My DH saved a GR in a hot car!!! Get your tissue's out for the ending!

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

We were walking into Wal Ghetto Mart yesterday morning (a store I have to be dragged into) and there was a golden retriever locked in a car with no windows down, in the sun! Of course I immediately freaked out.  Fortunately, my DH is a Police Chief (but not for the village the Wal Mart was in) so he knew what to do immediately.  It was parked about 5 cars away from us so he turned around, went back to his truck, got his big bag of police goods for getting into locked cars and came back to get the doors opened.  It turned out the locks on the car were broke and it wasn't letting him in as quick as he wanted to so the dog wouldn't be in even more danger.  He got out the hammer thing they use to break car windows in an emergency and broke the window to get the dog out.  We got her out of the car (mind you this took him about 3 minutes total if that - he was fast - and still no one was coming back to the car).  She was about 5-6 months old it appeared.  So he called the Sheriff's Department instead of the local police department because they are generally less tolerant and he has a working relationship with them.

The Deputy Sheriff got there about 10 minutes after he called - still no one came out of Wal Mart to the car! They ran the license plates and it came back to driver with a suspended license.  Finally, after the deputy had called to get the car towed this idiot couple came out of Wal Mart to the car.  Of course they started yapping that my DH had "destroyed their property" blah blah blah - same junk everyone breaking the law has to say.  It ended up that neither of them had a valid drivers license, she had marijuana and drug paraphernalia in her purse and the guy had a FELONY warrant for his arrest!  Neither of them EVER asked if the poor little thing was ok!  They are charging them with endangering the welfare of an animal along with the drug charge and the suspended license.  The guy was going to jail regardless because of the felony warrant now he will have new charges to :-)

By this time 3 other Deputies had come for back up and it ended up that one of them had lost his golden retriever last year and had wanted another one.  He said he had been going to the shelter's for the last couple of months looking for one that "spoke to him".  He turned to absolute MUSH when I took her out of our car (I had her in there with the AC on and a bowl of water that I carry for Hunter).  He said "I finally found you, you are who I have been waiting for" and she just started licking his face and nozzling in his neck.  It was the sweetest thing and he was a big, burly probably 6' 3"+ 300lb man in his late 40's that could have picked up that couple and snapped them like twigs!  I was all teary eyed over it and I could tell it got to all the deputies and my DH to because they were either looking away or putting their sunglasses on!  I called him just a few minutes ago to see how she was and he had taken her to the vet and named her Mercy :-) He said he is on vacation for the next two weeks starting Wednesday but decided to start his vacation two days early so he wouldn't have to leave her.

I was just infuriated at that couple for putting her in absolute life or death danger but things like this always make me believe that everything happens for a reason and what is meant to be will be :-)

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

what a wonderful ending to such a sad story that could so easily have ended in tragedy

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Yeah, happiness all around ... new home for puppy, bums in jail!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Denise - thanks for sharing this heart-warming story.  Heat is a quick killer - I wish these stories all had such a beautiful ending.  I have our city's hotline # keyed into my cell in case I run across something like this.  It is my understanding they are very responsive.

[Elizabeth & *Kosci*.]

Pass a tissue please... Ment to be ,that you were there, your DH is a police officer, etc, etc.
So glad a happy outcome..

[Jersey, Jasmine, Jypsy and Diane]

Love a story with a happy ending for all, except those terrible dog owners. Give your husband a big kiss for me!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

What a wonderful tale that certainly made me misty eyed too! So glad that Mercy has found the home she deserves. Well done Denise and DH!!

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Great story - thanks for saving a life!!!

This is my recent FB correspondence with Capt at the NJ SPCA

 

Saturday

• First I would like to thank you for all you do for the animals. Now my question is "What can an ordinary citizen do if we see a dog in a car in obvious distress?"  I am asking this if there are no police or other authorities available.

• 

  Saturday

  NJ SPCA

  • No easy answer as every situation is different.  If the animal is in distress it needs to be removed but only if you are prepared to restrain it after removal.  Capt

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I am always the type to use the theory "sometimes its easier to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission" :-)  My DH and the deputies all said that they wouldn't have charged anyone for breaking the window in that circumstance.  I forget the "police" talk that they used but something to the effect of imminent danger and the act justifying the means... something like that.  

I have to agree that the heat of the car was probably just the beginning of the misery for her with that couple.  What floored me was they were not that young, the guy was 33 and she was 27 - in my opinion totally old enough to know better.  They had a car seat in the car - poor kid doesn't stand a chance either!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

What's worse is the fact that there was a carseat! And the woman (mother) had drugs and paraphanelia on her. Geez! I hope child protective services get involved too. Unfortunately they fit a profile your DH is probably very familiar with. Car in disrepair, dog being neglected, no license, drugs, warrants for felonies. He probably had a sense of it not being just a simple act of stupidity. ( and ofcourse in a Walmart parking lot. I'm with you, I go only as a last resort)

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Very true, none of them including my DH seemed surprised at all., he said "it's just a normal day at work dealing with people like that". How sad!

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Thank the doodle you and DH were in that parking lot when you were.  Thanks for saving that poor pup.

[Adina P]

Awesome story Denise!