I see that two more police dogs have died after being left in an unventilated vehicle. After the well publicised case, I think a year ago maybe more, you'd expect more care and thought. How stupid are these people ?. I'm sure they are devastated but I just hope though that they are taught a lesson. This isn't acceptable from anybody but surely the police must have more common sense.
RIP poor dogs - hopefully your loss will be the last at the hands of such ignorant people.

do you have a link of this info?

This is from the BBC website -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13932187

This just up the road from me, the main police dog training centre. It is unbelievable that people particularly those who work with dogs can possibly think or( is it not think) that they can leave the dogs in a car in this weather

I had to take my pup to training today a matter of a 20 minute drive she was in the boot of theacr and even with the air con on full blast I was concerned that she wasnt too hot

Unbelievable. :( And one of them was my own breed. Now I had two pups collected during the really cold winter we had, for police dog training, and they delayed the picking up of them for 3 weeks because as they said, it would be as bad for pups to freeze as to overheat so they weren't taking any risks and therefore waited until the worst of the snow had melted just in case. I'd have thought any dog handler would have that common sense.

I cannot believe that yet more police dogs have been left to die in hot cars.  Run free at the Bridge poor little souls. 

Do the police think their dogs are 'tools of the job' and as such don't even think about their welfare.  They should be made to suffer!!  I don't get it at all.

No I dont get it either it will be interesting if the full story comes out

Poor, poor dogs.  From the report it sounds as though the handler was off duty - so therefore he should be treated like any other member of the public, well even harsher really as he/she really should know better and be liable for all vets bills etc.

Perhaps when we have more details we can comment further.

Run free at the Bridge.....

I am really sad about the dogs...but we need to know the facts...please. I hate to hear people being damned before we know what has happened. No-one has mentioned that this policeman had been reported missing for 24 hours beforehand  and was apparantly found in London confused and with a damaged hand and was taken to hospital where he was distraught at the news of the dogs having been found dead. All police do not treat their dogs badly and leave them to overheat in cars. Lets wait to hear more and then IF a finger needs to be pointed then fair enough but right now this seems a bit quick?

From what I've read (obviously needs to be confirmed) this is the second time this policeman has been responsible for the death of a dog in a hot car.......... he still went on to gain promotion. Apparently he'd left them in the car for hours while he was at work. On returning to his base he was told of their deaths. It seems he fled the scene and was later found after trying to slash his wrists. Guilt ?. Who knows, bit late for that now but if all this is true I hope he is charged and treated like any other criminal.

> Who knows

Exactly, not us. Or the journalists! Speculation wont bring back the dogs, only facts will help show a clear picture, if and when we get them. There may be mental health issues involved, there may be pure negligence, it may be something completely different. He may have had other dogs that died or it may have been a goldfish, the media can be great at changing details when it suits. So many 'mays'. But yes, 'who knows', not us.  :(   I just feel sad for the dogs. I also feel sad for the poor dog I saw recently panting on the back shelf of a closed hot car whilst a policeman was phoning through the cars details and obviously about to take some action on the windows with a warden when the owner came back from town.

I am saddened & sick to my stomach! This is the second time dogs have died n hot cars under the same Sergeant's care!
Absolutely disgusting :0(
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008691/Sergeant-Ian-Craven-suicide-bid-police-dogs-die-baking-heat-car.html

iv just been on LBC radio talking to Cristo tonight about this, this morning, and have to say I AM SICK of the amount of people ringing in saying "Ahhhh the handler must feel bad enough",,,,,, well good job he wont ever feel as bad as his dogs felt as they where left to over heat and organs failing while they waited for him to do what should have been common sense to Any Human ,  im sick i really am , their are just no words i can find to say how bad i feel at whats happened and defenetly no excuses for it AT ALL!, :-(

I had to take my pup to training today a matter of a 20 minute drive she was in the boot of theacr and even with the air con on full blast I was concerned that she wasnt too hot

Exactly FF, iv been the same , the last 2 days here in peckham London, it really been way to hot to even put my boy in the car at all,

we had a nice gentle walk tonight and iv been laying on my garden chair in garden tonight and my boys been with me cooling down, only when he stopped panting and seems more settled have i come to bed now, its 3.20am, and is to hot for dogs in the house never mind a car!

