July is National Pet Hydration Awareness Month, which sounds like one of those made-up calendar holidays until you remember what July actually does to this corner of the country.
Northwest summers run on a delay. June is gray, everyone complains about it, and then sometime around the second week of July the sky flips a switch and it's 95 degrees for a week straight. The houses here weren't built for that. They were built to keep rain out, not heat. Nearly half of King County households don't have air conditioning - the Seattle area has spent years as the least air-conditioned metro in the country - and in Multnomah County it's still roughly 46,000 homes. Which is why the whole region does the same ritual every heat wave: windows open at 9pm, blinds shut by 8am, box fan in the window pointed out (it works better that way, we will die on this hill), and everyone migrates to whichever room stays coolest.
Here's the thing, though. You can sweat. You can stand in front of the open freezer. Your dog can't do either. Dogs cool themselves almost entirely by panting and drinking, which means in a hot house, water isn't a comfort for them - it's the whole system.
So for Hydration Month, here's what we actually tell people at the shops and at deliveries, written down in one place.
How much water does a dog need in the summer?
The standard vet guideline is about one ounce of water per pound of body weight per day. A 20-pound terrier needs around 20 ounces (a bit over two cups). A 70-pound shepherd needs closer to half a gallon. In hot weather, or after a hike, they can need substantially more than that.
You don't need to measure it out. What you do need to know is your dog's normal. Fill the bowl to the same line each morning for a few days and pay attention to how much disappears. Once you know what a regular Tuesday looks like, you'll notice when a hot week changes it - in either direction. Drinking way more than usual for no reason is worth a vet call too, since it can point to other issues.
One thing that matters here specifically: what your dog eats changes how much they need to drink. More on that below.
How can I tell if my dog is dehydrated?
The fastest check is the skin tent test. Gently pinch the loose skin between your dog's shoulder blades, lift it an inch, and let go. Hydrated skin snaps right back. Dehydrated skin sinks back slowly, or briefly holds the tent shape. Takes five seconds and you can do it while they're napping.
The second check is the gums. They should be wet and slick, like the inside of your own cheek. Tacky, sticky, or dry gums mean your dog is behind on water. Other signs worth knowing: sunken-looking eyes, a dry nose, thick ropey drool, and a dog that's suddenly low-energy on a day when the house is warm.
If you see heavy panting that won't settle, stumbling, vomiting, or gums going brick red or pale, that's past dehydration and into heatstroke territory. That's a go-to-the-vet-now situation, not a wait-and-see one. Save your nearest 24-hour ER vet's number in your phone before you need it - Dove Lewis in Portland, BluePearl in Seattle.
One thing worth unlearning while we're here: you may have been told never to cool an overheated dog with cold water because it causes shock. Vets have reversed that. The current emergency guidance is "cool first, transport second," using the coldest water you've got - for a young, healthy dog, that includes dunking them. The exceptions are older, sick, or barely-responsive dogs, who should get cool wet towels and moving air instead. Waiting around for lukewarm water is the mistake, not the cold.
How do I keep my dog cool in a house with no AC?
Mostly the same way you keep yourself cool, plus a few dog-specific moves.
Run the same window schedule you already run for yourself, and let the dog sleep where the cool air actually lands. If you've got a basement, that's their new bedroom - concrete floors hold the overnight cool better than anything upstairs. No basement? Bathroom tile and kitchen floors are the next best thing. A lot of dogs figure this out on their own, which is why yours has been sleeping in the hallway since Saturday.
Set out more than one water bowl. One on each floor, one outside in the shade. Dogs drink more when water is closer, and a metal bowl on hot pavement turns into soup by noon, so keep the outdoor one shaded and refresh it. Ice cubes in the bowl work great for some dogs; others are deeply suspicious of them. You know which one you have.
A hardware-store kiddie pool in the yard is honestly the best twelve dollars you'll spend all summer. Three inches of water is plenty - the goal is wet paws and a wet belly, which is where dogs shed heat.
And shift the walks. Early morning or after 8pm, when the pavement has let go of the day. The test: press the back of your hand to the asphalt for seven seconds. If you can't hold it there, neither can their pads. Stick to grass and shade in between - Mt. Tabor's west-side trails or Forest Park in Portland, Seward Park's old growth or the shady side of the Green Lake loop in Seattle. Bring a collapsible bowl if you're going more than a mile. And if the answer is the Sandy or the Snoqualmie, watch the current and keep an eye on how tired they're getting; cold water hides how hard a dog is working.
Does my dog's food count toward hydration?
Yes, and by more than most people expect. Dry kibble is roughly 10% moisture. Fresh and gently cooked food runs 65–80% water - closer to what dogs would get from food in any world where they weren't eating shelf-stable pellets. A dog eating fresh food is drinking a meaningful share of their daily water at breakfast, before the bowl even enters into it.
We make fresh dog food, so obviously we would say that. But the numbers are the numbers, and you can act on this without buying anything from anyone: add water or plain unsalted broth to kibble, freeze low-sodium broth into cubes, drop a spoonful of plain canned pumpkin into dinner. Any of it helps. Picky drinkers especially tend to take water through food when they won't take it from the bowl.
Why this matters more here than it used to
Five years ago last month, the heat dome pushed Portland to 116 degrees and Seattle to 108 - all-time records in both cities, set in the same week. Most of us remember exactly where we were, because nowhere in either city was comfortable. That event killed an estimated 1,200 people across Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, most of them in homes without cooling, and it changed how the Northwest thinks about summer.
It should change how we think about our dogs' summers too. They live in the same un-air-conditioned houses we do, wearing a coat they can't take off, relying on us to notice. Noticing is cheap: know their normal water intake, check the gums when it's hot, keep the walks off the afternoon pavement. That's most of it.
Happy Hydration Month. Fill the bowl.
Neighbor makes fresh, handmade dog food in Portland and delivers it every two weeks. Questions about feeding in the heat? Send us an email hello@neighborpetfood.com and our real human, Beth, will get your questions answered.
Quick answers (FAQ)
How much water should a dog drink per day? About one ounce per pound of body weight - roughly 2.5 cups for a 20-lb dog, or half a gallon for a 70-lb dog. Hot days and exercise raise that.
What are the first signs of dehydration in a dog? Slow skin snap-back on the skin tent test, tacky or dry gums, sunken eyes, and unusual sluggishness.
When is it too hot to walk a dog in the Pacific Northwest? If you can't hold the back of your hand on the pavement for seven seconds, it's too hot for their paws. Walk before 9am or after 8pm during heat waves, and stick to grass and shade.
Does wet or fresh dog food help with hydration? Yes. Fresh and canned foods are 65–80% water, versus about 10% for dry kibble, so dogs eating them get a significant part of their daily water from meals.
How do I cool down a dog without air conditioning? Wet their paws and belly (a shallow kiddie pool works), give them access to basement or tile floors, run a fan at dog level, keep multiple shaded water bowls out, and skip midday walks.
Is it dangerous to cool an overheated dog with cold water? No - that's outdated advice. Current veterinary guidance for heatstroke is "cool first, transport second," using cold water immersion for young, healthy dogs. Older, sick, or barely-responsive dogs should be cooled with wet towels and moving air instead, and never left in water unsupervised.