How many years have people been warned not to smoke? I am sure since the 1970's at least, yet I see young kids at the shelter starting to smoke all the time. Humans are the only creatures on earth that can have the knowledge that something is a bad choice, that this action will cause an early death, and choose to do that thing anyway.
How many years have we heard not to lock a dog in a hot car? I have been hearing that since childhood as well, yet I see dogs locked in hot cars all the time. We got a call for one today, in fact. This enterprising person thought that cracking the windows and leaving the dog a bowl of water while they were at work for 8 hours would be a good idea. The morning was cloudy, but this afternoon got sunny and hot fast.
If we say "Please" will you stop locking your dog in a hot car? Even in 70 degree weather the inside of a car can get up to 90 degrees. In the sun, a car's temperature can reach 160 degrees in just 15 minutes. Even in the shade. I can barely handle getting into my car on a hot day and waiting for the air conditioning to kick in. Imagine how hot it would be for you to sit in a hot car for 15 minutes. Today when I left work I sat in my car with the windows cracked to see how long I could stand it. It was 6:30pm, and I will tell you, after 7 minutes I had to turn on the air.
I am sure if you asked your dog if they would rather stay in the comfort of their home, or sit in a searing hot car for half an hour while you ran in to get some groceries, they would opt to stay home. I have dogs that live to ride with me in the car, but I do not take them anyplace during the summer where they would have to be left alone. I only use drive-through places in warm weather with my dogs in the car. Or, I leave them home.
There have even been cases of people leaving a dog in the car with the air conditioning running and the car will turn off the air after a certain amount of time when the car is left in idle leaving the poor animal to roast while their humans think they are taking care of them.
Let's all make a pact and not bring our dogs on every errand. Let's leave them home, and safe. I know they miss us. But better to miss us for a little while than to bear losing them in such a painful way. Dogs do not have the ability to make safe choices, so they are counting on us to make these choices for them.
Sometimes, love means having to leave them home for a little while.