Yep my poor hot shep has only really just0sto
pped panting . Your feelings are mine to and0many others I can't express in words how angry I am I am glad he is devastated , where was his brain if he had to take the dogs with him. There are kennels up at keston surley any right minded person would put their dogs in there. Have also read he left the car and had gone somewhere else miles away and it was a kennel maid that found them

Sorry, but i dont care what excuses he comes up with.  He left these dogs to die and there is nothing that can excuse that.  If you or i did it there would be hell to pay but because he's one of the boys in blue people start making excuses.   He's supposed to be trained for goodness sake, nothing but nothing is a good enough reason for doing this.

I agree with you Chrissy

No excuses in my book either,I am discusted,it is happening all the time it was only a couple of weeks ago when i posted about this type of cruelty.

Sheila

this in todays paper,

The officer, Sergeant Ian Craven, pictured, one of the country's most experienced dog trainers, slashed his wrists when he learnt of their deaths. The dogs were found in the back of his private estate car at a Met training centre in Keston, Kent, on Sunday. Mr Craven was taken to hospital after the apparent suicide attempt, and could now face prosecution for animal cruelty. It is the second time he has been responsible for the death of a dog left in a vehicle.

same here. the only fact we need to know is, two dogs boiled to death. there is no exsuses none at all.

> It is the second time he has been responsible for the death of a dog left in a vehicle.

You know I think if I done something that caused one of my dogs to die an awful painful death, for the rest of my life I would be paranoid about it and make absolutely sure it didn't happen again. How was this guy ever allowed another police dog :-( :-( :-(

Smart move by the handler pretending to try and commit suicide when he heard, after all the other police dog handler that was charged last year got off on mental health grounds!

if he had only asked me, I have some really sharp knives in my kitchen drawer.
 

Oh we need a 'like' button :-D :-D

It is the second time he has been responsible for the death of a dog left in a vehicle.

slashed his wrists when he learnt of their deaths.

The poor man must be unbalanced, not learning the first time the repercussions of leaving a dog in a car on a warm/hot day anyone else would become paranoid of ever doing this a second time and to take such a drastic step on himself......... did no-one notice he did not gel properly, to slash your wrists no matter how devastated is not normal there surely were other signs somewhere of depression perhaps, he should never be left in charge of a living creature again, he seems to have no common sense.

I hope that he gets the help he needs he's obviously suffering too.

It was reported he had a cut to one of his wrists. I personally believe this was a way of trying to get away from the responsibility that now THREE dogs have died in such awful circumstances.
Every dog owner knows not to leave their dogs in a car especially in temperatures like we have seen in the last few days. We see every year that people still do it but do they go on to do it AGAIN??? Especially as this man was in such a position that he should have know better anyway.
I hope he loses his job and does the maximum in prison which is 6 months which is still not enough.

Good post Carrington as upset as I am about the dogs if the man was suffering from a mental health issue I would of hoped someone had noticed.( I am taking the route that he wasnt that quick thinking as to consider his actions of slitting his wrist as a defense)  In a job as stressful as the police it should be necessary to evaluate someones behaviours on a regular basis just be observation. That needs to be looked at too.
yes he should not be in charge of a living creature again how on earth he can be allowed the responsibilities his job require in the future is also doubtful imo but I guess we will have to wait and see

I get what you say but if he was/is that unhinged what the hell is he doing in the police force?  Can you imagine what would happen to joe public if he reacted by slashing his wrists?  He'd probably be sectioned.  Sorry to rant, but i feel so strongly about this and i cannot see in any circumstances how you could do this once, let alone twice and why did he get a second chance?  The dogs didn't!!

> why did he get a second chance? The dogs didn't!!

Well said.

I'm usually on the side of the people. Humans are more important than animals, any human over any animal. I have seen people saying elsewhere that the handler should be locked in a hot car etc and of course I would not condone that. However, I do feel strongly that this person should not have remained a dog handler after killing the 1st dog in a hot car. I hope he receives the maximum penalty of 6 months in prison and a huge fine.

