I’m disappointed in myself. Last week Sean, Ripley and I were walking home and we saw a black Prius parked on our street with two little dogs inside. It was still quite warm outside. I walked over to the car and noticed that the windows weren’t even cracked open. I took a quick look around and didn’t see anyone. I was going to walk over to the nearby stores to see if I could find the owner. A man with a straw hat emerged from behind a gated property and started walking towards me and the car. I yelled out asking if he was the owner of the car. He nodded his head. I explained that I saw the little dogs in the car and was worried for their safety. The man snorted and said he had only been gone for 5 minutes. I walked away.

We continued walking home and I noticed the same man walking on the opposite side of the street from us up the hill. We looked back and the dogs were still in the car. I whispered to Sean about this observation and we just shook our heads. We turned into our yard and watched the man continue up the hill and out of sight. I sat down on our front steps and kept watch to see if he was going to come back down the hill and return to his car. I waited for at least 20 minutes and didn’t see him. I proceeded to text my friend who lived at the apartment where the car was parked in front of to see if she would check on the dogs, but she didn’t reply.

At that point it was getting cooler out so my worry for the dogs decreased. My kid needed my attention and I forgot about the little dogs.

What I should have done is walked back down to that car and made sure they were OK. I should have left a note on the car’s windshield with the dangers of leaving your dogs in a locked car when it’s warm outside. I should have done more. From PETA’s website:

On a 78-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can soar to between 100  to 120 degrees in just minutes, and on a 90-degree day, the interior temperature can reach as high as 160 degrees in less than 10 minutes.

Animals can suffer brain damage or death from heatstroke in just 15 minutes. Beating the heat is extra tough for dogs because they can only cool themselves by panting and by sweating through their paw pads.

If you ever witness an animal locked in a car on a warm day, here are some steps you can take to help pets in hot cars.
There are 14 states that have laws in place to protect pets in hot cars. Please review the list to understand the laws in your state. If you don’t see your state listed, might I suggest that you work towards changing that.

Namaste.