You and your dog Charlie have been best friends for the last 12 years. As a special treat you took him for a walk at the park and now you're headed home. You suddenly remember that you need to pick up a few items at the store. It’s 85 degrees outside, you have the windows slightly open, and you’re only going to be inside the store for a few minutes. You see several new items to look at and then visit with a friend you run across. The next thing you know it’s been over 40 minutes. You rush outside to check on your dog but find him unresponsive; your best friend has died from the heat.
Stories like this happen all too often. On an 85-degree day it takes only 10 minutes for the interior of your parked car to climb to 102 degrees. In a half hour, it can reach over 120 degrees.
Leaving windows partially open doesn't help to cool things down inside the vehicle, and to make matters worse, dogs have a higher body temperature than humans do.
In a very short period of time, an overheated dog can suffer critical damage to their brain, heart, liver and nervous system, even death.