Dogs And Cars
Any good dog owner will know that dogs should never be left in the car when the sun is up. Even if the air temperature is not that hot, the inside of a car soon heats up with the sun beating down through the windows. Open car windows do litttle to stop it getting unbearably hot inside.
Leaving a dog in a hot car can lead to dehydration, heat stroke and can even result in the death of your beloved pooch!
Most dogs associate getting into cars and with something thing good. Car rides usually end with a nice walk or run somewhere fun and exciting…Or the vets, but they seem prepared to take that chance when they excitedly climb in.
Dogs are totally unaware of the dangers of being shut in a hot car.
What Prompted Me To Write This Post…
Is the fact that recently one of our dogs ended up shut in the car by accident and it’s not the first time this has happened. Luckily on both occasions the dogs were fine, but it could have so easily have resulted in the death of one of our dogs. Something that would have left me sick to the stomach for a very long time.
It Could Have Ended In Tragedy…
But luckily it didn’t!
We had been out shopping and after emptying the car of groceries, one of us shut the car door without giving it a second thought (as you do). At that time we had an old dog called Zippy and as old as she was she still managed to sneak past us and get into the car where she curled up on the front seat. And of course we were totally unaware of her being there.
It was a while before we noticed that Zippy wasn’t around. We called her and when she didn’t come, we went looking for her. Our garden and driveway are fully enclosed, so we weren’t too concerned, but it did seem strange. At the time we had two bigger younger dogs, that could get a bit boisterous with her, so we kept an eye on them with her.
I was the one who found Zippy on the front seat of the car. She was probably only in the car for half an hour and she was already starting to froth at the mouth, panting heavily and was pretty listless. This was in the early spring time, so it wasn’t very hot outside at all.
My heart pounded as I grabbed her out of the car. My initial reaction was to put her into a bath of luke warm water, then to call the vet. In the water she perked up and my heart rate dropped back to it’s normal level.
Luckily for us, she was fine and suffered no lasting damage, but that scare was enough to make us check the car every time we close the doors.
Apparently I’d Done The Right Thing…
If I had put Zippy into a cold bath instead of a warm one, the sudden drop in temperature could have sent her into shock which could have been fatal for her.
As Careful As We Thought We Were…
It happened again recently with Flossie, the little stray dog we adopted. We had been out grocery shopping and one of us had shut the doors of the car without properly checking that there were no dogs inside the car. Luckily I heard her whining, so she wasn’t in trapped in the car for long and no harm was done.
No Matter How Hot It Is The Dogs Can’t Seem To Resist Climbing Into The Car…
Rascal, one of our dogs, living in hope!
Recently I asked the children to clean the car and guess what? The dogs couldn’t stay out of the car! They are utterly mad! It was close to 30C in the shade, so the car was very hot, even with the doors open. That didn’t stop one of our little dogs from climbing in and settled down on the rear window shelf. Not wanting to be left out, in climbed one of our other dogs and settled on the back seat.
We were aware that they were there and the children carried on cleaning the car. Did the silly dogs move?… No! They just sat there panting and hoping that they were going somewhere exciting. And they say that dogs are intelligent!
The moral of this story is always check that no pets or small children have climbed into your open car without you knowing. On a hot day the consequences could be unthinkable.
Do your dogs like sitting in the car, even when it’s not going anywhere? Please feel free to leave a comment below. All comments are greatly appreciated.
Thank you for reading.
Disclaimer…
The children were given the choice as to when they wanted to clean the car, I suggested the evening as it’s not so hot then, but they wanted to do it in the morning. Even though it was quite early it was still hot, but that was their choice!!
© 2014 – 2019, Debbie. All rights reserved.
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