Spring is finally here and Summer is just around the corner, and with the onset of warm weather across the region Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service reminds us to keep our pets safe in the heat.

"Every summer, we respond to calls of animals being left in cars," says Nancy Hill, Director of SCRAPS. "Inside a car, the temperature will rapidly increase and can overwhelm a pet in a very short time period - sometimes with fatal consequences."

If you typically bring your dog or other pets along for the car ride consider leaving them home when temperatures rise. Dogs aren't able to sweat to cool themselves down so it doesn't take much for them to overheat. Cracking a window while you run into the store isn't enough to keep them healthy.

"The temperature outside doesn't have to be in the 90's or more for a problem to exist," says Hill, "On a 78 degree day, temperatures in a car parked in the shade can exceed 90 degrees, and hit a scorching 160 degree if parked in the sun."

If you think two brothers coaching against each other in Super Bowl XLVII is impressive, then sink your teeth into this: Eight siblings competed against each other in the fourth annual Puppy Bowl hosted by the Spokane Humane Society this afternoon at the Yuppy Puppy in North Spokane.

“That's a whole lot of cute right there,” Dave Richardson, executive director, said about the bunch of puppies.

All eight puppies, fresh from their baths this morning, were adopted – as is the goal of the Puppy Bowl.

The puppies – appropriately named Sideline, Tackle, Fumble, Player, TD, Jacque, Jersey and Punt – came from the same litter, and are about 9 weeks old. They came into the Humane Society's care when their mother was found by SCRAPS emaciated. They have been in the care of Humane Society volunteer foster home for the last six weeks.

The players are all black lab-mixes – or “purebred adorable” – varying in size.

Turns out the Inland Northwest is a region that is especially welcoming to our furry friends.

The American Veterinary Medical Association recently released its U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, which ranked Washington as the 6th best state for pet ownership and Idaho as the No. 8 state for pet ownership.

The study found that 62.7 percent of Washington and 62 percent of Idaho households owned a pet; the report said that Washingtonians have the fifth most cats at 39 percent of households and Idaho at 34.6 percent – good for 8th highest.

The numbers

Top Pet Owning States: