with temp of 31 plus i was shocked to hear there were STILL people leaving dogs in cars at east of england today,
there were a few Neo's overcome with the heat and i hope they all made a full recovery.
the show team were great to attching hoses to all the standpipe taps for people to hose down there dogs, well done to the east of england show team.
to the people who left there dogs in the car shame on you.

I think name and shame !!

Peanuts

not our breed thank god, great danes, border collies and a saint !!!
among many others.

Plus all judging stops, not just for the breed thats in the car - won't that annoy us, yes but i think if people know also that the whole ground stops because of them, they may really think otherwise.

I wonder how many that have been left in vehicles are actually being shown that day?

And to think we're mean to be caring dog lovers.  It amazes me every time I'm at a show to see it, I alerted a steward last year to one, the dumb owner came back just as the steward arrived without a care in the world.

I'm so glad they are breaking into the cars now to help the dogs.

Do they charge them with vets bill when treated at the side of the car?

There were also a couple of Neopolitans and a mastiff which collapsed, one was on the floor for nearly 2 hours being constantly hosed down, and YET there were still people with there dogs in the direct sun watching this, and then taking them in the ring and expecting them to run round, it just beggars belief. If I'd have known how hot it would have been yesterday I wouldn't have gone, it wasn't very nice, and it didn't help that the lights were on in the barns till lunchtime, I'm sure that contributed towards the heat in there

Until the KC step in and actually DO SOMETHING, there will always be the mindless idiots who call themselves dog lovers who will continue to leave their dogs in cars.
The only way to stop this at shows is to enforce a lifetime ban for showing on the owner/handler/exhibitor. There is no point in pussy-footing around the subject, this has been going on for years, and it still happens at most shows in the summer.
Forget the warnings and the multiple tannoy announcements, break into the car if a dog is found in distress and ban the 'guardian' from exhibiting at any show for ever.
In fact why stop there, ban them from attending any KC Licensed event, that way they can not ever judge or exhibit or indeed watch a show ever again.
Come on KC, DO SOMETHING

I agree with you Crinklecut, the tannoy announcements are sometimes repeated several times for the same vehicle, IMO, thats too much for the poor dog suffering

On a slightly different angle, I do think ALL championship shows should have an unentered dogs tent, and perhaps on a smaller scale the open shows too. I know cost would be an issue, but maybe something that would help?

For me, I'm taking one to SWKA in August, to which there is no 'unentered dogs tent', it's £6/7 to take him and put him on the bench, which I think is great, but also taking him to Leeds it's £12 for a NFC dog to have a bench, it's off putting, but I couldn't leave him in the car or at home for such a long period of time, so Crinklecut, you're right, it should be an all out KC ban , so they can't show, judge or attend a KC event

The show societies could help a lot by reducing the price of NFC entries, especially Champ shows where the rate is rediculous. All it costs is the price of a bench which is currently in the region of £3.50 - £4.00, so by maybe charging £5.00 for NFC entries they are more than covering their costs and it could go someway to helping the problem.

yup, even perhaps having an extra few lines of benching dotted aorund for the NFC entries.

At East Of England, I could have taken an unentered dog, all I would have had to have done was to go to the secretary and fill out a form, this I suspect was because of the other doggy event running alongside, and for JP turning up with an unentered dog; but surely this is something that could be done on the day for any show? a fee for a bench and form to fill out and that start people thinking that they don't have to keep them in vehicles

i was shocked to find on the first day of east of england that dogs were still being left in cars on a really hot day,one poor dog a st bernard was left in a car the first tanoy announceing the dog didnt look very good then the second over half an hour later the dog was still there people should be ashamed and there punishment should be to leave them in the car as long as they have to this poor dog

The show organisers need to take some of the responsibility too on hot days.  A tent with mister fans would be easy to set up and run, the proven best way of cooling animals down in extreme temps.  Windsor - all the grooming areas close to rings were not shaded, and as with most shows the bench tents are too far from the rings to use.

