Summer Safety
5 cards · about a minute
Test the ground
Press the back of your hand to the pavement and hold it for seven seconds; if you cannot, your dog cannot walk on it.
Walk at the day’s edges
Dawn and after dark, and keep it short, in real heat the walk is a toilet break and the exercise happens indoors.
Know the signs
Frantic panting, thick drooling, brick-red gums, staggering: heatstroke looks like distress before it looks like collapse, and the window is minutes.
Some dogs start behind
Flat-faced dogs, thick double coats, black coats, the very old, the very young and the overweight all overheat faster than the dog walking beside them.
Never in the car
A parked car in shade with the windows cracked still cooks, and there is no version of this that is safe for the length of one errand.