riding in the back of a truck

[jansop]

Booker went to school yesterday.

We were finishing up, and someone was yelling "help" in a timid voice. No one was really paying attention, we were listening to the trainer. This lady got out of her truck and screamed, "she needs help", so the trainer ran around the corner.

Sure enough, there's this big rotweiller (spelling??) in the back of a truck and the owner was pulling at something. The trainer jumps into the truck bed. Apparently the rotweiller's collar was "caught" on something and was choking. He was having a horrible time breathing.

The trainer yelled that she needed a knife. Everyone just stands there. I'm thinking this dog is gonna choke to death if I don't do something. I still had Booker on his leash. I'm jerking Booker (poor Booker, he's not quite understanding why I'm pulling so hard on his leash) while running into the humane society shelter.

Once inside the shelter, I'm yelling at the top of my lungs....."need a knife, quick"!!!!! This lady comes walking down the hall, while I'm screaming. Not knowing what's going on, she wants to know why this strange, screaming lady (me)....that's dragging her poor Booker behind her..... is wanting a knife.

To make a long story short. The shelter worker ran outside with the knife, gave it to the trainer, and the trainer cut the dog free. This poor dog, after being freed, was literally gasping for air, not a pleasant sight.

They carried the poor dog to a big tub of water (90 degrees outside) and cupped cool water over him. They were still doing this when I left Booker's class. I'll have to wait til next Sat. to see how the rotweiller (sp?) is.

I've always hated seeing a dog in a truck bed. This incident just makes me hate it more...............jan

[bradl]

Oh my, glad it eventually worked out before the poor dog strangled to death. Yikes.

I've always hated seeing a dog in a truck bed.

Me too. On top of the lack of protection in an accident, the lack of tie-downs in some cases (which carries its own danger, as you just pointed out), the airborne debris and fumes, the potential for wind damage to the eyes, sometimes these poor dogs are left on plain metal pickup beds - it's got to be like a frying pan in there. I've heard of Cairn person in CA who keeps a bunch of old ratty blankets in her car so she can toss one in the back of trucks whenever she spots some poor dog in parking lot in an empty pickup bed - which apparently is far more often than one would care to imagine. She said its pitiful to see them scramble sometimes to get relief from the hot floor.

Knowing this person I have no doubt the owners get an earful if she spots them.

[Scully'sMom]

OMG, that poor Rottie!! Some people just don't deserve to have animals. I hope the Rottie is doing alright - thank God you all got there in time.

[kayharley]

Oh that is horrible! And I'll bet you and Booker were also quite tramatized by witnessing it all. I hope his owner learned a valuable lesson. People can be such idiots!

A couple weeks ago as I was leaving our supermarket parking lot I saw an older lady with a small dog in her back seat pull into a handicapped spot. The temp outside was in the 90's like it's been for most of our summer. I pulled over and watched to see what she was going to do. Sure enough she opens the back window no more than an inch or two, shuts the doors, locks the car and proceeds to go into the store.

Well, I got out of my car and yelled at her to please stop. I asked her if she knew what was going to happen to her little dog being couped up in the sweltering car while she did her shopping? She says "nothing..I parked in the shade!" Yeah, the shade of a new sapling that was 6' tall.

I told her to either take her dog home or take her dog with her but if she left it in the car I was calling the police who would think nothing of breaking the car window and arresting her for cruelty to animals. She went to the car, picked up the dog and walked into the grocery store with him.

I waited to see if she'd come back out thinking I left but she didn't. I fumed about it all day

[Guest mrskti]

Good for you Kayharley, I would have done the same. THe sad thing is though that she'll do it again and again.....poor puppy.

[toomanypaws]

I'm glad the Rottie was ok and I hope the owner learned a lesson, but unfortunately the dog's probably back riding in the pick up. Some people just don't have any common sense. I see dogs in the back of pick ups all the time around here and my dh has done surgery on several who have fallen out and broke bones or were hit by another vehicle and had lacerations, some severe. The worse for me is the pick up beds that have that storage bin up by the cab that the dog will jump up on and be above the sides w/ his head almost towering over the cab. I do wish the laws would crack down on this as I see it as animal cruelty.

