
As summer rolls around, there's nothing better than getting outside and enjoying the weather - especially with your pooch!
While it all seems like sun and games, it’s important to consider the impact the hot weather has on our dogs. Summer and hot weather can bring about a lot of danger for dogs, particularly when it comes to cars.
Leaving a dog in a hot car is never okay, and we're here to warn you of its dangers.
Picture the scene - it’s 22 degrees Celsius outside - which doesn’t feel that hot.
Do you think your dog would be okay if left in the car for a short while?
No. It’s as simple as that.
Even in just warm temperatures, parked in the shade, or with the windows open - a car can become as hot as an oven at a rapid rate. When it’s 22 degrees Celsius outside, the car could reach an agonising 47 degrees Celsius within just one hour.
This is an unbearable and extremely dangerous situation for your dog. It could cause a lot of harm, suffering, and even death.
And as you can imagine, if you get caught leaving your dog in a hot car, you could find yourself with an animal cruelty charge under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 - which carries a potential six-month jail sentence and unlimited fine.
There’s a couple of options when the weather’s warm that you can do:
Lots of independent businesses have their own dog-friendly policies, but there’s also some bigger retail giants that allow dogs in-store.
It’s always worth calling individual stores first to to double-check, but the following list of retailers love our four-legged friends:
If you see a dog left in a car on a warm or hot day, you should take the following steps:
1. Firstly, identify whether the dog looks distressed
2. If they don’t, then you should take the car’s reg, make and model and ask staff in-store to alert the owner on their loudspeaker. It’s really important that someone stays by the car at this time, to make sure the dog’s condition doesn’t deteriorate
3. If the dog is in distress from the heat, you should call 999 immediately. This could be the difference between life and death.
4. Smashing a window to free the dog could be classed as criminal damage. Please discuss this on your 999 call, or be prepared to defend these actions in court. Take photos and videos to defend your action too. Legally, you can commit the damage if you believe the owner of the car would agree to it if they knew their dog was in danger.
If you’re not sure what the signs of heatstroke in dogs look like, the below should help:
Once the dog is free from the car, this doesn’t mean they’re out of danger! You must act quickly to help cool them back down, by performing emergency first-aid. This is really important to help their chance of survival. Here’s what to do:
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Comments (1)
Our local Superdrug shop lets dogs in. Would be worth having a dog friendly retailers list as a main regular updates list on your website instead of squirrelled away in the body of an article. Dog owners rarely have a reference.
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