Remember soaking a dog is not always the best way to cool, the wet acts as an insulator.  If water is applied it should be towelled or scraped off, reapplied, towel / scrape, and so on.  Cool water between the hind legs and behind the elbows is more efficient.  And I see people soaking just the head of the dog, yes it cools the brain but it can also trick the hypothalamus into thinking the body is cooler than it really is and shuts down the natural temperature regulation of the dog too early.

Leaving dogs in cars is unforgivable and any that are reported should be KC'd, no matter who it is.  I have seen some vans with mounds of crates though belonging to "names" where the air flow must be severly restricted and even on milder days quite dangerous yet these are acceptable!  If the East of E show officials left a SB in distress for over half an hour then they should be KC'd as well as the owner.

I too was at the show yesteday and totally agree that more needs to be done about dogs in cars, but what also surprised me was the number of exhibitors who didnt use there benches and had their dogs round the rings in direct sunlight.  The benching was at least half empty.

One of my pet hates is people who trawl their dogs around the show in blazing heat, shopping, and sitting leisurely drinking in full sun while their dogs lay gasping at their feet. 

Agilty shows are starting to give out numbers that you put in your car window that can be linked to the person who is entered at the show and if there is any problem at all you will called over the tannoy - by name rather than car registration so everyone would hear your name being called out. At the moment it seems to be an optional system but if it were made compulsory this may well be a step in the right direction.

Having been to a show today where it started to rain and then turned into a sweltering hot day I was very impressed with the lengths people go to keep their cars cool. Cars were covered over to provide shade - lots of them had gazebos over them - and tailgates and windows open. It was my first show and I was really worried as to how I was going to keep him cool whilst I walked the course - being on my own I didn't have anyone else to hold him whilst I did this.

I was lucky enough to park under some overhanging trees and by covering the car and leaving tailgate and windows open my car was very cool inside. In fact whenever we returned to the car my dog chose to get back into the car rather than sit outside with me.

I have heard alot about this happening in the showing fraternity.

It always amazes me hearing the stories of dogs dying or having to be broken free from locked cars on hot days. I am an agility competitor and have done so for a few years now. I have competing and non competing dogs who come to competitions with me. On hot days, they do still stay in the car in their cages, i have white sheeting to put over the entire car, and leave all windows down as well as the back doors. The car never gets too hot and my dogs are always happy to chill out as normal in there. Some long days they are in and out of the car for 10 hours.

I have never had a problem and dont think i have ever witnessed or even heard about this happening in the agility world, so if we can keep our dogs and cars cool enough, why cant showing people?

(this is not me having a dig at all, just a genuine question as to why this problem seems much worse within showing)

>Having been to a show today where it started to rain and then turned into a sweltering hot day I was very impressed with the lengths people go to keep their cars cool. Cars were covered over to provide shade - lots of them had gazebos over them - and tailgates and windows open. It was my first show and I was really worried as to how I was going to keep him cool whilst I walked the course - being on my own I didn't have anyone else to hold him whilst I did this.

were you at Billingshurst ? I turned up there in my little shorts and it was raining turned out nice though, was glad to get all my runs done by lunchtime so I could go home.

Qwerty,

The problem with this is that for general Ch shows you can't take your car anywhere near the show itself, so always have to walk the dogs in, sometimes a fair walk, other times not, but you have to enter with passes etc and its not easy to go back and forth in and out the ground. Dogs are supposed to be benched in tents or buildings, some tents do get very hot and the shaded areas outside are often cooler.
What you have is that some exhibitors bring dogs to the show and leave them in vehicles unattended for long periods of time, whether these dogs are entered or not and a lot of people with entered dogs leave them in vehicles until they need them for the ring.
Why they don't take their dogs into the show ground which they have entered and leave them in vehicles I don't know. Why people bring unentered dogs along and then leave them in cars again I don't know - there are normally unentered dog tents to which dogs can be put into, or leave them at home.

We don't have the huge motorhomes like the Americans in which aircon can be pumped through all the time and therefore would actually be a nicer place for the dogs to be.

Open shows normally are a lot easier, well the area I am in, we park our cars right up to the rings(we shouldn't but most do) and we stay with our dogs in the cars, so no issues and we can then put cooling sheets etc over them.

