Woman angry about a dog in a hot car

[Anna]

I went to library today w my kids.  I was in the sci fi section - when all of a sudden I hear a VERY loud woman asking everyone in her path - if someone owned a nissan suv with a dog in the car.  

(Just a overview.  The temp is 87 - but really really humid.)

I heard a man - asking if the windows were rolled down?  the woman replied that the windows were rolled down but that it didn't matter b/c it was so hot and that the person needed to take their dog home.  I think then - asking people individually wasn't working - so she started almost yelling.  she proceeded to stomp thru the library - asking this repeatedly

 

Now - I'm not saying this woman's actions were wrong.  I have never left my pup in the car(but my main reason is that he can't be trusted to do so and also I would never leave a dog in a hot car) but I really think that she could have handled herself better.  Most people were staring at her and giving really odd looks and muttering that - it wasn't any of her business.

I think there are a couple issues here. 

1.  Its the library (where its really quiet). 

2. 87 degrees (which is not unbearably hot)  but very humid

3.  she wasn't "asking"   She seemed really confrontational. 

 

I tried to think - what would have been a better way..  I was thinking - maybe talking to someone in the library = who could make some sort of an announcement or maybe call the police or maybe leave a note - I don't know.  I know it can be very bad for the dog - but I feel like this woman came off as - one of those crazy obsessive pet people - on a war path.

 

I myself did not see the dog or the car.

what do you guys think would have been the right thing to do?

  

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

It only takes 10 minutes for a dog to start suffering in a hot car.  Yes, maybe she could of handled it better.  What if it had been a baby.  Would you still think of her as appearing to be a crazy lady?  A life is a life no matter what, just sayin. 

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

If I really felt the need to express my opinion to this person.  I probably would have told the front desk I accidentally bumped into their car.  Asking them to page the person and wait for them outside to tell them what I thought.  Or I would just call the police and park my car behind then until they arrived.  I think this is a touchy subject for me and inside I'm the crazy lady, lol.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Perfect....I completely agree.

[Jane Smith]

I agree with Tina.  Library or not, a life was at stake.  The lady may very well be crazy though. 

[Jennifer and Jack]

I would have done the same thing but first I would have taken the dog out of the car, and brought him in the cool library with me. It is TOTALLY unacceptable for a dog to be left in a car in that kind of temperature. I leave Jack in the car sometimes to run in the store, I leave the car running with the AC blowing and the doors locked.

 

Even in 70 degree weather it can get way to hot for a dog in a car with the windows down. Dogs have little ability to cool themselves off, only through panting and drinking cool water.

 

Good for that lady... The person who did such a foolish thing should be called out.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Sorry Anna but I'm with the crazy lady on this.  That is animal abuse plain & simple.  Way to hot to leave an animal in a car even with the windows down.  I give her credit for tying to find the idiot that left them and not just calling the cops which would have ended up being a much bigger deal.  As far as the library being a quiet place - yes it should be - UNLESS there is a real and present danger and then I'd be yelling too.

[Adina P]

Things heat up pretty fast in a car, but if the dog owner happened to have one of those superbly trained dogs who would NEVER leave their car and all the windows were ALL the way down and in the shade, I don't think the dog would overheat any more than a person would sitting outside in the shade.  That's very different then windows cracked a little...it can get unbearably hot in that case.  I guess she thought she was saving a dog's life and then it didn't matter how she did it.

[ClarkP]

I had one of those superbly trained dogs that would never leave the car with all the windows left all the way down.  And she wanted to go with me everywhere I went.  So I often took her. 

 

I often left my Border Collie (Cass) in my car on hotter days than this situation.  But I did take care of her.  She always had access to water in the car.  I parked facing into the sun and used windshield shades so that the entire interior of the car was in the shade.  All windows were rolled all the way down.  Cass was as cool in the car as she could have been any place within 20 miles that was not air-conditioned.  She was never in danger nor her health in jeopardy.

 

So the woman (I almost wrote "lady" LOL!) in your situation was correct in her instinct to protect animals.  And if this animal was legitimately in danger (it doesn't sound like it was but I wasn't there) then she did the right thing to try and correct the situation.  Her manners?  Who cares about manners if the dog was actually in danger.

 

I don't know the situation you saw.  Almost all situations of dogs left in hot cars are bad.  But not all.  If some woman would have stormed up to me for my behavior with Cass on very hot days, I would have told her to kindly STFU.  Or if Shorty Rossi had taken my dog because it was left in my car (as he did on his TV show), I would have pressed charges.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Clark -

 

I must remind you that you are the exception to the general rule.  You take the proper precautions, etc.  The only thing I might change if someone came up to you is that perhaps you should respond "Thank you for your concern but I have taken the following steps........ and I don't beleive my dog is in danger but I will go out with you and check."  (Just my thoughts)

 

Andy

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I think this speaks again to the emotional charge connected with this issue. Kate gave a fine example (page 4) of the case where she was attacked by a woman when Kate expressed concern for the woman's dog who was in obvious distress in a hot car.  Whether it is the person with the dog or the rescuer of the dog-neither tend to remain calm (generally).

[ClarkP]

I'm not saying that Kate's actions were not the correct ones,  they probably were.  But she did say "as I was about to break the car window" and not 'as I expressed concern to the woman about her dog'.  I think those two things do elicit very different responses.  :-)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Perhaps it is only an emotionally charged issue for me. :)