there's pikas living at river level in places along the columbia... not all pikas are as temperature sensitive as that article would have you believe - in part because if they hang out under a few meters of blocky talus it stays pretty cool in there even when it hits 100f outside
she is just ripping off that classic western with the blind cowboy and his seeing-eye horse
which was itself ripping off zatoichi, but not the beat takeshi one, cause beat was his own seeing-eye horse in that one
Driving for an hour takes 20 minutes off your life:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Driving+shorten+life/2517346/story.html
and smoking a cigarette takes 5 minutes off.
Conclusion: driving is worse for you than smoking.
Save money. Ban cars.