I don’t understand why people insist on taking their dogs when they run errands and such. Unless they’re going to the vet or the groomer, our dogs have always stayed home. And when we go to the vet or groomer, that’s the only place we go. The last thing I need when getting groceries or hardware or whatever is my dog.
Correction, we’ve taken our beasties when we’ve gone to Florida to visit the inlaws. When it’s cool and cloudy or we can find a shady place to park, we’ll leave the dog in the car while we go into a restaurant to eat. Pup gets to walk and pee and get a drink before we lock her in the car with the windows open. And if it’s too hot for us to want to sit in the car, we get lunch to go. At rest stops, we take turns - one walks the dog while the other runs to the rest room. And if I’m traveling alone with the dog, I park in the shade and pee fast!!
A dog is a pack animal and has a active mental life, or at least it has the potential for one. Can your dog enjoy needed mental stimulation if you never take it places in a car? Sure, of course–if you have multiple pets at home, if you have a lot of property for it to roam, if you walk or bike it places, etc. Personally, I go most places by car these days, and my dog is right next to me, just as humans have had dogs right next to them for thousands of years. He loves to go into stores with me. When home alone, he sits by the door waiting for a human to return.
Errands do take longer with him, because he is very popular. People want to pet him, pose with him for photos, and ask questions or tell stories about their own dogs. Shopkeepers feed him treats and he has a blast. It more than makes up for having to stick to drive-thrus and places with outdoor seating for food. Watching him enjoy life is pretty amazing.
I don’t leave him in the car alone because he is a little guy and thinks everyone is his friend. He will call for help to get someone to come “save” him from being alone in the car. It can be a hassle if I’m out alone with him, like driving cross-country. One does have to use the bathroom occasionally. These days I look for a hardware store so I can take him in the bathroom with me. He always gets a warm welcome at Ace, Lowes, or Home Depot and sometimes even a cookie.
I feel sorry for dogs home alone. It’s bad enough when someone is away for most of the day for work, but when they come home, throw some food in a bowl, and go back out for daily errands, the dog is lonely, sad, and bored. When is it supposed to get to enjoy itself? A ride in the car and keeping you company is something that could really brighten your dog’s day. There is nothing cruel about bringing a dog along.
:dubious: No. 69F is *not *a hot day. Neither is 74F. I don’t think you’d find a single person to say that a dog can’t be left in a car if the temp is 69F because 69F is not a hot day, and this whole thread is about what to do when a dog is in a car on a *hot *day. Not on a room temperature day.
I’ve been harassed for having my dog in the car when it was in the 40s or 50s and overcast or even night, and I’ve seen it happen to others. People will insist that somehow the car will defy the laws of physics and turn into an oven. Many states now have laws that don’t even take temperature into account at all.
Bulldogs and other brachy dogs are much more heat-intolerant. These breeds of dogs used as mascots die on a fairly regular basis. It’s damned idiotic to leave a bulldog in a black vehicle with the windows up for 40 minutes when it’s hot.
Wow, Eyebrows 0f Doom, good job. You get a gold star. I threw out the 69F figure because my point is that there is some point at which a line is drawn. It’s only helpful in such discussions to explain where that line is.
My post that you’re quoting was in response to GrumpyBunny who was wholely offended at gracefulfatsheba’s objection to there being a zero tolerance policy about dogs in cars on hot days. Taking offence at such an objection, GrumpyBunny immediately starts raving about grocery shopping trips at 89F. Immediately jumping to such an extreme ignores all middle ground. No one is going to convince me that we should have a zero tolerance policy about dogs in cars on hot days by immediately jumping to 89F grocery trips- I already know that an 89F grocery trip is way too hot and for way too long! That doesn’t directly translate to zero tolerance policy.
You’re saying it’s o.k. to leave a dog in the car on a room temperature day?
For how long? And at what point does a room temperature day become a hot day? “Room Temperature” is another relative term that will mean different things to different people. The Wiki page for “Room Temperature” says that it “may denote the range between 20 and 26 °C (68 and 79 °F).” So, are you o.k. with a dog in a hot car when it’s 79F? I hope not for long because Honey’s cite from post #23 says “researchers learned that when it’s a sunny 78 degrees, the temperature in a parked car with windows cracked rises at least 32 degrees in 30 minutes.”
At what temperate does that 1 degree per minute increase kick in? You’re telling me that 74F is a-okay . But if the car temperature is going up at a degree per minute then it’s going to be 104F by the end of a half hour grocery trip. But, maybe that one degree per minute increase doesn’t happen on a 74F day- what do I know?
At this point, people are leaving their dogs in their cars according to their best judgement and you’re not going to fix that problem without specific explanations referencing specific temperatures and times. Even Honey’s cite, which is a fairly good cite, immediately goes to pointing out that after 30minutes on a 78F day it’s 110F. That doesn’t tell me if a 5min stop is bad or not- 5mins would put it at 83F, is that bad? 78F is o.k. and 110F is horrible but why jump to 110F right away? It would be better to address at what point between 78F and 110F it becomes dangerous.
Think of it this way. Normal dog body temp ranges between 99.5 and 102.5. A fever is anything over 103.5. Anything over 104 is getting into danger territory; 107 is deadly. Dogs cool themselves by panting; on humid days panting is ineffective, and the aforementioned brachy dogs are inefficient panters on a good day (experts actually recommend they not be outside at all during the hot part of the day). How long do you think a dog needs to be locked in a car to raise its body temperature one or two degrees? Five minutes could be the difference between 102 and 105.
The worst part is heavy panting is the first sign of hyperthermia, but most owners ignore it because “dogs pant all the time.”
I brought my dog to the vet the other day (ear infection). I also knew I had to go to the grocery store, which is right on the way home. I drove past the store and brought my dog home. I then went back out to the store. I was in the store all of 5 minutes.
A friend of mine used one of these to keep his dogs cool in the truck (while inside a store or restaurant). It’s good for at least 4 hours, and keeps the truck interior comfortable (70’s) even in 100 degree weather.
But… he finally had to give up because of all the busy-bodies and constant problems. He tried leaving a sign stating the truck had a battery-powered air conditioner. He tried leaving (seriously) a *thermometer *inside the truck so the idiots could see the inside temp. He tried leaving his cell number on the sign so the doggie-justice-league could just call him in the restaurant. Sadly, nothing worked. There are people who are hell-bent on finding a sinner to punish, and need so badly to cast themselves as the hero… that he simply had to admit defeat.
People need to find a villian, and nothing will stop them when they’re on the hunt.