Vehicle travel presents significant welfare risks for dogs including heat stroke, travel sickness, and injury in accidents, all of which are largely preventable.
Vehicle travel welfare encompasses several distinct risks for dogs. Heat stroke in parked cars is a welfare emergency that can be fatal within 15-20 minutes on warm days: body temperature rises rapidly, causing brain damage, organ failure, and death in dogs unable to escape the vehicle. Prevention is entirely within human control — never leaving dogs in parked cars in warm weather eliminates this risk. Travel sickness causes nausea and distress for affected dogs that is often visible as drooling, restlessness, and vomiting. Appropriate restraint prevents the catastrophic trauma of an unrestrained dog in a vehicle collision. Gradual car journey habituation for puppies reduces the prevalence of travel-associated anxiety.