with NO windows opened, parked in FULL sun in the heat of today at 2pm????

Trust me I did not walk away, it would of broke my heart.  Little springer , no movement on the back seat of a 107. What is the correct cause of action as I got it wrong, just want the dog (bitch out).

Ring the police.

I did, apparently this was not and emergency and they will have somebody there within 2 hours. Honestly????...my response was not ok, thanks. Do I smash some bodies car windows and get the dog out, or wait and cover as much of the glass as I can for 2 hours.

omg I would have done as you did and rung again and tell them you were about to smash windows to save the dog. RSPCA ?
What did you do ? in these temperatures you would have minutes not hours fgs !!
I found a dog in a car in a hotel underground carpake a few weeks ago. Fortunately it wasnt hot and I couldgo into the hotel who sent someone down to the car park unfortunately I dont know what the end result was or if they found the owner

bless you for caring,what was the outcome?Can you believe people are still so stupid!

I had an old towel in the car. 2 dogs who does'nt. Smashed the front passenger window, opened the door (107). Put the towel on the rear window. All I had was a thermos flask of coffee from the morning and put over the neck of the dog, small attempt to cool. Then the PCSO's arrived and I left them to it.

So If you, have towel on the rear screen, your passenger window smashed and a smell of black coffee in your car and  your dog missing. It was ME!!!

Would I do it again...yes and sooner, I wouldn't stop to think. I would call the Police whilst breaking glass.

Well done to you! In scotland it is the SSPCA we ring.  I had occassion to do this about two years ago. I was waiting by the car till  sspca arrived. anyway the owner came back first. i told him what i had done and he was furious. so, he got as good as he gave. the sspca had the reg number so even if he left before they came i hope they would have been in touch with him. would do again.

Well done to you. The message still isn't getting across. However if the message was ' Your car will have its window smashed to get your dog out' then I think that maybe they would take heed.

It does seem that unfortunately you got someone less than concerned  when you phoned the police, which is certainly not always the case.
If you do ever come across the same scenario again, the best thing to do is inform them of your intention to commit a criminal act by breaking the window, also remind them that you will be causing a breech of the peace should said owner return and object. Oh, and also remind them of the small matter of a crime being committed under the animal welfare act.

Well done you! Was the dog ok when you got it out? I hope I would do the same, but suspect I would waste time trying to find someone official to break the window for me.

>So If you, have towel on the rear screen, your passenger window smashed and a smell of black coffee in your car and  your dog missing. It was ME!!!

I take my hat off to you.  Well done.

Unbeliveable.  I had to get my whelping bitch to the vets this afternoon and had wound down the rear windows and put in thsoe air vents before getting the bitch and getting in the car.  I was still very uncomfortable in the short time my husband took to get into the car after us, open the front windows and drive us to vets

My girl had gone 4 hours from first puppy, was huge and looked like she had swallowed a space hopper.  2nd and 3rd pusp delivered in car outside vets, so drove back home without oxytocin.

The rest of pups arrived in timely fashion but sadly we had 3 stillborn bitches 9sods law as we keep bitches and had most bookings for them too), and the last male who may or may not make it, as took ages to revive (we thought him dead), and very slow to feed.

So that rather alters my long term breeding plans, and we hope that one of the bitches left will be good enough, as we will be keeping one as no more litters for Mum.

Hope the boy pup makes it,barbara,and sorry about the lost pups. very sad.

Lumie, you're a star!!!! :-)

Barbara, so sorry, hope that one of the bitches is going to be a smasher and will have fingers crossed for the little dog. x

Oh Barbara, so sorry to hear about your girls :-(

Re dogs in cars...it does seem to depend who you speak to.  I am in Scotland and called 999, police came along very quickly, within a few minutes.  They arrived at the same time as the owner (a message had been put out on the supermarket tannoy)....not sure what happened in the end as I had to leave.  Dog appeared to be ok - supermarket staff came out with big containers of water.  Police took my details but I never received any further contact so assume no charges were made.

I believe the word 'shotgun' brings the police round very quickly lol.

> fingers crossed for the little dog. x

Well he gained 1/4 ounce over night so hopeful.  I'm quite used to them loosing a bit the first day (I do weigh them wet as soon as born), so that seems positive sign.

I think stillbirths are horid as the poor bitch has had to carry them, and they get that far and just a hold up with one can mean losses.