Absolutely unbelievable, what the hell is this country coming to when the very people we are suppose to rely on can not only cause this to happen once, but twice?!  No sympathy for the idiot, yep, I'd say smart move slitting his wrists, he'll get off the hook don't you worry about it :(  The number of stupid prats I've known that get into the police force, this doesn't surprise me, so so sad, what an utter moron.

>However, I do feel strongly that this person should not have remained a dog handler after killing the 1st dog in a hot car.

The dog handler whose dogs died in his police van last year is no longer a dog handler, so I don't imagine this man will be allowed to keep this particular job.

>so I don't imagine this man will be allowed to keep this particular job.

But he killed a dog before, a police dog at their training centre, and not only did he stay a handler, he was apparently promoted too :-(

Pity the harm he caused himself didn't equate to the harm he caused the poor dogs.  'Nuff said from me i think.

if the man was suffering from a mental health issue I would of hoped someone had noticed.

Isn't this the same defence that the last Police Dog Handler who allowed his dogs to die in sweltering heat gave.

Whilst I appreciate that the Police force have a very stressful job, I cannot believe that he could work with his dogs so closely and then just forget about them. If that were the case then I would say he was a danger to all his colleagues in the Police in the case it is the dogs as in his job his dogs are his colleagues. The windows of the car were not open. I have never left my dogs in my car without a window being lowered to some degree even on a cold day. No excuses, this time they should prosecute and this time ban him from ever keeping animals again. Someone has to speak up for the dogs as they couldn't speak up for themselves. We wouldn't be making these excuses if he was an ordinary member of the public.

The windows of the car were not open. I have never left my dogs in my car without a window being lowered to some degree even on a cold day.

I did, once. (Not since.) Left a Golden in the car for about half an hour at 10 pm (so no sun out anyway) on a cold April day, at an airport when I was meeting my mum. When we got back to the car the POLICE was there saying it was illegal to leave a dog in a car without a window being open, no matter how cold it was.

Yes it is, so either it is a very useful defense ! that can be used in many circumstances and/or more needs to be done for employees mental health. Thats not necessarily saying there was anything wrong with this guy until yesterday after the event of course

I agree it is a terrible thing to happen and there are no excuses for it and yes the punishment should be looked at very seriously and imo def not looking after animals again .However something needs to be done to prevent such "accidents" this is far to common and not in this case with idiots but highly trained intelligent people twice in two years
You are right we would not be looking at mental health if it were the public who had done this maybe itis because we expect more of professionals ?. As you say if he wasnt capable of remembering his colleagues ( dogs ) in the car what about the humans he worked with would they be safe if they had to depend on him ?
Actually the more I think about this ie that he had previously caused adog to die the odder the procedure around how the police dealt with it becomes.
Just as a matter of interest if it had been a gun he was handling and had "forgotten" it leaving it somewhere for someone to find and was used  would he still be allowed a firearms licence.? i know that may be an odd simile but hopefully you get my drift

> The dog handler whose dogs died in his police van last year is no longer a dog handler, so I don't imagine this man will be allowed to keep this particular job.

Neither of them should be allowed to keep their job or their pension, and their ability to own and/or care for any pet for the rest of their lives should be questioned.

>Neither of them should be allowed to keep their job or their pension, and their ability to own and/or care for any pet for the rest of their lives should be questioned.

So you advocate punishing his whole family for what he did? Without his job they might lose their home; their family pets would be removed ...

You could say that about anyone who gets sacked because of a mistake at work so, yes.

This is the second time animals have died due to this persons neglect, did he not learn a lesson from last time ?

Without his job they might lose their home; their family pets would be removed ...

Looking aside from the job, had it been an ordinary member of the public that was banned from keeping animals of course the whole family would be affected by it -that would be the same no matter why such a ban was made.

I don't know what to think because normally you'd be hard pushed to find any dog owner as devoted to their dogs as police dog handlers.

