Me and my OH was at Morrisons this morning doing our weekly shop, upon leaving we noticed a dog left in a car. I had to check and make sure the dog was ok, it was, as the weather here is cool at the moment and the owner soon returned.
But then it got me thinking :rolleyes: With summer approaching! What would you do if you saw a dog in distress as a result of being locked in a car? Police and RSPCA can take ages and dogs in extreme heat only have minutes before a dog could die. Would you, like me take your tin of beans out and smash the car window? and what are the implications with the law? Sorry to go on but its really got me thinking.
Leomad

Smash the windows same as you.
I could not stand there and watch a dog die in such pain.

You call the police , if the dog is in serious distress you can ask/tell the police that you are going to break the window.

Smashing a window would be criminal damage, so you'd be liable to pay for it to be repaired. However that's what I'd probably do if I'd already made all efforts to trace the owner by having announcements made in the store.

Why are people still so stupid and ignorant as to leave dogs in cars in warm weather????   It isn't as if there aren't enough warnings and you know yourself just how awful it is to get into a boiling hot car.  I was at the Hampton Court Flower Show once on a roasting hot day and they were giving loudspeaker appeals then to some idiot (putting in mildly) who had left their dog in the car to tell them that their dog was in distress.  From the number of times they gave the appeal, it didn't sound like the owners were rushing back to rescue their dog.   What sort of cretin would take their dog in the first place?

I must admit, I did wonder whether this might, be what happened to Bruce Forsyth's daughter the other week. Remember she had her two Yorkshire Terriers taken from her car while she went shopping. In the end it was not, but I did wonder in the beginning.

Dawn R.

Hi Dawn
Yes, I thought that as well  as the weather was hot that week! At this time of year the weather is so deceiving. At a recent show, when the sun was in it was freezing. Then when it came out I was boiling. I just wish people would "THINK" more

You hear announcements all the time at shows

The same people who attend Championship and Open Dog Shows and leave their dogs in cars and have to be summoned by Public Address Systems :rolleyes:

Snap,Missie !!!

great minds eh? :D

I did come across this situation on a very hot day some years ago.  I don't think the car had been left long before I parked beside it but the dog inside was clearly beginning to feel the heat    I rushed in and told the security guard the reg no of the car and asked that he get it announced in the mall for the owner to return immediately and phone the police if they didn't get back to him in 5 minutes max.   In the meantime I covered the whole of the windscreen of the car in thick layers of newspaper (the dog had retreated to the slightly shaded back seat area by then) where the windows were open by about an inch each :rolleyes:  If l'd any frozen goods I'd have tried to squeeze them through the gap but I didn't have just to hopefully give the dog some comfort.

The owner did return - looking horrified that we thought she'd abandon her dog in unsafe conditions and whingeing about having had to leave a half full trolley in the store   But at least she came back in time - only in response to the PA system.   Hopefully having had a lengthy *discussion* with the lady - when the dog was already outside of the car, in shade and water provided - she would not take the chance again but who really knows :(

I didn't have a mobile back then - now I'd still try to contact the car owner by a PA (if in a shopping centre) or phone the police myself immediately if on a street.  Then I'd break the window if someone wasn't in attendance PDQ or before if a dog looked to be already seriously affected.

regards, Teri

We saw the same situation on a motorway services.  I had been travelling with sun roof fully open and all windows down to make sure my dog was okay.  We stopped at a Services.  We were a convoy so we all looked after each others dogs while we had a loo stop.  One of our party saw a very large, very hairy dog in a car with a sun roof open approx 1 inch.  Then we discovered a small dog in the same car which was in the footwell trying to get under the seats out of the sun.  I went inside and asked the Manager to put out a call for the owner whilst we stood guard over the car.  When the people came out they just laughed at us and then driove away.  The next day I rang the RSPCA inspector.  He said that as long as they had the sunroof open ( no matter how small a gap) he would not have been able to do anything about it, thats the law.  You know what they saw about the law being an ass.  It beggars belief.

Hi Teri
It was lovely to meet you Sunday, heard alot of nice things about you.

Phew! thanks LM ;) :D

Ditto Helen - thanks :)

My mum and I were at B&Q and there was a dog in a car - it wasn't particularly hot but warm but the dog was slightly panting.  We wrote a note saying something about dogs die in hot cars and that they could be reported for leaving their dog in the car on a hot day.  When we came out of the shop the car had gone.

talking about stupid and ignorant owners- today i saw a woman deliberately leave her little shitzu outside her car and she drove off with him running and yelping behind her, she nearly ran him over as she turned a circle and then drove out of the car park with him following- i presume she picked him up when she got to the road- if a car had come the other way they would have run him over, we stood there gobsmaked! stupid woman!!!

why on earth would she do that!?

i think she was angry with him because she couldnt catch him, she regularly rides across the park on a push bike with him running behind and people said she drove into the park the same way with him running behind the car! she must be bonkers- i feel i should report her but dont know her

Hi Sara
I would write down her number plate, God!!! people make you so mad dont they? poor little thing

Yes I'd do the same, and report her to the dog wardens who can report her to the RSPCA. I'd definately try to do something, poor dog :(

I once saw someone do something similar... they drove their car into a field and let 2 dogs out, then drove around and the dogs were going mad running after the car. I expect that's their idea of "walking" the dogs :rolleyes:

i walked into tesco when this happened to us and gave them the car registration number and told them that there was a dog in the car panting and no windows open , showed the young girl on the desk where it was and she put a tannoy message over saying could the owner of registration number such and such please return to their car as the dog inside was in a distressed state, the owner came upto the information desk and started hurling abuse at the young girl for embarrasing him and security was called and by this time this owner of the dog was getting an earbashing from me and about 10 other people , and one man even threatened to put the owner in a huge microwave turn it on and see how he felt when he was being cooked alive the owner was then escorted from the premises and i just had to say thankyou to the young girl on the reception desk for standing up to him
carol

Well done Carol, good on ya. Maybe if a few more were 'embarrassed' they would think twice about leaving their dogs in the car. After all, they wouldn't do that with their children would they? or would they ?

Unfortunately it doesn't seem that the situation is getting any better, at The National on Thursday there were a number of announcements about dogs in cars. I realise this may just be my perception of things but I have seen very little if any improvement recently. Does anyone know if the Kennel Club or any Show societies have actually banned any exhibitors?

I don't know whether it is correct or not, but I was told by 2 policemen that i is illegal to leave your dog in a car at ANY time wthout leaving the window slightly open. I'm not talking about hot summmr's days here. Two years ago we went to Manchester Airport to collect my mother, it was around 10 pm in the evening, dark, and it was around April, so NOT by any means hot -and the sun was down. We had a dog in the car, was gone for 10 mins, when we came back there was a police car and 2 policemen and they both said the law says we had to leave a wndow open a fraction if we ever left a dog in the car.

If it's true, it's just plain daft as it will make no difference at all on a hot day. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't have thought that this was true - the normal prosecution is for causing 'unnecessary suffering' - if the dog is not suffering, what can they prosecute for ?? :)

Daisy