It’s all too easy to forget that a dog can’t cope with hot weather.
As in too hot. Especially in a car!
I want to republish a post that appeared on The Dodo blog site recently. It is about a dog trapped in a car when it was far too hot.
ooOOoo
Guy Sees Puppy In Hot Car And Realizes What He Has To Do
Jason Minson, an Army veteran who runs a landscaping business, was out on a job in Norfolk, Virginia, on Tuesday when the first of several unusual things happened.
Minson was inspecting a tree in a yard when he heard a bang on the street.
When he went to check, he realized that a car driving by had bumped another car parked on the street. If that hadn’t happened, Minson probably never would have approached the parked car and discovered what was inside.
A black Labrador puppy was sprawled out on the floor of the vehicle — the noise and shudder seemed to have woken him up for a moment.
And he was incessantly panting.
“It was the kind of panting that was the last effort a dog does to try to cool himself off,” Minson told The Dodo.
Minson immediately called 911.
The police dispatched a unit to come help the dog — but they also informed Minson that breaking the window of the car to free the dog is a crime. (The law varies depending where you are.)
Minson watched the panting puppy from behind the pane of glass. He brought one bottle of water to the sliver of opened window and the dog jumped up on the seat and started drinking from it.
The dog went through the whole bottle. And then another.
“I’m usually a pretty cool, level-headed person but I was kind of fed up,” Minson said.
An animal control officer arrived and she started to try to pry the door open, but it wasn’t working. And nearly 20 minutes had passed since Minson had found the dog — and he was worried they were already out of time.
“The dog had laid back down on the floor of the car and wasn’t panting as quickly,” Minson said.
“I honestly didn’t think this pup was going to make it,” Minson wrote.
That’s when he took matters into his own hands.
“Charge me,” he can be heard saying in one of the videos he shot, “I don’t give a sh*t at this point.”
Using the baton from the animal control officer, Minson smashed the window and opened the door.
The animal control officer rushed the dog over to her van and took him to the vet for urgent care. And the owner of the dog was charged by the police. Minson received a call from the police, too — but to be a witness at the hearing about the incident.
The following day, Minson went to visit the pup at the facility where he’s recovering. Already, the dog seemed to be much stronger.
Minson, who has a Great Dane, hopes that if someone saw his dog in trouble in any way that they would do something about it.
“This is REAL talk people,” Minson wrote on Facebook after the dog was saved. “It’s hot out and if you leave an animal in your car [he’s] going to die from the heat … Take care of your fur babies.”
ooOOoo
I can’t think of a more dramatic way of telling you about the perils of dogs in cars in hot weather!
It really does kill dogs!
Learning from Dogs 
When I hear of stories like that, I want to lock the owners in a car in the middle of the desert with no air. Sorry if that is harsh but it is how I feel. Glad the pup was saved.
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Susan, I share your feelings. But the truth of it is that 99% of dog owners care for their dogs and it is only ignorance of the dangers of hot cars that leads to such calamities.
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You would think Paul with all the attention given to dog owners about leaving dogs in locked cars on hot days would had sunk in by now.. Given the amount of deaths these poor animals have had due to the irresponsibility of dog owners.
Thank goodness for kind hearts such as Jason with his alertness to the situation and then taking the situation into his own hands.
Unfortunately its not always the general public at fault.. Here in the UK several years ago one very hot summer Two Police dogs died after being neglected in the back of their police van while officers were inside the station..
So sad.. people never seem to learn.
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One would like to think so, Sue. Maybe half the problem is that the sun moves, 15 deg. an hour, and cars go from being in the shade to being in the sun and get hot very quickly. Just a thought!
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No, people should know NOT to leave pets in car ovens it can be hot even in shade..
No excuses ;-(
its well publicised about the risk to pets.. They should know better,
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I agree!
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This happens far too often. Its so distressing that it’s made me quite afraid to go shopping in hot weather in case I encounter this sort of thing. (In fact, during the summer months I only go shopping at night!) It shouldn’t be a crime for a person to smash a window or force entry to a vehicle in these circumstance, but it should definitely be a crime to leave an unattended animal in a car over a certain temperature.
Many years ago, I came across a baby in a hot car. It was vomiting. No mobile phones then. I asked a passerby to race into a nearby store to get help. I had just retrieved something heavy from my car to try to pry the door or to smash the window with, when the baby’s father came back to the car. I was so upset and disgusted that I couldn’t say anything, but he saw the look on my face…..
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That’s quite a story, Margaret. Dogs and babies! How does it happen? Over here, whilst today is a cool one, next Tuesday they are forecasting 102 deg. F and that is Hot! Even for here!
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I would like to think that the police could call any locksmith or towing company to open the door because sometimes seconds count. Then take the dog or baby, leave a notice on the car, and when the owner came back they would have to retrieve the dog or baby wherever they were taken and pay a huge fine. Maybe that is a pie in the sky idea, but it is a helpless life that their owners are responsible for. In the warmer weather I would like to think that anyone would check on a dog that they heard barking in a car.
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Belinda, welcome. Or is it welcome back, I can’t recall. Anyway, to the comment! That’s a very good idea. Whether or not the authorities in any state will take up idea remains to be seen!
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The penalty for that owner can’t be severe enough in my books. {growl}
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I can fully sympathise with what you are saying. It was a preoccupation with other things rather than the dog.
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Especially here. We once had a Lab lose the skin on his paw pads from the hot baked earth. It did grow back but we felt terrible. Imagine how he felt!
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Ouch! That must have been painful!
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Poor dude 🥺
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HuMom wouldn’t hesitate to help a dog even if it meant getting in trouble🐾
She would accept the consequences if it meant saving a life🐾
💜nose nudges💜
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Absolutely! I’m sure thousands of others feel the same way!
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If people can’t keep their dogs with them, they should leave them in the cool of the house. There is no escape from heat in a hot car. People wouldn’t leave a child alone in a car. It should be the same with fur friends.
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It’s very difficult, Colette, to understand the mind of a person who takes a dog out in a car in hot weather.
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Yes… And who knows why the dog was left for so long on its own. I am sure the owner wasn’t meaning to be unkind. Some dogs don’t like social situations, or aren’t allowed in stores, and so it seems logical to leave it in a familiar safe space. But it is not safe in a car on a very hot or cold day…
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Totally agree!
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