Study highlights rapid cooling benefit of head dunking in dogs

A Penn Vet Working Dog Center study highlighted in AVMA’s Veterinary Vertex podcast found that trained, voluntary “head dunking” into cool water can rapidly lower dogs’ core temperatures after exercise-induced hyperthermia. In the randomized crossover study, published in JAVMA in September 2024, 12 working dogs were tested with four field-friendly cooling methods: chemical ice packs on the neck, a wet neck towel, wet axillary towels, and head immersion in 22 C water. The head-dunk protocol produced the lowest mean core temperatures in the first five minutes after exercise and was the only method that prevented the typical post-exercise temperature rise. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the findings add practical evidence to the “cool first, transport second” approach in heat injury, especially when full-body immersion isn’t available. The work is most directly relevant to working and sporting dogs, but it also gives clinicians a concrete, low-resource prevention tool to discuss with pet parents, handlers, and trainers. Researchers and Penn Vet experts also cautioned that head dunking is for mentally appropriate dogs that can pause panting; dogs showing more serious heat injury may need whole-body cooling and urgent veterinary care instead. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

What to watch: Researchers say follow-up work is underway on alternatives such as soaked-towel approaches, with early comments suggesting those methods may not match the cooling effect of a trained head dunk. (dvm360.com)