Would you ever leave dog in car overnight?

[Righttoo]

I am thinking on friends/family driveway, or small quiet hotel?

I remember my parents doing this occasionally but not sure if’s considered an ok thing to do.

we live in Scotland so not many warm nights where heat is too much. Wouldn’t do it then obviously

I have to say I’m really shocked that so many people do this and think it’s acceptable. If I saw a dog alone in a car overnight I would ring the police!

How could you even consider doing that?

I had three dogs ( all passed now) and I never even left them at home alone for more than 4 hours at a time. This is awful, my dogs would have gone utterly berserk.

Would you leave children in a car overnight alone ? My dogs were my family, not objects.

Seriously? There are circumstances in which I'd do that, but plenty where I wouldn't.

A few months ago I left my younger dog in the car, in shade, locked in, adequate ventilation, other people from the same dog club about, and buggered off with the older one for a couple of hours. Would you call the police then?

Yes - I absolutely would @EdithStourton. I like to think most people would do the same.

Guidance is that dogs shouldn't be left alone in cars for long periods no matter the temperature or the circumstance.

If your plans aren't suitable it your accommodation doesn't allow dogs then you make alternative arrangements 🤷‍♀️

Finally, some common sense!

Yes, once you're at a point in the year that dog would be going to bed after dark and up before it has a chance to get properly hot (so like now to April in Scotland...). Not if it's proper freezing either obviously but assuming a full coated medium/large breed they're generally better insulated than we are.

No different to being in the utility room for a similar length of time unless the car crate is too small!

Obviously would be aware of visibility, shade etc and risk assess each time on the exact circumstances but it is not a blanket no.

Old dog always slept in the car at inlaw's house as he hated it for some reason, any time we had him in the house he was really unsettled, crying, digging up the floor but chill as anything in the car - we used to have to get him up compared with stressed dog in the house if we were there in summer/deep winter! Never worked out what he hated about sleeping in that house either, was fine in all of our various houses and many other friends' places...

Why would you waste police time doing that, unless it was hot weather ? It's not illegal to leave a dog in a car.

@BlueGrackle because it doesn't have to be hot to be dangerous 🙄

No different to being in the utility room for a similar length of time unless the car crate is too small!

It's completely different 🙈

It's no different to crating a dog. I'm shocked that you think that this is an appropriate use of police resources.

@BlueGrackle you can be shocked then, I guess.

It's also vastly different to a crate.

It really isn’t.

A crate in a locked, temperature controlled house with humans around for company is nothing like a dog being locked alone in a car with no supervision or temperature control.

But you do you - your dog and your choice but be prepared for other people to intervene if they don't agree with what you're doing. The police can (and do) smash car windows and take dogs that have been locked inside.

Be interested to know how the police react to the non events you report.

I've reported dogs locked in cars to the police and both times they stayed and gave the owners a massive bollocking, so I'm not really bothered what anyone else thinks about it.

My conscience wouldn't let me ignore a dog locked in a car for a long period of time.

If you're confident that what you're doing is safe and fine for your dogs, surely you don't need to worry about being reported anyway?

Presumably for dogs in hot cars during summer months, not a dog in a cool well ventilated car.

I’m not in the slightest bit worried about the police attending. I’d be giving them a piece of my mind if they thought attending a call out to a dog on a cool day, in a well ventilated car warranted a visit and hopefully they’d be having words with the busy body responsible.

Everyone is going to make different decisions. I have been in a position where I have discussed putting my dog to sleep with my vet because of entrenched behavioural issues and resource guarding.

I have chosen not to do that so far, and a huge part of my life is approximately managing risk. But I don't want to live my life trapped as a prisoner in my own home 365 days a year with my dog either. This is a trade off decision I am ok with, and I would be alerted if there were any issues through my dog monitoring app.

Appropriately managing risk.

The police don't act just because someone happens to have reported something - they come out, see the situation for themselves and make their own assessment.

So if you're doing noting wrong and your dog is safe and secure, it shouldn't matter if someone has reported you, surely?

But if the police do attend and decide that what you're doing is unacceptable then they'll deal with it accordingly 🤷‍♀️

Yes.

On one occasion when we were staying with friends, got there to find our dog and theirs would not settle together or even if ours was even in the house. So ours slept in the car. No problem.

On another occasion, while dog sitting for a friend who asked us take her away hill walking. The supposedly dog friendly B&B wasn't, but we were on an island and couldn't get back. Spoke with friend, dog was used to being overnight in a car when he was off hill walking. This was about 30 years ago before everyone decided dogs had to be allowed everywhere.

On a cross channel ferry on an overnight (about 5-6 hour) crossing, because that was the policy. Probably did that 4 times.

I also used to take my dog into work with me, she sat in her crate in the boot of the car in an underground carpark and we went for a long walk at lunchtime. She was much happier with that than being left at home until I found a dog walker who could manage her. When we got her, she was able to go to work with my H, before anyone comes at me for having a dog and a job!

But I don't want to live my life trapped as a prisoner in my own home 365 days a year with my dog either. This is a trade off decision I am ok with

Each to their own, but there are other ways of keeping your dog safe that don't involve leaving them alone all night in a car.

If you truly believe that leaving your dog alone in a car all night is okay, surely it doesn't matter if someone reports you? Because the police would come out, find that everything is as it should be and carry on with their day/night.

If my dog had been in the car, and someone had tried to steal it, the whole village would be awake.

Abc yes, temp controls malfunction, but this isn't mid summer in Texas. We are talking about a border collie on a coolish night in Scotland.