[Guest posting as: pepandfriend's m]

Regarding the dogs that are put in the back of pickups, and the pets that are left in cars:

The legislature here has vetoed a couple of times a law prohibiting carrying dogs in the back of pickups. It makes me so mad to see a dog who could easily get tossed out, not to even mention the heat in central AZ right now. The legislature DID recently pass a law allowing good Samaritans to break windows to rescue kids left in closed cars, and I think pets were included in that too. The issue with kids in closed cars has become really tragic -- it has happened here each month this summer.

I saw a little poodle left in a closed car outside a Walgreen's much earlier this summer -- maybe it was in the high 80s-low 90s -- just as the driver came out to get in the car. I confess that I really yelled at her that she could have killed the dog, but I was SO MAD and upset. She didn't respond but got in the car and drove off. Maybe she would remember and get scared that some crazy lady (or guy) would scream at her again if she did that-- I just hope it had some effect at least.

And good for you, KayHarley!

Pam (posting as pepandfriend's mom)

[sbudd]

I absolutely HATE seeing dogs in the back of trucks! My ex used to do that with our rottie & it always made a nervous wreck out of me. I would open the back slider & hold onto his collar (making my ex mad). One time the rottie actually jumped out of the back after another dog & hurt his legs. Dumb people!

[Eliz222]

It makes me very sad to see dogs in the back of trucks too....what are they thinking? All it takes is one hard stop and the dog will fly out of the back....Argh!

I was at Petsmart a few months ago...in the spring....and saw a dog in a locked car. I hesitated about calling the store, so I waited a min to see if anyone came out. Sure enough, the owner came out carrying a few bags of stuff. I wish I had had the guts to get out of my car, but you just never know about strangers......but if she hadn't left the car within another min, I was going to call the store and have her paged...and if she didn't respond, I would have called the police.

[Scully'sMom]

Good for all you fighters out there!! I'd probably get my lights punched out but I'd be causing a stink if I saw the same things.

[Guest girliejr]

I called the police on people once who left their Chihuahua in a hot car in a mall parking lot. I didn't see the people go in, so I have no idea how long the poor dog had been in the car. I could hear the dog barking (the windows were cracked about an inch on each side) and he was panting quite a bit (we live in TEXAS!!) because it was about 90 or better that day.

First the mall security comes out and does nothing, so I told them I was going to call the real police (which I already had and they would not come). A police office (who patrols the mall) came out and looked at the dog and told me there was nothing he could do since "the dog appears to be ok". I think I said some thing to the effect of "If it were your CHILD would you want to wait until your child is DEAD before you do anything about it?!?!?!" He had the audicity to say, "this is a dog, not a child" so I stormed off and called him a *#@*!!

I live in Dallas and I guess it is too big for cops to worry about dogs in cars. All I could do was hope that little Chihuahua was ok (the cop said he would keep his eye on it, but who knows if he did!) and go home and hug Jack and tell him how lucky he is because not everyone takes good care of their animals out there!!

[CathyAnn]

Why is it illegal to have kids ride in the back of trucks or be left in hot cars and not DOGS??? The mentality of "oh well, they're JUST dogs" drives me nuts!!

If I remember right, you can be ticketed here for leaving dogs in hot cars? But, I still see them in the back of pickups all the time.

Cathy

[Marmielin]

We never take Tink and leave her in a hot car. We took her during cooler weather and left her while we ate in a restaurant etc. But, we have about decided not to do that anymore either because we are concerned someone will steal her. She likes to sit up on the dashboard and look out - in plain sight of anyone walking by. So, I guess she will be stuck at home. I would appreciate input from others about taking them during cool - safe - weather. Do you let yours stay in the car alone while you are unable to watch the car?

LindaB

[kayharley]

Sometimes a digital camera can be a Godsend....

A picture of a hot car, widows down an inch, panting dog, license plate showing. Then you smash the window of the car to retrieve the poor dog from a cruel and horrible death and that picture serves your defense in court. Witnesses always help too.

I don't know about Texas but here in CT our police will gladly come to aid of animals in bad situations. Even at our local fair we have security who will think nothing of smashing car windows to retrieve pets that idiots leave in their cars while they feed their faces with greasy french fries and cotton candy! The car descripton and plate number comes over the loudspeaker first but they have only minutes to show up at their car.

UGH....I can see I'm soon to be on a rampage over this thread!

[bradl]

Don't read this then:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7631 (site has pop-up, sorry)

Apparently the heat can build up fast and to much higher temps than you might expect, even on days that aren't particularly hot. And leaving windows cracked has little effect.