The Other Coast by Adrian Raeside for June 22, 2013

Oh no, that’s just too sad.

Thank you for bringing much attention to this very sad habit. May we all be empowered the next time we see this to call authorities or break a window.

What an awful way to die.

Some years ago, I read an item about a judge who sentenced a couple who left their dog in a hot car to sit- in a hot car- for the same amount of time. They never did it again. More judges should do this!

Well done, Adrian.

I am not the least bit shy about going to the police (station is a block from the shopping center) or the super market customer service desk and “tattling”. And the police are VERY cooperative.

Just a day or two ago I read about a cop who left his work dog, a German Shepherd, in his car and it died. You’d think a cop would know better, when they expect us to. :(

I agree with the comic and all the comments. I hate it when the person claims that they’re doing their dog a favor because “the dog really wants to be with us”. So spend time with the dog, don’t leave them in the car!

Dog hates it but she stays home when the weather gets hot.

“She likes to go shopping with us.”The strip “Overboard” used to run one like this every year, but their priorities have changed.

Even sadder, it’s not just dogs people leave in their cars. How many children die each year for the same reason. People need to get their heads out of their arses, turn off the electronic devices and pay more attention to the REAL world.

Thank you Adrian!

Huh. I did some research one time, after being abusively harangued for leaving my dogs in a truck (which had had the air running for the previous two hours) which was parked on the shady side of the street at five in the afternoon. In other words, it was actually cooler in the truck than on the sidewalk, and was getting rapidly cooler; further the abuser must have seen me leaving the truck less than 2 minutes before, as she followed us hard on our heels into the pizza store where we were ordering take-and-bake.

What I found was that by far the majority of dogs dead in vehicles due to heat stroke were PS dogs. Police dogs, in other words. This despite the fact that there are devices which will monitor the temp inside the vehicle, and send a page or text message when it goes over ‘X’ degrees. My husband was actually going to build one for us, but my health tanked and we were forced out of competition.

Dogs that are alert, barking at those who stand and stare at them through the windows are not on the point of heat stroke, though continued provocation will tend to push their temps higher through agitation.

A dog or child laid out on a seat is clearly in trouble, but unless you have much better reason for concern than the mere fact that the dog is in the car, MYOB.

Thank you , Thank you, Thank you for putting some light on this horrible habit. I hate to go shopping in the summer because I’m afraid of the animal abuse I will encounter.

A number of years ago, a young man brought his puppy into our office on a very hot August day. He apologised, saying he just had the puppy for about a week and was worried about leaving her alone.I told him I would rather have a puppy lick my toes (wearing sandals) than him go back to his car in about 45 minutes to find a dead puppy. He said he was unaware of what happens to dogs in hot cars.

I was at a huge famous shopping outlet in Virginia that has signs saying if your pet is left in your car your window will be broken to rescue it!!

Thanks, Adrian for brining this up. I will share this with everyone I know.