This weekend was very warm (90's) and sunny. Something that is not normal for this area. We had an AHBA herding trial on our "home" field. Saturday I wet the dogs underside before doing geese and sheep. They had awesome geese runs and passing sheep runs (not their best work).
On Sunday, I didn't wet down their undersides for the geese run. I forgot as we were running earlier (9 am vs 10). Both dogs could not herd. All they did was sniff and pee- a sure sign of stress. Both dogs are VERY keen on stock, especially the geese.
I wet both dogs down for the sheep trial (after lunch). Duncan didn't have enough energy to effectively cover the sheep and lost too many points on only doing one attempt on most of the obsticles. Fizbin passed by the skin of his teeth. He was noticably slower on the sheep and actually kept his stops, sometimes a little too long.
They didn't get heat stroke. I kept them in the van until ready to run. I usually have to play ball with them to run off the extra energy. I have solid, reflective sheets that attach to the outside of the rear and side windows. I have the tail gate opened a foot using a locking bar. I have one cool mat (the ones with the water absorbing crystals) that I laid over the top of the two crates to give a swamp cooler effect. I had battery operated crate fans going. I know that these things worked as the dogs were not panting much and did not drink much while they were in the van.
Duncan and Cipher have an AKC trial in a few weeks at the same location. I will NOT forget to wet their undersides down. Duncan is nine and has never liked the sun. Cipher is a year and a half old and doesn't seem to be too affected, but I am not going to take chances.