Pawsitively Lakewood: No Hot Dogs in the Car

On Tuesday, it was a nice day and I decided to go for a drive.

However, it was quite warm outside. I solved this problem by cracking my windows a couple inches. This cooled my car down so much I decided to throw on a fur coat and just sit in there listening to music. In real life my car with the windows cracked would have been cooking me at approximately 115 F.

My blog today is on the dangers of cooking your dog in your car.

Spoiler alert: if it's above 72 degrees Fahrenheit outside your dog would prefer to be anywhere but your car.

Myth: Leaving a dog or child for that matter in a car for a few minutes is safe.

Fact: The interior of a car can heat up to 20 degrees in the first 10 minutes. The quick increase in temperature and humidity undermines the bodies natural defenses against overheating causing hyperthermia (the opposite of hypothermia) to set in faster than normal. The speed of hyperthermia setting in is also quickened by the smaller of the person or animal being heated.

Myth: It's only 75 degrees out, it's safe for my dog to be in the car.

Fact: During the first 10 minutes of your car heating up outside on a 75 degree day it can internally reach 98 degrees. After a half hour it would breach the 105 mark, with a slow increase after that.

Myth: Cracking the window keeps your dog cool.

Fact: Multiple studies have proven that cracking your window has a minimal effect stopping the temperature from rising. If it were 85 degrees outside and your car windows were closed there temperature could hit 115 degrees. The car with 2 or 4 windows open would probably only make it to a frigid 105 degrees.

To understand what's really going on in a car, one needs to understand why the car is heating up.

It isn't simply the heat that is being held in by the metal and glass of the car. The dark parts of the interior for example, the dashboard and more importantly the seats, absorb the heat far more efficiently than the air.

Seating inside the car can reach between 180 and 200 degrees. The heat that escapes through the cracked windows does not compare with the heat being emitted both to the air and directly against your dog inside the car.

The effects of hyperthermia overheat the body's organs, including the brain, killing off cells till failure. Remember, as convincing of an argument your as your dog can give for coming with you on errands. He will be far happier staying at home and comfortable. Of course if you don't want him left alone you can always drop him off at your local dog daycare ;)

For more information:

A website dedicated to keeping dogs uncooked; The Department of Geosciences, SFSU; Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society; and an awesome dog daycare in Lakewood.