One day in September, it was quite hot here, and I was walking to my car when I heard a dog barking nearby, and decided I would walk by and just make sure the dog looked ok and was not overheating. Now, before I go on, it is perhaps important to say that I am not one who believes dogs should never be left in cars. Quite the opposite, I believe it is great if people take their dogs with them, and so long as they take care of the dogs and the dogs are happy about it, I absolutely support taking your dog with you. I believe dogs can be very comfortable and safe in cars and am outraged at the growing movement to vilify anyone who leaves their dog in a vehicle.
I determined that the barking was coming from a minivan parked in the sun, and the rear windows were open only a few inches. The dog appeared fine from a distance, but I was still a little bit concerned, so I walked a little closer, and I was pretty sure that the engine was running, presumably so the air-conditioner could work, and everything seemed peachy. At about this point, as I was about to depart, I heard a woman’s voice very hostilely shout, “He WILL bite you.” I turned to look, and there was a lady, talking to some other people a few cars away, glaring at me. I smiled at her, and said, “Hopefully not, since I am ten feet away and he appears to be safely contained…” She scowled and said, “If you get any closer he WILL bite you…”
I understood her anger: she assumed I was another busy-body who was coming over to pass judgment on her without knowing the first thing about animals or her situation. She was afraid I was going to call the cops or animal control or PETA. She had no way of knowing that I had no intention of doing anything unless there appeared to be a genuine and immediate problem, and that if there was a problem my only interest would be in helping.
This exchange struck me as a perfect example of one of the truly harmful things that the AR movement has done: it has turned us all into adversaries. She was so worried about someone attacking her that she could not imagine or appreciate that maybe I was an ally just walking by to make sure her dog was fine. Not only have they divided us into little factions that are ineffective politically, they have prevented us from working together to make the world a better place. This hurts us all, most acutely the animals…
I completely agree. I remember my aunt and I went into the grocery store just to grab a soda and we left her dog in the car, now the window was cracked and it was a cool day so we turned the ac off, less than five mins later we come back to a happy dog seeing as she loves attention and a lady peering into the car a phone to her ear describing her location, are canine, and car. to the police reporting a poor innocent dog left in a car when we came up she hung up and proceeded to rudely scold us on are ignorence of animal care I couldn’t help but be angry and snappy as I explained the situation to the lady I could see her good intentions at least but of course that erked me more than nearly anything when we were treated as the idiots by ignorant people I can see were the woman that snapped at you was coming from and I wished it wasn’t that way both sides of the story shouldn’t have to exist at all.
I have had metal inserts made for the windows in my car so that the windows can be left open about 6 inches. I also have a special lock that allows the hatch to be open about 5 inches. A fan that hangs in the center of my ford Escape. i put window covers in the windows. Never leave the car in the sun. But have had people call the cops, and have been rudely told off by people about how cruel and ignorant I am. That I didn’t deserve to own an animal. The one time the Officer showed up. The person who called in was told the temperature in the car was 62 degrees and if people were as concerned about their children as I was about my dogs comfort the world would be a much better place…So I didn’t get a ticket nor did I get my dogs removed from my care. I do appreciate people who pay attention to dogs suffering. But when you can tell the dog is safe, move on. I know in my situation the window grates make it obvious that there is air circulation in the car.