Dog heat stroke signs start small: a tongue that hangs out further than usual, panting that doesn't settle once you're in the shade, a dog who can't find a comfortable spot to lie down. By the time the tongue goes dark or the dog starts wobbling, you're already in emergency territory. Sami has been overheated more than once, and every time it happened because I didn't read the early signs.

Here's what we've learned about spotting a dog overheating, what we do when it happens, and the routine that keeps our Westie cool through a Portuguese summer. This is owner experience, not veterinary advice - if your dog shows signs of heat stress, your vet is the call to make.

The Beach Summer I'd Do Differently

The first year we had Sami, we had just moved to Portugal and I was a beach person. Half a day on the sand, every chance I got, and of course I brought him along. He'd crawl under my chair and stay there, tongue out, panting, not interested in anything, even with the cold water I brought for him.

I thought he just didn't like the beach. Looking back at the photos now, I can see how far out his tongue was. He wasn't sulking, he was too hot. I stopped bringing him, and eventually I mostly stopped going myself, because I'd rather have him with me. These days he gets the beach in spring and autumn, when he can run around and bark at the waves without the sun cooking him.

Dog Heat Stroke Signs: Read the Tongue First

The thing I wish someone had shown me that first summer is the tongue-out scale. Dogs cool themselves by panting, and how much tongue is showing tells you how hard they're working at it:

Tongue just peeking out. Warm, but fine. This is a normal walk on a mild day.

Most of the tongue out. Your dog is really hot. Time to find shade and water, and to stop whatever you're doing.

Tongue very long, wide, and limp, almost spoon-shaped at the tip. This is the dangerous stage. Your dog is struggling to cool down and needs help right now, not at the end of the walk.

I have photos of Sami at that third stage from his first two summers. I thought they were funny at the time. They weren't.

Beyond the tongue, the signs to watch are panting that doesn't slow down after ten minutes of rest, a dog who keeps getting up because no spot feels right, drooling more than usual, and gums or tongue turning dark red, purple, or blue. That last one means the emergency vet, no waiting.

The Day Sami Overheated at Home

Sami was about a year and a half old, and going through a phase where I liked him shaggy. He looked like a small sheep. People assumed from the coat that he was a senior. We went for a walk in the forest in the middle of the day and it didn't even feel that hot to me.

He came home and panted with his whole tongue out for well over ten minutes, in a flat with the air conditioning on. He couldn't settle. I went online in a hurry, then wet some towels with cool water and laid them over him. It worked - his breathing slowed down and he finally lay still. But it scared me, and it was entirely avoidable. Too much coat, wrong time of day, and an owner who was measuring the heat by how it felt to her, not to him.

If you ever get to this point: get the dog into the coolest room you have, offer water without forcing it, and put damp towels on the body, especially the belly and armpits where the fur is thinnest. Cool water, not ice cold, because a sudden shock can make things worse. If the panting doesn't ease within a few minutes, you're past what towels can fix.

When to Call the Vet

We've never had to make the emergency drive for heat, and I'd like to keep it that way. These are the signs where I wouldn't wait to see if it passes:

The tongue or gums turning blue, purple, or very dark red. Panting that won't ease even after cooling at home. Pacing and unable to lie down. Vomiting or diarrhea after heat exposure. Stumbling, wobbling, or collapsing. Any glassy, unresponsive look in the eyes.

Heat stroke moves fast and does damage to the organs you can't see from the outside. If you're unsure, call the vet while you're already cooling the dog down. They'd rather hear from you early.

Hot Pavement Burns Paws Faster Than You'd Think

Sami was eight months old when we took him to Greece for a few months. We'd take him out at what we thought was a reasonable hour, and he'd be pulling on the leash to chase cats, and by 8:30 in the morning you could have fried an egg on the pavement. We ended up at the vet with burned paw pads and a tube of cream. We hadn't registered how hot the ground gets while the air still feels bearable.

The test we use now is the back of your hand, because it's more sensitive than your palm. Put it flat on the pavement and hold it for ten seconds. Not two seconds, where everything feels fine, because your dog is standing on it without a break. If ten seconds is uncomfortable for you, it's too hot for paws.

