Told off for leaving my dog in the car in the sun

[MischiefMaker]

Lady told me off for leaving my dog in car in the sun.

Popped in, left dog in car in the carpark of outdoor shopping centre. She was on the front seat. Yes it was sunny and warm yesterday.

Came out, lady calls excuse me. I didn't know she was talking to me, carried on to the car. She shouts again excuse me, I turn around, she shouts from across the road you can't be leaving your dog in a car in the sun with the windows up.

I said my mum and sister are in the back etc.

Woman kept apologising, I said don't worry it's good you said something. She seemed embarrassed, but I was too because people were looking, probably thinking I left my dog alone! It must have shown in my face!
But it is good that there are people who will speak up. Just wish it hadn't been to me lol.

Why do I keep replaying this in my head and feeling mortified?!?

I'm sure my pup was looking very worried though because I had gone into KFC to pick up some chicken. 100% she would have been standing with her feet on the dashboard looking for me, and there's me trotting out with a bucket of KFC not a care in the world 😭🤣

No she shouldn’t . Always check . Some people are idiots and forget about their dogs , some people don’t realise how hot a car can become in a short space of time .
The OP was fine but some situations are not and one of your busy bodies may just save a life .

If you think “most dog owners love their dogs and treat them well” then you are delusional.

It’s going to be in the low thirties in the south east next week. I hope the “busy-bodies”, as you so arrogantly call them, are out in force.

I’m more confused there were people in the car with the dog, parked up in the sun but they still had all the windows up. Surely you still had a dog in a hot car with no windows open regardless who was in the back?

Aircon needs closed windows to work.

Yeah I got a (deserved) telling off once and learned that lesson the hard way. It's not obvious unless someone tells you so it's important to educate people politely and ideally, privately. She shouldn't have shouted at you across the street. I wouldn't leave the windows up on a hot day even if others are in the car. Dogs can't talk and tell you how uncomfortable they are so we have to work super hard to anticipate their needs. And that means educating ourselves on what their physiological needs are. It was nice to read how happy you were to be corrected on this (had you needed it). That's a good attitude to have.

You have an oddly backwards way of
telling your story OP.

I often leave my dog in the car but only because I can leave the air con on when I’m not in it. I can check the temperature via an app so I feel comfortable doing it when I know I’ll be a maximum of ten minutes doing something. I always worry that someone will smash a window in my car because they are worried about my dog.

It's great that people speak up...but tinted back windows throw everyone all the time.

Erm ... You don't think one of the adults would notice if the dog was getting distressed? Not to mention getting distressed themselves if it was that hot? Oh, and as they have opposing thumbs, they could even open a door?

Are you joking? Have you not read the stories, every year, when dogs are left in cars in summer and die from heat stroke, relatively quickly?

Your username must be a joke.

This person wasn't a busy body. She was a person concerned about a dog she saw in the car with the windows up in the heat. She apologised after.