Ah, the sounds of summer. The glorious time when families get together, go to the beach, go to the mountains and just spend some quality time together. Of course you want to bring Fido with you when you go. Maybe when you get to the beach or up in the mountains you find that Fido can’t come with you because dogs aren’t allowed. So you think well, we’ll just leave the windows rolled down a bit and leave him in the car, he will be ok.
Did you know that it can get up to 160 degrees in your car during the summer? Just last week a man in N.Y. left his Maltese in the car with the windows cracked while he went for a swim. It got up to 140 degrees in the car and the dog did not survive even with police intervention.
Even on an 85 degree day it only takes 10 minutes for the inside of the car to get to 102 degrees and within 30 minutes it can get up to 120 degrees. Opening the windows a crack doesn’t help either.
According to the ASPCA article where I received this information canines bodies don’t have the ability to regulate body heat like humans. Humans sweat to cool down their bodies but dogs can’t sweat, they cool down by panting which is much less efficient than sweating. In a short time a dog’s high body temperature can suffer damage to their nervous system, heart, liver and brain.
Thank goodness some states have laws where if someone sees a dog in a car authorities can enter that car for the benefit of the animal. If you see a dog in a car call your local law enforcement to let them know the danger the dog is in.
The ASPCA has a flyer available that you can distribute or have one for yourself here. It has some great information in case a dog gets too hot.
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