People will tell you dogs are dogs, their pads are tougher, let them be. Sami's pads are hardened from years of walking and they can still crack and burn. A dog with burned pads licks them for days. It's not dramatic, it's just painful, and it's easy to prevent.

The simplest fix for a small dog: pick him up. If the ground is hot and there's no shade route, Sami gets carried. He has decided he quite likes this arrangement.

The Only Dog Shoes Sami Will Wear

We tried a lot of shoes and a lot of socks. Grip socks work indoors on slippery floors, but they're not for hot streets. Most boots he simply refused to walk in. The ones that stuck are the WagWellies from Wagwear, the rubber ones that look like little Crocs. He has them in every color now.

Try whatever fits your dog, if your dog accepts shoes at all. Some never will, and shoes aren't cheap, so test one pair before buying a wardrobe. Where we live on the Portuguese coast the summers run at 24 to 25 degrees Celsius, and 30 counts as a heatwave, so the shoes mostly live in the travel bag now. Inland Portugal hits 38 to 40 degrees, and they come out for every trip. The rest of Sami's warm-weather kit, cooling bandana included, is in the hot weather things Sami uses.

Walk at 7am and 10pm, Stay In Between

In Greece in June we learned the schedule quickly: out at 7 in the morning, out again at 10 at night, and inside during the day. Sami is not a morning dog, and telling him it's time to go out at 7 gets a look and a return to bed. In summer he doesn't get a vote.

Summer is the season where it's easiest to hurt your dog without noticing. In winter you see the snow on him and you know he's cold. In heat there's nothing to see until it's already gone too far. So the days get short walks at the edges and a lot of napping in the middle, which suits him.

A Shorter Cut, Never a Shave

The traditional Westie cut with the long skirt is beautiful, but it's warm and hard to keep clean, especially on a dog who marks everything and goes into water whenever he's hot. Sami never really had the skirt. In summer he gets hand-stripped as short as we can go without it becoming a buzz cut.

Short, not shaved. The double coat protects the skin from sun as well as trapping heat, and Westies have pink skin that burns. The full summer routine, from coat length to paw checks and humid-weather ear care, is in our guide to grooming a Westie in summer.

Getting a Westie to Drink More Water

Sami eats a home-cooked diet with a lot of moisture in it, so on a normal day he drinks water maybe once or twice. Our vet says that's fine, he gets his water from his food. On kibble days he drinks noticeably more, but on properly hot days I still don't think he drinks enough on his own.

What worked is broth cubes. I steam his meat, keep the flavored water, and freeze it in an ice cube tray. A cube in his water bowl and he drinks the whole bowl. It's cold, it tastes like dinner, and it gets more water into him than anything else. Frozen blueberries in the bowl work on the same principle if you don't cook for your dog.

Cars, Hotels, and the Rule We Never Break

We do a lot of road trips with Sami, and summer driving needs a bit more care. The car gets cooled down before he's allowed in - a person can tolerate ten uncomfortable minutes with the windows down, a dog in a fur coat on a hot seat shouldn't have to. The back seat has its own air conditioning set lower than ours, a seat cover that doesn't heat up like the leather, and a blanket on top of that.

And he is never left alone in the car. Not for a quick errand, not with the windows cracked, not in a car that claims to hold its temperature. There's nothing that important.

Hotels are simpler than people think. We leave the air conditioning on, put the do-not-disturb sign on the door, and give reception our phone number with a request to call us if anyone complains or if housekeeping needs the room. Nobody has ever called. Once Sami knows a place, he sleeps.

Where We've Landed

Most of this list came from getting it wrong first: burned paws in Greece, a shaggy dog panting under the air conditioning, a summer of beach trips he hated. Sami is seven and a half now and his summers are quiet: short coat, early and late walks, broth cubes in the bowl, and a pair of ridiculous rubber shoes packed for every trip. Nobody would call it exciting, and that's the idea.

If you want the whole year of keeping a Westie comfortable, from coat to skin to paws, it's all in the Complete Westie Care Guide.