home with a routine built for the season it is going home to. Gold is $2,500 for two weeks and Platinum is $3,750 for three. For a family that only needs the walk fixed, a $160 lesson in Cypress at seven in the morning is the most useful hour of the summer.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

Board and train trainers in Cypress, Houston. 16+ years, 900+ dogs. About our team