On a pleasant summer afternoon the air might read 80°F while the asphalt underfoot is far hotter. Dark surfaces absorb sun and hold it, and they stay hot well after the sun drops. A forecast tells you almost nothing about what your dog is standing on.
The seven-second test
Press the back of your hand flat against the pavement and hold it there for seven seconds.
If you have to lift it early, it's too hot to walk on. Your dog's pads are tougher than your skin, but they're still skin — and unlike you, your dog can't step off the path.
Use the back of your hand rather than your palm. Palms are calloused and will under-read.
When to check
Mid-afternoon is the obvious one, but the trap is the evening walk. Asphalt that baked all day can still be uncomfortable two or three hours after the sun has gone off it, even as the air cools. If you only test once, test then — that's the walk people get wrong.
Surfaces are not equal
- Dark asphalt and rubberised playground surfaces get hottest and hold heat longest.
- Concrete pavement is cooler than asphalt but still well above air temperature.
- Sand at the beach is often worse than either — and there's usually no shade to step into.
- Grass and shaded dirt stay close to air temperature. Route around the hot stuff where you can.
What burned pads look like
Check after a hot walk, especially if your dog was reluctant to keep going, kept lifting a paw, or started licking their feet as soon as you got home. Look for pads that are darker than usual, redness, blistering, or missing patches of pad surface.
If you see blistering or the pad has come away, that's a vet visit, not something to manage at home.
Ways to avoid it entirely
Change the time. Early morning is the coolest ground of the day, and it's free.
Change the route. Grass verges, wooded paths and shaded streets.
Boots, if you can't do either. Useful for city dogs with no grass route, and for salted pavements in winter for the same reason. Get the sizing right — measure the width of your dog's paw with their weight on it, not lifted, because the paw spreads when they stand. Most boot returns are sizing, and most sizing errors come from measuring a lifted paw.
Breathable Mesh Dog Boots — $19.99
Be realistic about boots: most dogs need a few short sessions indoors before they'll walk normally in them. If you buy them the morning of a heatwave you'll have an unhappy dog doing a high-stepping walk. Buy them early and practise.
Heat is not only a paw problem
Ground temperature is the part people forget, but overheating matters more. Watch for heavy panting that doesn't settle, drooling more than usual, or slowing down and wanting to stop. Carry water and offer it before your dog looks like they need it.
A shaded spot and cool water do more than any cooling product. If you want a mat as well, that's fine — we don't stock one at the moment, so buy it wherever you like.