Warning for dog owners (leaving dogs in cars in hot weather)

[DeborahC]

I know everyone keeps going on about this but please don't leave your dogs in your car in this heat

I've just come back from Sainsbury's (Dog Kennel Hill appropriately enough) having had a stand-up row with a woman who had left 4 dogs in the car

In her defence she said:

It was okay as she was a dog walker (no, I didn't understand her logic either)

She was only in the supermarket for 5 minutes (she wasn't, she was at least 10 minutes from the time I got them to make an announcement)

And the windows were open (they were, but only slightly)

She also said I was a busy body (yes I probably am, but the dogs were getting distressed and if it had been my dog in the back of the car I would have been very p****d off)

Rabid rant rant over...

[PeckhamRose]

Good for you.

Just wondering, is it acceptable - if all attempts have been made to find the owner, to smash in a window to save the dogs? I would. Happy to stand in court to defend that action, I think!

[DeborahC]

I was all prepared for a smash and grab using my own tins of newly purchased dog food... with slight trepidation admittedly as two of the dogs were a very large rottweiler and a husky...

I even had the car wash guys on stand by with water

[Ms T]

Good for you. >:D

[legalbeagle]

PR - yes it is actually allowable to smash the windows. Cruely to animals is a criminal offence. In this country you are allowed to use "reasonable force in the prevention of a crime". I'd say smashing a window came under that category. I was at Hampton Court flower show last year when the RHS announced over the tannoy that someone had left their dog in a hot car in the car park and if they didn't come and get it the RHS would smash the window. So I figure if the RHS are allowed then so are we!!

[sillywoman]

Deborahc, do you have a description of the car & woman? Some of the readers on this forum might use a dogwalker & if they recognise the description they might want to switch their business elsewhere?

[KalamityKel]

Careful tho, she may have not meant it in a professional manner

[DeborahC]

Yes I do have a good description of her, her car, the dogs etc but I'm hesitant to post

She implied that she was a professional dog walker and with the mixed bag of mutts she had in the car it would seem that she was

I don't want to stop the woman making a living, but her attitude stank. And as as dog owner myself I would be furious if I found she had left any of my dogs in a car in this weather for any length of time

And, if it's of any reassurance, she wasn't a dog walker I recognise from any of the parks round here

[first mate]

There cannot be many people who own a Husky that gets walked by a professional dog walker, so if the owner is on this forum they'll probably know who the woman is.