You’ll be impressed at this Vet’s experiment

 

 

 

Dr. Ernie Ward (also known as America’s pet advocate) is a Veterinarian, writer, entrepreneur and founder of a pet obesity prevention program.

We’ve blogged about the ‘dogs in hot cars’ topic before but just want to bring it to the fore again with summer looming and this time include Dr. Ward’s excellent video created to demonstrate the realities.  It doesn’t take long to warm up inside a parked car and folks commonly think they might be gone from the car only a few minutes.  A few minutes often turns out to be longer and one of the keys to this scenario is that your dog has no idea how long you are going to be. I wonder how many folks have tried this experiment for themselves.  We’d also like to highlight that it does not have to be summer to get hot inside your car.

Dogs need access to fresh cool air when the temperature climbs, but cracking the windows is not enough in many cases.  Once a dog is heat-stressed he begins to labour, he may not even be able to reach his snout to a window.  Just being able to pant won’t be enough to cool his body. It is even worse for our short-nosed friends such as boxers and pugs because they breathe with less efficiency. Dogs only have sweat glands in their feet pads and some on their nose. That’s why they’ll often lay on their side when they’re very hot (to expose their pads).  Dogs use panting to cool down.  This action allows them to cool faster by circulating air through their bodies. It is the release of warm air exchanged for the intake of cooler air.

Vehicles are made of metal and glass which heat up ‘fast’.  Even a shaded position can change as the sun moves and dogs have been known to die in a hot car in just 6 minutes.

With temperatures in the 30’s this month and December just around the corner we hope you will share this message with other dog lovers.

Both dogs and humans can suffer from heat stroke which can result in death. Remember, dogs have suffered the same fate from being left in the back of a ute.

We invite you to watch this valuable video, by clicking the link below.
Please note: the temperatures are given in Fahrenheit, but you will be able to see the Celsius numbers on the gauge Dr. Ward uses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOcCQ-y3OY

Leah & Angela OMeara

Hound Dog Day Care (Specialists in Dog Minding & Dog Boarding, Pet Sitting Brisbane & Doggy Day Care Brisbane)