The police number I have in my mobile for such events is 0845 0454545 and round here they take cooking dogs very seriously and respond quickly. Apparently the RSPCA do not have the power to break in until the police arrive but I always carry a hammer to do so myself if I consider it necessary to save the dog. There is a dog event at a park in Verwood tomorrow and I expect to see loads of suffering dogs being dragged around by their owners. I know it is a shame for the organisers, but mine will stay safely at home. I hope they have organised car park patrols.

Hi,

I think that police number has been changed (saw a notice outside a police station in Romsey). Not sure what it is now. 101 comes to mind, but I may be dreaming that. Sure it would be online somewhere though.

> 101 comes to mind, but I may be dreaming that.

101 is the special "non-urgent" police number in Hampshire - I'm not sure if it has extended to all counties though. It's the one I'd call to report anti-social behaviour and anything else non-life threatening when I lived in the county - I think you'd be justified in calling 999 about a dog in a car wherever you live.

101 is the almost universal non emergency number for forces around England now. I'd be calling 999 if I'm
Honest and saying your intentions, as going to smash said window of vehicle.. Drover further up has said it well and covered the points :-)
The general public should know better, the dog showing fraternity have no excuse yet it happens at every flipping ch show I go to every summer...

I heard about two incidents with dogs in cars yesterday. One of them was when a knowledgeable, caring dog owner was reported unnecessarily for having her dog in the car while she was at work. The car was under a tree so in the shade all day with a tailgate guard etc so safely left open. The dog is checked and walked and visible from the office. The RSPCA found the temperature in the car was 22 degrees and the dog was happily curled up asleep. They still warned the owner!
The other case was not a good one as a dog died in a car in the South East. No more details on this one that should have been reported or a window broken to save it.

At badminton horse trials you cannot leave any dogs in cars for any time at all.  They are instantly broken in to and freed.  Surely this should be the way in all car parks there are that many trolley attendants and the like at supermarkets it could not be that hard to implement!
As for calling the police I think the best way to do it might be to ring the local station as on 999 you are talking to an operator who decides whether or not it merits an emergency.  Although to be fair I think if you rang and said you were about to break in to a car then that at least would be an emergency.
I once rang 999 about a buch of kids joy riding locally.  I was asked how I knew they were joy riding?  I told them performing 180 handbrake turns in the middle of a main road was a bit of a give away.  I was told it was not an emergency but they would put a call out about it.  I rang a local station about a gang of lads up and down a footpath on a motorbike and they were there in minutes!

Well done to the OP..

My 'process' goes like this - assess the dog in the car - is it happy and active, calm or distressed - if distressed is it still moving around or is it lying down - has it passed out... Depending on the answer to that, I will break the window OR phone the police and/or send someone into the store if its a supermarket carpark..

So if the dog is flat out heavily panting and unresponsive, I smash windows first and phone people/talk to people second - if the dog is active and distressed I might phone someone first.

> I found a dog in a car in a hotel underground carpake a few weeks ago. Fortunately it wasnt hot

Not sure I understand this.  What was the problem in this instance?

I did wonder the same, many dogs are happier in the vehicle than in a crate in a strange hotel room, it may well be cooler in this instance.

Of course the owners may well have only been having a meal in the hotel while travelling with the dog.

sorry didnt explain properly. The dog was not happy, barking seemingly quite distressed ,  no windows open and although the weather was not as hot it is now it was still quite warm in the car park. Yes i appreciate they may have only been gone for a  short while but the dog seemed most distressed. If he were mine I would want to know so I could check on him and decide what the best course of action was

I don't take my lot out in the van when its warm (apart from the trip to the field) but on days when its cold I do take them with me on calls and obviously they have to stay in the van and Roscoe will bark his silly head off cos he  thinks I've forgotten him! He's quiet as a mouse when we're on the move.Some dogs do bark when left but it's not always because they are distressed, like my lad they could just be protesting lol

point taken, maybe I over reacted but I was concerned you here people do many strange things :)

Its not only in leaving dog sin cars  that seems to effect peoples  brains.

In Wales last weekend, ( very hot)  the amount of people dragging panting , struggling dogs around the town was to many to count.

I am sure people don`t go out of their way to kill or distress their dogs, but for some reason they seem to leave all common sense behind.

We were in our caravan,  it meant we could not go anywhere due to leaving the dog ,  until it cooled down late in the evening,  she struggled to find a cool spot as it was even in the shade,  the thought of dragging her round the town  was madness.

But to surpass it all, one woman left her children along with her dog in her car....... luckily  only for a few mins,  but I did watch to see how long..