What I don't understand is why if going off site for the day would you take dogs in the first place neither were working police dogs, one a breeding bitch one a pup training, its not like it was a freak heatwave. And if you did take them why would you leave them in the vehicle while you go offsite............... for Lords sake he was at the police dog training centre where you would imagine police have kennel facilites for dogs. This is not an accident..........an accident is where "outside variables" take place this was not the case he knew the dogs were there, he knew it was a warm day, he knew he would be there for at least 15 minutes, he already knows from previous experience that a dog dies if left in a car, just seems to me he simply "did not think" because to him they are merely tools of the job............like a helmet/boots.....not living breathing animals. He has brought the police dog unit into the public eye for the wrong reasons. Shame on him.

Has anyone here ever 'forgotten' to remove their dogs from a car in any weather, let alone on one of the hottest days of the year?

I've always been too frightened of theft to ever leave my dog/s in the car alone, never mind anything else, you'd think a police officer would also have that cross his mind.

I still can't get my head around him traveling 7 miles away from where the dogs were parked, I really don't understand how anyone could do that it's bad enough when you read these stories of cars being parked outside work, shows or premises they are in, but the car was no-where near where he was going.

I imagined that he went in another vehicle with other police to the meeting something to do with the olympics
in east London.

If this is so, I wonder if the other officers also knew he'd left those poor dogs and if so they also should have said something.

The whole thing is beyond me................

I really hope no no one else knew, it just beggars belief , its not as if the car park where he probably would have parked was exactly shady ( no excuse even if it was)

I'm terribly forgetful and scatterbrained, and the worst I've done is once arrive back at the house, get something out of the garage, go to the front door, and then think 'oh yes, Ellie's still in the car'! I can't imagine forgetting where your dogs are for hours on end. OK perhaps he was depressed / mentally unstable / whatever, and I'm sure he is very upset now, but if you can't trust yourself to remember something that simple and that vital, you should not be in charge of dogs, particularly as a police officer. :-(

>Has anyone here ever 'forgotten' to remove their dogs from a car in any weather, let alone on one of the hottest days of the year?

I haven't left the dog in the car but when i was preganant I accidentally lef my dog outside when I went to bed. I was just so tired I forgot I had let her out. I woke up at 1am and realised what I had done ad ran to get her. She got lots of love and as it was a summer night it wasn't too cold thank goodness.

This has turned my stomach once again, I cannot bear to think of the horrors those poor dogs went through. I cannot believe that lessons were not learnt from the last episode like this. Why oh why do we always have to look for some sort of excuse for these thinks, he was an intellegent man (We can only assume) he knew his dogs were in the car. Guilty as charged in my book!
Our dog unit needs to clean up it's act. They rely on thier dogs to save thier lives at times and yet some of these "dog handlers" cannot look after thier best mates. There is NO excuse for this tradgedy at all.
Aileen

And STILL after all this today at Windsor there were many calls for owners who had left dogs in cars and vans. Some were in the members car park. Others were given "5 minute warning".  I'm wondering if any dog show society has actually gone ahead and released dog(s) in hot vehicles?

It was on my local town forum this week that police were called to a car park as people were concerned about a dog in a car. The photo showed a large, expensive looking  Range Rover style vehicle in full sun.
The police left the dog in the car as, because the dog had water and some air via 3 slightly open windows, they felt it was OK!!!.

>Neither of them should be allowed to keep their job or their pension

Very valid point, and I totally agree.  I never understood last year why he still had a job.  I was horrified.

dismissal for gross misconduct and prosecution I would feel would be a start and also for the one in Nottingham last year

> I'm wondering if any dog show society has actually gone ahead and released dog(s) in hot vehicles?

This has happened at an agility show I attended  and there are often regular trips around the day parking by officials who check that dogs are in ventilated, covered cars and not sitting in full sunlight. It's very common to see notices up saying that cars will be broken into if dogs are left inside without adequate shading and ventilation and I have reported a car where the dog inside was getting very hot due to the sun moving round and the owner not having sufficient shading on the car to allow for that but that is fortunately quite rare at an agility show. It is standard practice to cover the car, open the tailgates and windows and provide sufficient shade and is the very first thing I do when I arrive at a show.