Pets on Road Trips

[Larry]

]That's silliness based on traditional vehicles. So long as you are keeping the climate controlled from the App, all should be good man.[/QUOTE]


Wow is all I have to say to that. Too many things can happen in our technical world. It's not like you're leaving a Hershey bar in the car. A/C or not

How Long Does It Take For A Car to Get Hot?
OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE
TEMPERATURE IN CAR
TIME IT TAKES TO REACH
75
100
10 minutes
75
120
30 minutes
85
90
5 minutes
85
100
7~10 minutes
85
120
30 minutes
100
140
15 minutes
Every summer, animals left in unattended cars suffer brain damage and die from heatstroke: On mild or cloudy days, with windows open, a parked vehicle quickly becomes a furnace.
Car windows act to both absorb the sun's rays and insulate your vehicle: The inside of a car can heat up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit in only ten minutes on an 80o day
Install shade blinds on car windows and never leave animals unattended. A car can quickly become an oven. Also, animals left alone are vulnerable to theft.

 

[Canuck]

What is definitely not nice in his mind is to be left at home while I have all the fun in the Model S.

Some are fine at home alone, but mine watches that back door and beats me to it.

Your dog sees himself as the alpha dog. That's why he beats you to the door. When you claim leadership, the dog is free and content to be a happy willing follower. I made that mistake with my first dog before learning about how to properly train and raise a dog. My current dog will never enter a room until I enter first. Nor would he ever beat me to the door. Dogs who are followers live longer and much happy lives than leaders with far less stress and anxiety. Also, you can't attribute human feelings to your dog. There are some areas where dogs do think like humans, but many areas where they do not. They live mainly in the present.

Obviously, you can do what you want with your dog regarding exposing him to the risk of heat exposure and you seem to relish in telling us that. I just wish you would take the time to educate yourself on this issue, and the issue of how to properly raise a dog so it leads a happy, stress free life (in dog's terms -- not as you view him). Dogs are barely out of the wilderness as a species (as are we) and the conditioning you think is cute when he races you to the door comes from thousands of years of having to be responsible for a pack. The feelings going on inside him are not what you think they are. Please read from the experts on this issue. Simple internet searches will take you to them. This is science -- not opinion -- and the experts are all in agreement on this issue.

 

[slipdrive]

Thank you for the information. I have not and will never put my dog at risk of heat exposure. We'll work on the alpha status too.

 

[Canuck]

Thanks for listening, slipdrive.

I see from reading the "Tent Camping in a Model S" thread that people have to place a heavy item on the seat to keep air running. Someone mentioned to use the app to set it but the answer was it will turn itself off. That should end the discussion about relying on the app and leaving your dog in the car.

 

[slipdrive]

Yes. Good point and it's not well explained by Tesla. Originally the software was set for about ten minutes. I recall last summer that pet owners requested and TMC increased the time. I think it was a pet owner who asked for codes to override the cut-off. But it is in the 30 minute range. You of course just touch and it resets.

 

[Brass Guy]

You can also monitor the actual temp from the app. It displays the cabin temp real-time. Actually I wish there was a display on one of the screens for that, the car only shows external temp and the aim of the climate control.
Also you can leave the climate control on indefinitely (as well as the radio) if you use N and set the parking brake, and apparently still lock the car. However I don't know if you can charge the car in this setting.
I'd feel better leaving a dog in my 70-75 degree Tesla (with monitoring!) than locking him outside in the shade on a 100F day. In the case where there's no cell signal, obviously you couldn't chance a sit-down meal.

 

[slipdrive]

Interesting about Neutral. Thanks. This car has many unique features. With rare exception, I find Tesla owners to be a completely different demographic from the norm in numerous ways, clearly capable of intelligent and responsible actions.

 

[wycolo]

No one mentioned leaving a car window or two (to allow cross breeze) open an inch. With any sort of breeze going on, the floor of MS remains cool. Or cruising the lots to find shade, present and future. But the 10 minute rule of thumb on hot/clear days is important. In a SuperStore one ploy is to park your shopping cart near a service desk after 10 minutes and go check the car, rinse and repeat if necessary. And don't get into any EV discussions and lose track of time. Set alarm on cell. The foregoing does not apply to regions with killer climates.
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[aname4me]

I'm a vet. DONT DO IT. I've seen too many heat stroke dogs where the owner thought it wasn't too hot out. Check google for the stats about how hot it gets in a car over time. Even with the air on its a really really really bad idea.

When traveling alone in the summer with my dog, don't do what? Go pee in a rest room? I can't take the dog into a rest stop rest room, restaurant, or a truck stop. I guess I can pull over on the side of the road, keep the passenger side door open and pee in the grass, but short of holding my pee for hours and hours until I get a hotel room, I gotta leave the dog in the car for 5 minutes, parked in the shade if possible and go to the rest room. Not ideal, but better than a burst bladder. I don't see a way around it. Haven't for the 12 years I've been driving my dog(s) around on road trips.

I have worried and worried about this over the years. I consider just bringing my little dog into the restroom in my arms, but juggling holding a dog with the steps for using the toilet seems like a mishap waiting to happen, dropped dog, chasing after her with my pants at my ankles, etc. You get the picture... :redface:

As far as the suggestion of making it look like my dog is a service dog, very very bad form. There is a whole backlash about people claiming their (ill trained) dogs are psychological service dogs so they can take them everywhere. A huge disservice to real guide/support dogs. Just tacky and selfish too.

 

[slipdrive]

As far as the suggestion of making it look like my dog is a service dog, very very bad form. There is a whole backlash about people claiming their (ill trained) dogs are psychological service dogs so they can take them everywhere. A huge disservice to real guide/support dogs. Just tacky and selfish too.

