to think my dog wasn't "locked in a hot car"

[Songofsixpence]

and he wasn't at any risk of "dying in minutes"

Lovely sunny day here yesterday so we decided to take the kids and dog out - go for a nice walk down to the beach, have a picnic, fly kites, etc just a nice day out

Didn't have much picnic-y stuff in so decided to grab some drinks and sandwiches/sausage rolls and whatnot from the supermarket on the way.

The car park has 2 levels, DH parked and he and the kids go into the shop, I stayed in car with dog. We're downstairs, so in the shade and I open the passenger door - we're off to one side at the end of a row so room to open the door wide and not be in anyone's way/take up another parking space.

Dog (on his lead) has clambered over me and got in and out/in and out/in and out of the car several times before he settles himself on the driver's seat, with his nose jammed in the gap where DH had the window open a bit.

We've been there about 10 minutes when a woman approaches my car with a security guard and seems really angry and starts having a go me for being an irresponsible dog owner, "dogs die in minutes shut in cars on hot days" I should be ashamed, stuff like that. The security points out the dog is not shut in the car, the door is open, he has no concerns. Woman is having none of it and starts shouting - she had seen dog "desperately trying to get air", she has our car reg number, she'll be reporting me to the police and the RSPCA. Both the security guard and I kept trying to say that the door was open, we were in the shade and I was right there with him. He was fine.

DH and the kids then came back, the security guard ushered the woman to one side and said not to worry, he'd deal with it, so we left - with her still shouting that she'd report us.

I know dogs can die in hot cars, but we were parked in the shade, the passenger door was wide open and we were only there 15 minutes or so, while it was lovely and sunny I wouldn't say it was hot, it was breezy and quite cool in the shade, and I was right there with him anyway, he could (and had several times) get out if he wanted to.

I don't agree that my dog was in any danger but I am a bit worried about it now

We also had neighbours who reported us for keeping our dog in a box in the garden.
They turned up expecting a dog in a small box for the size. What they found was the dog in the house with me and the box in the garden was a decent size kennel with run (this kind of thing ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51P0Ja05aiL.SX300.jpg ) which she only went in when I went out as she was a rescue who wasdestructive at the time.
Some people are nuts

Wow, she's lucky she has never come across my DM, she's always leaving her dog in the car with just the window open a crack

YANBU OP, try and forget about it.

You were obviously nbu because you were with dog.

If it were in sun and you were not there it would be different story - inside of car can reach 40 degrees in 15 minutes on hot day so I would always keep eye out for owner if I saw someone leaving dog in car on hot day and say something. I've been told to mind my own business before but I find it does the trick and you see them surreptitiously then taking dog out.

But this lady sounds mad as obviously in your case there was no need!

Just a note - RSPCA are not legally allowed to smash window to get dog out so if there actually was a dog in a hot car and no owner in sight you would need to phone police for this, not RSPCA.

I am sorry you got shouted at by this crazy person OP, you clearly did nothing wrong, but part of me is glad that there are people like that around who will give anyone who does look like leaving a dog in their car a very hard time.

It does upset me to see a dog or even more so a crying child in a car on a hot day and I always report if I think they have been there a while or look distressed. I have been known to sit in our car in car parks for as unfeasibly long time just watching and waiting

YouBetterWerk are you able to do anything about this? Sounds worrying.

She was bonkers, you were right there. Don't worry OP, I am positive that you did nothing wrong by sitting in a car with your dog.

You've done nothing wrong. The lady is obviously mentally ill - which is sad. The security guard saw the real situation instantly. It's not nice to be accused of something though. But try to feel sympathy rather than be affronted.

Of course you weren't unreasonable.

You were with the dog the whole time ensuring he was OK, windows and a door were open and you were hardly just waiting to watch him die of heatstroke right in front of your eyes. You would have got out with him before he showed any sign of distress.

Forget it. I doubt anything will come of it and you do have a witness in the security guard.

Thanks!

Just having a bit of a panic yesterday

I was right there with him, and no, I'm not going to just sit there and watch him suffer if he was too hot.

He could have got out any time he liked, but he has a bit of a thing about open car windows. He'll ignore open doors, and even the boot being wide open in favour of poking his nose out of a 2 inch wide gap if a window is open.

I'm just glad the security guard came out so I've got a witness if it does go any further.