Personally I don't believe in absolutes on this subject. There are situations where I leave my dogs in the car alone and they are not sweltering in a hot car and are in fact quite happy to be there.
After Maddie died, Murph didn't like being left alone at home. So when I took Oz to agility class, I took Murph too. It was at night and the car was quite comfortable. He wasn't allowed in class, so he had to stay in the car. He'd watch us for about 5 mins, then lay down and snooze the rest of the time. When we got back to the car, he got all of Oz's left over hot dog from class. Before the next class, I said "Murph, you wanna go to agility?" and he went nutz running back and forth to the door, spinning, so excited to go. Hummmm, not really the behavior of a dog that hated going.
I've made many long distance trips in the dead of summer, alone with the dogs. I don't know about y'all, but I can't go 14 hours without going to the bathroom. I bring a spare set of keys, lock the dogs in the car with it running and the a/c going. After I finish pottying, I let them out to walk around too. Near as I can tell, the pit stops are one of their favorite parts of the trip.
My Mom was staying with me for a week and one night she decided she wanted some Ice Cream and wanted me to go to the store for it. I was already dressed for bed, so I didn't want to go that late for Ice Cream. I figured that's something frivilous enough to wait 'til the next day. She was afraid to go at night by herself, but really wanted that Ice Cream. So I said, "Well you can take Oz with ya". She decided that sounded like a really good plan.
I told him, he was going with Mom to the store, so to watch out for her, for me. Normally he'd whine if he was forced to go somewhere without me, but he knew he had a job to do. He trotted along happily after Mom and jumped in the car. She said, he watched her all the way into the store and all the way back to the car. He didn't whine or bark, just watched. She also said there was a couple of men hanging out in the parking lot that she normally would have been quite wary of, but not with Oz on the job. She knew if they laid a hand on her, he'd make enough noise to wake the dead. Ah that Oz, he loves when you give him an important job to do.
So those are few examples. I just don't believe in trying to live life 100% safe, because the reality is, that's an illusion. You leave your dog at home to be safe, so somebody doesn't slip'em a poisoned hot dog and the house burns down with them in it. Just can't predict life, so might as well live it to the fullest.
Par...
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks