About the Akita

Akita’s (just like any other dog for that matter) don’t release body heat as effectively as humans do. Dogs are therefore much more susceptible to hot temperatures.

My Akita dog Kensho likes to sunbathe but he has always access to shade and fresh water. He has a choice. Dogs in a car don’t have that choice! Every year countless dogs die after being locked inside cars while their owners shop or run other errands. On a summer day, a car can turn easily into an oven. This is because cars act as greenhouses, trapping the heat of the sun.

A dog locked inside a car is the cause of too many preventable tragic deaths. Dogs can withstand a body temperature of 107 to 108 degrees for only a short time before they experience brain and nerve damage, heart problems and finally death.

Don’t think you can leave your dog inside when a window is open, or when a fan is working… it’s not safe! See this table to lookup the inside temperature of a car compared to the outside temperature.

See below for a tragic article that was released today by United Press International:

ARNOLD, Mo., June 25 (UPI) — Seven high-priced show dogs, including a top Akita, died after being left by their handler in a hot van for more than five hours, police near St. Louis said.

A Siberian Husky survived but had kidney failure and might be euthanized, veterinarian Dr. Laura Ivan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“I’ve never seen such a horrific act in my lifetime,” Ivan said.

She called the deaths of the dogs — including three golden retrievers, a Dalmatian, a different Siberian Husky, a Malamute and the top-ranked Akita — a “horrible, tragic accident.”

Mary Wild, 24, a paid handler, was not charged in the deaths, although a sheriff’s department report will be turned over to the Jefferson County prosecutor, police said.

Wild told police she left the dogs in a cargo van in the driveway around 1 a.m. CDT Monday and went to bed after returning from a dog show in Iowa, police said.

She explained she put six electric fans in the van to keep the dogs cool. She said she also left a van door open and the van’s windows partly open, Capt. Ralph Brown of the sheriff’s office told the newspaper.

She told police she checked on the dogs around 4 a.m. and they appeared fine, Brown said.

But about 6:30 a.m., all eight dogs were in distress, Brown said. Five were breathing, but not responsive. The other three could raise their heads.

The National Weather Service said the outside temperature at 1 a.m. Monday was 83 degrees and 80 degrees at 6 a.m.

Investigators were trying to determine how hot the inside of the van could have gotten.

Wild did not return phone and e-mail messages from the Post-Dispatch requesting comment.

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