It is the second time he has been responsible for the death of a dog left in a vehicle.
He was disciplined over the loss of a spaniel at the Metropolitan Police's prestigious dog training centre in July 2004 - but went on to be promoted.
Staff pulled the Belgian malinois Chay and five-month-old alsatian Milly from the vehicle by smashing its closed windows.
They doused the dogs in water and raced them to an emergency vet but nothing could be done.
Kennel assistant, Tina Dale, 54, who was among those who tried to save the animals, described it as the 'worst day of my life'.
Jan Creamer, head of Animal Defenders International, said: 'It is the golden rule that you never ever leave dogs in hot cars. 'We would question why dogs were in the car at all as there are kennelling facilities on-site, 'Surely it should have been standard operating procedure to put the dogs in kennels on hot days.

Sounds to me like he had a choice and still left them there to die :(

Surely it should have been standard operating procedure to put the dogs in kennels on hot days.

Well I don't get the bit I read that he was 7 miles away, did he park his car and then get a tube to the meeting? Then he remembered the dogs after an hour and called to help them?

He's a sergeant and I'm pretty sure he will be that no more, he will surely lose his position, not just what he has done with the dogs again but he jumped from his colleagues moving car at 30mph and ran off, then conflicting advice of a cut hand or attempted wrist suicide cut, well you either do it or you don't, so also not sure now whether he did actually wish to kill himself or he's devising a cover story for his mental health.

But he has acted irrationally whatever the truth is, he's a sergeant for goodness sake. :-( How can anyone have faith with him in any way now.

We all love our dogs and no doubt the guilt is terrible for him, but he has a wife and young children, to wish to die and leave them to me he must have been in a real state, same goes if it is a get out of jail plan his poor children will think he tried to kill himself.

He can never be in charge of anything or anyone again.

I wonder if he would've 'forgotten' his kids shut in his vehicle?

Compare that story to another man in the paper today who, after his vehicle crashed on the motorway, chased after his dog who escaped, only to lose his life. What a dilemma he must have faced, he put his own life 2nd to that of his dog and paid the price.

I imagined that he went in another vehicle with other police to the meeting something to do with the olympics
in east London.
Given that the training centre is in the middle of fields and 5 miles from the train station and a good walk to the nearest buses  It still seems odd that the man had his dogs with him anyway or they were not catered for in the kennels at keston even if it were an impromptu meeting,
I wouldnt take my dogs to work and then go off somewhere else leaving them in the car even if it wasnt pre arranged all together odd with devastating concequences 

two things.

He has a choice what he does in life....his poor dogs didnt.

Bet he get suspended ON FULL PAY!

I know i said i'd said enuff - sorry!  Of course he'll get full pay, i wouldn't expect anything else and we'll get the whole sob story of him being under stress blah blah blah.  I know i'm cynical but don't you think we've heard all this before.  But what about the wife and kids - er sorry, shouldn't he have thought about them before he decided to slice his wrists, albeit unsuccessfully.

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?  If we did, it would be a terrible tragedy but no-one would suffer the loss but us personally as they are 'just' our pets.  In this case, it has caused the loss of government property and the significant public money that has gone into the breeding, training and care of those animals.

In my opinion, his actions amount to gross negligence. In my workplace (and many others. I am sure) gross negligence is punishable by immediate dismissal.  So, while I wouldn't wish hardship on his family, he must be held accountable for his actions in the same way that any of the rest of us would...including criminal charges where appropriate.

Oh we need a 'like' button

OHHH DITTO,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008691/Sergeant-Ian-Craven-suicide-bid-police-dogs-die-heat-car.html

OHH IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY!

I CANT UNDERSTAND HOW ANYONE CAN FORGET THEIR DOGS ARE IN THEIR CAR, WHATEVER THE WEATHER!,
SHOPPING OR MY MOBILE I MAY FORGET BUT MY LIVING BREATHING DOGS I JUST CANT IMAGINE HOW YOU FORGET THAT!, AM I WRONG??

> In my opinion, his actions amount to gross negligence. In my workplace (and many others. I am sure) gross negligence is punishable by immediate dismissal. So, while I wouldn't wish hardship on his family, he must be held accountable for his actions in the same way that any of the rest of us would...including criminal charges where appropriate.

Absolutely agree.

agreed shyanola and why didnt that happen lst time?