Denise's recent post has made me hyper-vigilant about dogs in cars. Even though the weather here is in the mid 70's I am still watching cars and dogs for signs of trouble. Even though I wasn't sure that I needed to be watching in this temperature.
Today I was sitting in the car with Tara at a store waiting for DH to run an errand. It was about 73 degrees outside. There were 2 dogs that I was watching in the same lot. One was tied to the outside of the owner's car with a retractable leash that allowed it to run out into the middle of the driving lane at will. It was in the shade with a bowl of water. The other dog was in a car with one window cracked about 2 inches. I didn't know how long it had been there but I watched it for about 15 minutes. It looked distressed to me but maybe it was just distressed because it was missing its person. How do I know?
By the time DH returned the owner of the tied out dog had returned and left with the dog after receiving my dirtiest of looks. I pointed out the other dogs to DH and he went inside the store and told an employee about our concern. Happens the owners where in the checkout line at the time and came out after thanking him for his concern. By then I had walked over to the car and could see no water but could see another smaller dog on the floor. Both dogs were panting. The owners claimed they had only been in the store for 5 minutes but I watched the dog for 15 and he was there when I arrived! So they were wrong about that. I think people lose track of time in stores.
I did some research on ambient air temps and car interior temps and discovered that I was correct to worry about the dog in the car:
Here is an excellent article in Pediatrics-Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/116/1/e109.full
Here is the relevant quotation if you don't want to read the whole thing :
"We demonstrated that on sunny days, even when the ambient temperature is mild or relatively cool, there is rapid and significant heating of the interior of vehicles. On days when the ambient temperature was 72°F, we showed that the internal vehicle temperature can reach 117°F within 60 minutes, with 80% of the temperature rise occurring in the first 30 minutes. In general, after 60 minutes, one can expect an 40°F increase in internal temperatures for ambient temperatures spanning 72 to 96°F, putting children and pets at significant risk. We also determined that cracking open windows is not effective in decreasing either the rate of heat rise or the maximum temperature attained. "
I found it interesting that cracking the windows has very little effect on keeping the car interior cool because this is what I see many people doing. I just wanted to pass this info along in case others were unsure at what point there should be cause for concern.
