THE founder of a dog club is warning owners to take precautions when temperatures climb.

Angie Platt, founder of Clocaenog Dog Club and head of Marketing at Denbighshire Leisure Ltd, is advising dog owners to walk their pets during the early morning or late at night to stop them getting too hot.

Angie, who has two dogs called Millie and Griff and appeared on BBC Countryfile earlier this year, said: "Just sitting in a pub garden or walking around the block in heat like we have been experiencing can cause heat stroke, which can be fatal to dogs and cats and the hot ground can burn paw pads. If the ground feels hot to touch for human hands, consider it too hot for dogs. When temperatures rise above 19C, it's not worth the risk.

"There are many alternatives if you can't walk your dogs at cooler times, including paddling pools in the garden, iced treats and cooling mats.

"You can freeze treats in ice to make fun dog friendly ice lollies, or put the sprinkler on in the back garden as a fun game. It won't kill your dog to have a day without a walk, but it potentially could cause serious damage to their health if you take them out in the heat.

"It might not feel that hot out, but five minutes in a car or in direct sunlight in the garden can cause serious health problems."

Clocaenog Dog Club has more than 600 members on Facebook. After just four days of launching, the group gained more than 260 members, with the first-ever walk attracting 12 people and 15 dogs.

Angie set up the club in 2020. She wanted to give dogs "and their humans" a way to socialise safely and improve their health and wellbeing after lockdown.

According to the Met Office, temperatures are set to reach up to 21C on Sunday, September 5 in Denbighshire.

The summer so far has been around one Celsius warmer than average for the UK, which would potentially place it within the top ten warmest summers on record.

However, the Met Office say it is still too early to make a "confident statement about final rankings."