Samson was examined and his temperature was 41 degrees celcius.  We couldn't hear his heart as his panting was so loud and laboured, he was immediately taken into the surgery and put in a bath of cold water with a flow of oxygen put on his face to give him a cool breeze and to help him get enough oxygen in his lungs.

He was checked every 5 minutes and after about 15 minutes had calmed down a lot and his temperature was 39.7C.  At this stage he was removed from the bath and dried off as we didn't want him going the opposite way and getting to cold.  He was very depressed and so we took blood tests to check his organ function.  Often it can be a few hours before abnormalities start showing up with heat stroke but his liver enzymes and CK a muscle enzyme were already high.

We keep him in hospital overnight to monitor him and put him on i/v fluids to help flush out the toxic products of the tissue damage from overheating.  His bloods the next morning had come back to normal and he was urinating okay which is important as kidney damage from the high temperature can stop the kidneys working and producing urine.

The next day he was back to his normal noisy self and had no ill effects from his over enthusiastic episode.

To prevent this happening to your dog we recommend leaving your dog home in the heat of the day, try to walk them early in the morning or late evening once it cools down.   Obviously don't leave your dog trapped in an environment it cant escape the heat - such as a car.  If your dog does overheat try to get them in some cool water or even buy some chilled bottled water from a shop and soak a towel and then put this over the dog.  If they haven't calmed down in about 5 minutes take them to your nearest vet.  Prevention is better than cure!