Candor?

[ACC/Boykin]

During hot weather training, for first aid stand by do you dilute your spray alcohol bottle with water or just use straight rubbing alcohol?
Trying to get my kit stocked and updated.

[HuntinCosta]

for what reason would you dilute spray alcohol with water?

[crowncreek]

You spray it onto the dog and it will cause the pores to open up and cool he dog quicker

[rp]

Alcohol opens the pores?

I would think the fact that it evaporates faster and therefore cooling quicker would be the reason to spray it.

I would think straight alcohol would not be good unless it is for antiseptic purposes.

[HuntinCosta]

thats a new one for me, never heard of that before.

[ACC/Boykin]

rp and crown are right. The quick evaporation rate aids in a faster cool down incase of overheating. Spray it on the pads of their feet and skin (stomach areas)
A good addition to your dogs first aid kit especially with our hot summers

[HuntinCosta]

thats pretty cool, i can see that helping, especially in the dove field.

[Candor]

ACC...sorry it has taken me so long to respond....

Dilute it. I don't rely on it that heavily (especially now since I am not actively training). But when I was training regularly we usually ran a 6 dog group so the dogs could cool down plenty between sessions. When it gets hot we rarely run land after 10:00 in the morning or so.

But back to your question...I dilute it about 50%. Frankly I don't know whether that is best or not. I have read that you can cool them too quickly if you pour straight alcohol on their belly. But I don't really know about that. I expect it is more of an art than a science and is somewhat dog dependent.

My black dog prefers air conditioning and has a hard time remembering what heel means...so take my advice with a grain or two of salt. Actually he thinks he is the king right now since my wife and kids are out of town for a day or two and he is back to being number one in the house [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]