They are putting exhibitor numbers on car passes, so not sure why at Windsor and i'm guessing EofE was the same they didn't name and shame, i'm sure it would help stamp a lot of it out :-(

> I turned up there in my little shorts and it was raining <IMG alt="eek" src="/images/eek.gif"/>

I woke up to that and wasn't impressed, glad it turned out nice though for you all down there :-)

i have ever witnessed or even heard about this happening in the agility world,

Yep, definitely in the agility world too! I think on this forum there are just more show people posting.

Once you take a dog out of the showground, you cannot take them back in, even if you a seconds later and they know its you.  No excuse either way to leave any dog in the car without adiquate shede vetilation.  i don't even leave mine at the cashpoint for a few mins.  It can be too hot even for that.

> were you at Billingshurst ? I turned up there in my little shorts and it was raining <IMG alt=eek src="/images/eek.gif"> turned out nice though, was glad to get all my runs done by lunchtime so I could go home. <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" height=10 alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif" width=20>

Yes :-) I had a Golden Retriever - think there were 2 others there as well. Mine was the hairiest one and he is the traditional golden colour. I met Rachel and her setters and saw a couple of others there as well so I would imagine I saw you as well without realising it :-)

> am an agility competitor and have done so for a few years now. I have competing and non competing dogs who come to competitions with me. On hot days, they do still stay in the car in their cages, i have white sheeting to put over the entire car, and leave all windows down as well as the back doors. The car never gets too hot and my dogs are always happy to chill out as normal in there. Some long days they are in and out of the car for 10 hours.
>
> I have never had a problem and dont think i have ever witnessed or even heard about this happening in the agility world, so if we can keep our dogs and cars cool enough, why cant showing people?
>
> (this is not me having a dig at all, just a genuine question as to why this problem seems much worse within showing) <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" height=10 alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif" width=20>

I think one of the differences may be that agility competitions don't usually have other members of the public there so leaving your car unlocked is not so much of a problem - not sure I would be so happy as to leave my car unlocked and all the windows and tailgate undone at a show where the general public were milling around as well. I think it was someone known to Sam who had a dog stolen from a crate in the back of their car at a game fair so venues open to the public are a far greater risk for losing your dog, valuables or even the car itself and of course your insurance wouldn't cover you as the car was left unlocked.

>I think one of the differences may be that agility competitions don't usually have other members of the public there so leaving your car unlocked is not so much of a problem

you would be surprised.  A dog was stolen recently from an aglity show, the owner only turned her back for a couple of seconds :(

>Yes  I had a Golden Retriever - think there were 2 others there as well. Mine was the hairiest one and he is the traditional golden colour. I met Rachel and her setters and saw a couple of others there as well so I would imagine I saw you as well without realising it 

I had the male Irish (there was also a bitch there) im usually seen pushing a pushchair containing my one year, pop over and say Hi if you see me.  Are you going to Newlands next weekend ?

No not going to Newlands. Billingshurst was my first ever show and I have missed the entry dates for lots of the shows. I am doing a BAA one on the 25th July at Redhill and then it will be the Stour Valley one in September - two club events in between that. Most of the shows are at least 2 hours or more away from home as we don't seem to have many local to me.

Will look out for you at future shows.

With regards to the dog stolen at an agility show I do use a padlock on my car cage now but did notice I was one of very few who lock their crates.

I always padlock mine ....... and leave the rest of the car unlocked !!!

How did you get on at Billingshurst ? it was too hot for my boy, even after a soaking, we had a couple of very slow clear rounds :)

Hope to see you at some shows soon  :)

I was at a local Companion show at the weekend, and there was two separate call out for people leaving dogs in hot cars. Poor dogs :(

I had two eliminations :-) Handler error :-) He isn't the fastest of dogs and due to the heat and his first time running outdoors (train in an indoor riding school) I thought he would be really slow but he took off like a rocket and left me behind so I wasn't quick enough to turn him and he went straight on over the wrong jump.But he got all his contacts, and the weaves and jumped everything clear so I was really pleased :-) The steward came up to me afterwards to say Harley had smiled his way round the whole course and how lovely it was to see him enjoying himself so thorougly so that was a great end to our round :-)