Yes, thank you. We are way off topic…. but I so agree the new found fad in "service animals" is a real travesty. In the organizations I know and work with (Freedom Service Dogs | Rescuing Dogs, Transforming Lives) it can take a year and cost tens of thousands of dollars to train and place a dog with a deserving client (at no cost to them). 75% of the rescued dogs (they don't breed them) don't make the cut and are adopted out. The dilution of that process is truly sad.

 

[Rastalew]

We just returned from a Spring Break trip from Seattle to the Bay Area with our 4 month old standard poodle pup. The weather was uniformly warm along the way. The superchager locations were great in that there was always an area to exercise the dog, give him some water and food and let him do his business (don't worry, we always picked up the..results.)
We did take turns with the restroom-- I'm not sure how you'd handle it traveling alone. This has always been a challenge traveling alone on the road.

We briefly flirted with leaving the dog in the car during a late evening rest stop (the sun was nearly down, it was about 65 degrees)-- but interestingly, the windows and sunroof closed by themselves after a few minutes. Anyone ever seen this happen before? Anyway, after that, the dog was always with one of us.

We did order takeout from some of the nearby restaurants along the way, but thankfully the weather was good and we were able to stretch and play with the dog outside.

We use a dog hammock in the back and had a great time on the trip. The supercharger network was a breeze and driving through the mountains of souther Oregon at brisk speeds wasn't worrisome at all: We have an S85 and we had plenty of charge. I think a 60 would be fine driving moderately aggressively (any 60 owners have the experience?) . Ran into several Model S's making the same trip.

We used dogfriendly.com to find some pet friendly accomodations along the way. We were going to take the S to Yosemite, but chickened out at the last minute and used my parent's ICE. Should have had more faith, as we saw a beautiful brown Model S charging at the village....

I'm not sure if I'd leave my pet in the car if at all possible, but travelling alone, what are your choices? Maybe hurried restroom breaks and drivethrough?

As always, the Model S was a joy, the visit to the factory was fun (highly recommended) and the car proved itself as being pet-friendly on top of everything else that it is.

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- Yes, well said!

I am a big dog lover and have a pretty good "dog radar" in that if there is a dog within the vicinity, I will know and *must* go pet it, but I hate hate HATE it when people slap a service animal vest on their dog and think they can bring it everywhere. Yes, I know that it is hard to tell what disabilities people have and maybe their dog really is a service dog, but I've seen too many ill-mannered dogs with the service animal vest to really believe that they are all actual service animals.

Don't even get me started on people bringing their dogs into supermarkets, indoor restaurants, etc.

 

[Canuck]

When traveling alone in the summer with my dog, don't do what? Go pee in a rest room?

A pee in a restroom while the air is on with the dog inside is fine. I'd get it super cold first, so even if it happens to shut off, the dog will be fine, especially if you got to do a #2. Leaving a note that says: "Went to the bathroom quick, air conditioning is on (electric car) and dog is comfortable."

The topic was more about a "sit down meal" in a restaurant.

 

[tliving]

This is my setup for the dog:

Model S, Doggone it! | Tesla Living

On the temperature, leave the A/C (or heat) system running the whole time. If you're worried about battery run it a short time and get take out.

Haven't done long trips but my dog seems quite pleased with the Tesla so far.

 

[BlkCld]

It would be nice if the big screen could display inside temperature in very large font with the aforementioned dog is comfortable note as well. Call it pet mode or some sort that would also leave the display on. Anyone looking in will be in awe of the screen anyway and see the temperature inside. In the meantime a digital thermometer left inside with big numbers.

 

[wycolo]

Yesterday, with this thread's cautions in mind, I cracked open all 4 windows on a cool day with modest breeze. Returned to find heat ON and rear window defroster ON. Fan was not blasting, luckily. Dog must have smacked the screen with her tail since passenger seat is reasonably far back.

I need a way to totally turn off cabin heat by installing a switch or removing a fuse. Summer is here. Anyone found a way to do this? Apart from a plexiglass cover over the lower HVAC portion of the screen.

Edit: FUSE #57 25A "Cabin Fan". A switch wired in series with this fuse and mounted on the dash would kill the fan. If HEAT was requested on the Screen soon enough the heating coil would overheat kicking in the safety shutoff. This is my guess. I'll pull that fuse and then request heat. :smile:
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[BlkCld]

First time I wiped the dashboard above the screen all kinds of crazy stuff happened. The front and rear defrosters came on. Seat heat came on for driver. Temp setting changed and some others. Wiped again after resetting and it did it again. I was only one light from visiting the service center so I tried to duplicate it and once again it did it. Both the tech and manager had never seen that. I was using a dry microfiber towel just to dust.
My guess was the same as theirs. Static electricity interference.
This could possibly be the reason as your dogs tail probably would do the same thing.
Sorry no answer to prevent.

 

[wycolo]

> Static electricity interference. This could possibly be the reason as your dogs tail probably would do the same thing. [BlkCld]

Yes! Static emf causing screen to do strange random things. I tried 2 layers of bath towel previously but I could still activate the screen. I'll try aluminum flashing next. Passenger seat needs to be ALL the way back, as it was during the winter.
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[GlennAlanBerry]

You might try putting the center screen into screen cleaning mode, so a stray brush or tail wag does not have any effect.

 

[wycolo]

Thank you for that!! I just put it in Screen Cleaning Mode and noticed it requires a Press and HOLD to exit that mode. So a single static attack would have long been dissipated. I'm curious to find out how long that feature has been there. It is not in my Nov 2012 ModelS pdf. The beauty of firmware upgrades!
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