Looking for an opinion - leaving dogs in cars?

[hobbityhands]

With the AC on, and dog locked inside the car, how long would you be okay leaving your dog in the car? I haven’t gone more than 20 minutes with my reactive pup, and I’m usually nervous about that timeframe too, despite that my car has ‘dog mode’ keeping it temperature regulated. I’m worried about other people peering in, making my dog nervous (or the thought of it makes me nervous even if he handles it fine)

I have a friend who along with her husband travels to national parks with their reactive dog. On trails where he cannot go, they hike for 6-8 hours as their dog waits in the car with air conditioning on, a water bowl and some food. Is this acceptable?
(Assuming the dog isn’t too nervous about being in a car alone)

The thought of it makes me nervous but I’d like to receive opinions on whether this is okay to do with a dog.

 

[davidlee300]

@hobbityhands I've only left mine in the car with the ac running for like 5 minutes. I try not to ever leave him in the car more than 5-10 minutes at the most.

 

[casper0311]

@davidlee300 Yeah that I can understand. If it’s not a hot day and it’s a very short period of time, doesn’t seem like an issue. But there’s so many things that could go wrong in the above scenario

 

[childman]

@hobbityhands I would not. Reactive or not, I’m worried about my dog being stolen first off.

But also - my own car’s AC works best when the car is moving and just becomes hot after idling for awhile. The AC could also malfunction, or I just recently read a post in the main dogs sub where a woman’s dog got in the front seat and turned off the car. You can get a temp reader so you can monitor temp, but I’d be worried on a long hike/without signal that would be unreliable.

I also wouldn’t leave my dog alone for 6-8 hours as he would need a bathroom break in that time, or what if he ran out of water/spilled it, etc.

I know people do it but…people do a lot of wild things. I just recently got back from a road trip where people had off leash dogs at the rest stop right next to a busy interstate. I even told my mom it must be nice to be so nonchalant with your dog; my anxiety could never. I would either not do that hike, or I’d board him locally for the day.