The number that matters: 40°C
A healthy dog runs warmer than a human. Normal canine body temperature sits between 38°C and 39.2°C. Once it climbs past 40°C, the body starts losing the fight to regulate itself. At 41.1°C, what veterinarians classify as the clinical threshold for heatstroke, proteins in the blood begin to denature, the clotting system can fail, and the kidneys start shutting down. This isn't a slow process. In a car parked in the sun, ambient temperatures can exceed 50°C within 20 minutes, and a dog's core temperature can follow within the same window.
