Owner says dog dies from heat stroke after triple-digit heat index

Hot temperatures in the triple-digit heat index affect people, and they can be deadly for dogs. This is something a pet owner learned under tragic circumstances when her dog died from the heat during a walk. Now, the owner wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Laurie Christy was walking Charlie, her basset-beagle rescue, during their routine 30-minute walk on the trail at Buckingham Dog Park when it turned into a deadly nightmare.

“His temperature 109,” Christy said. “A dog’s normal temperature is 101.”

Christy said Charlie began to become distressed on the trail.

“It’s horrific, absolutely horrific,” Christy said. “Charlie was dying basically. He was thrashing about; he was seizing.”

Christy said her three dogs cooled off in the pond before they left the park on their way home when Charlie started having a seizure.

“And I jumped into the back seat and grabbed the gallon of cold water that we had and held him to keep him from hurting himself,” she said.

She raced to the veterinarian, where his temperature was eight degrees above normal body temperature for dogs. But Charlie didn’t make it.

Christy hopes her story will serve as a warning for other dog owners.

“I don’t know how it rose so quickly, but it happened fast,” Christy said. “There was no fixing it, and I don’t want anyone to go through that.”