Dogs And Hot Cars Are A Dangerous Combination

Over Memorial Weekend we took a drive down to Hershey Park, PA. If you haven’t gone there yet, it should be on your list because the kids will absolutely love it. We had such an amazing time. On that Saturday we stopped in for lunch at a local Friendly’s restaurant. The day was in the 80’s, hot and humid. As we were leaving the restaurant there was a couple coming in, he in a walker perhaps in his late 70’s early 80’s and the lady I would say was his daughter. As we were leaving the restaurant we walked by a car in the handicap spot with a dog barking at us. The dog was a Pekinese type dog and I noticed that the windows weren’t even cracked just a tiny bit.

I was staring at the car in disbelief. I just couldn’t believe that someone was stupid enough to leave a dog in a locked car with no ventilation. One of the employees at the restaurant was off to the side smoking a cigarette and he was upset as well. He said it was animal abuse and it should be reported. I totally agreed with him. I walked over to our car to put my daughter in and told my husband that I just couldn’t leave knowing the dog could suffocate. Again I just couldn’t believe that someone would do that. As soon as I strapped Buggy into her car seat I went back into the restaurant and told the girl at the front desk and the manager. She was just as shocked as I was and in a low voice agreed that it may have been the couple in the walker who owns the car and they were seated near where we were so they may have heard us. I went back to our car and waited. A few minutes later I saw the “daughter” come out to the car and rolled down the windows for the dog. I stayed in the parking lot to make sure someone had come out otherwise I was ready to report it. Regardless, it was still going to be hot in the car but at least the dog had some air.

I can only imagine that this idiot has done this before. It would not have taken long for something to happen to that dog considering the how the weather was that day. People like that are so irresponsible and should not be allowed to own any pets.

With the warm weather upon us, I hope people reconsider taking their pets with them when they are running errands. Even if they are going into the store for just a few minutes, it takes as little as 10-15 minutes for a pet to succumb to heat stroke or suffocation. The temperature in a car can double or triple leaving your pet with little or no chance of surviving. You wouldn’t do that to your child so please do not do that with your pets.

Some precautions to take:

• Bring someone else with you so they can stay in the car and have the AC on
• Make sure you bring some water with you for your pet. Many times we carry water for ourselves and forget our pets
• Park in the shade. Even with the AC on the car may be warm in the hot sun

I hope if you see something like this you will report it. Just think what the poor dog would be going through. Imagine how you would feel sitting in a hot car with no ventilation.

• Take note of the license plate number and make and model of the car
• Take a picture and video with your cell phone in case they deny it
• If you are at a store or restaurant tell the manager and have the owners paged and if no one comes out call the police. Hang around until they come if you can.

Honestly, if a certain amount has gone by and the owner or the police has not arrived, I would break the window to save that dog. I would document the time, when the incident was reported and how long it was before I broke the window. No dog should die a senseless death like that.

Photo credit: C. Smith

Irene