Most likely a contentious issue; but as a new dog owner and am leaning to look after the awesome dude. I thought I’d tap in to STW views to correct me if I’m totally out of order especially after today’s run in with a very opinionated couple!

Had an awesome forest walk with the dude; smiles all round, thought I’d stop at the local shop for supplies on the way home so I left him in the boot for 2mins..literally no longer than that yet I had the pleaser of a longer than 2min confrontation with a very opinionated couple who seemed to think any length was not allowed.

Obviously I’ve consulted the RSPCA website and no surprise they just say don’t leave them.

Other websites talk about the time it takes for a car to become an oven; of which 2 mins is certainly not enough.

Personally I don’t think I was in the wrong. I would never leave him in any real harm; but as a conscientious person I want to know if I was wrong.

It’s warm at the mo. On my car I can switch off the internal sensors that allows me to leave the windows open an inch or 2 but leave the car locked and otherwise alarmed. I used to have a convertible I’d routinely leave with the roof down so it doesn’t bother me if the car is ‘open’.  I wouldn’t leave my dog for more than a few minutes in broad sunlight even so.

Otherwise, well you know what they say about opinions. Just say thanks for your concern and go about your business.

Your call, and obviously totally dependent on conditions. TBH in today’s weather round here, I’d have been OK to leave Doug in the car for two minutes with windows open while I popped into the local shop. He’s an overly pampered pooch generally TBH, but would have been fine to cope with that.

Not sure the STW canine monitoring crew will necessarily agree though…

It is one of those issue that will always attract directly opposing POV; I know he was in zero danger but just having people confront you is such a arse.

On the plus side I managed to make a vid of him running local trails me on the bike.

It’s tricky, I wouldn’t leave mine in the car on his own as he’d probably eat it. But assuming he didn’t a couple of minutes in today’s overcast weather with the windows down, no problem.

TBF there has been a bit of a push about dogs dying in cars on social media recently, for me anyway. The couple were ultimately trying to do the right thing.

Hmmm, I make every effort NOT to leave my dog in the car in warm/hot weather, particularly in direct sunlight.
What can seem like a quick visit to a shop can easily turn into a longer visit if there’s a queue at the til or some other random delay…

Try to park in the shade or use an underground car park if available, and have water available. Or if there’s two of you in the car, one stays with the car and it’s left fully open (or dog taken for a short walk in the shade).

Generally I wouldn’t for any length of time but in these circumstances it sounds totally fine. I would always find a shady spot, leave the windows open a smidge, and make sure he’s had a drink.

On a blazing hot day I wouldn’t though, or even do a long car journey with him as I don’t think the air con does anything to cool the boot. That said, at home he’ll happily choose to lie in the sun baking himself all day and not touch his water, my dog is daft!

One of the “joys” of dog ownership is unsolicited advice from strangers. We regularly get medical advice for our dog that goes against what his vet has recommended. As to leaving them in cars it’s a judgement call. On a sunny day I’ve driven round a car park, not found any shade, so left without stopping. If it’s overcast or there’s some shade then leaving it for a few mins is fine.

As above depends

If someone is giving you absolutes regardless of circumstance theyre full of shit

The only reason I wouldn’t leave a dog in a car alone is because of the risk of someone stealing it.
2 minutes in a car is hardly going to cause a dog harm as presumably it is in that very same car for the rest of the drive home.

The issue is that passers by do not know how long the dog has been in the car for so could easily think the dog is in distress and do something about it. I’ve personally put through windows to get dogs out of cars a few times now on hot days, the latest one was at BPW after a collie was left in a Caravelle on a baking hot day. It was panting profusely, had no obvious access to water and was srabbling at the door to get out. A quick phone call to the police and they said smash the window so I did. The owner was not happy at all but I did the right thing as the dog was very hot to the touch so I was happy to have done the right thing. Another one was outside my local Sainsbury’s where an obviously elderly couple left their King Charles Spaniel in their Honda, it was showing signs of stress too. The trolley boy got a tannoy announcement done and after 15 minutes of waiting the window was smashed again after calling the police.

My first one was in the Brecon Beacons where a Golden Retriever had been left in a Mondeo for a few hours on a cloudy day. A few people were concerned about it so I phoned the police and then found out that as long as you have reasonable grounds to believe the dog is in danger it is legal to break in. I’ve always phoned the police first and in these days a short video of the dog in obvious distress will cover you before smashing a window to unlock the car. People can also be prosecuted for animal cruelty too, the one at Sainsbury’s was after they did the exact same thing a few times and someone from the local dog rescue place saw it and informed the RSPCA.

Every time I’ve put a window through its been after a good 10-15 minutes of trying to find the owner before taking action but some people might not wait, especially after the current advertising campaign. While 2-3 minutes in the shade with a window cracked open is perfectly fine I’d always err on the side of caution and go to the shops without the dog later.

I wouldn’t but only because as described above, you’ll come out to find someone berating you relentlessly about it, or they’ve already reported you to the police, or they’ve actually smashed the window.

I know you can leave the aircon on in some cars and Tesla have a message you can display on the big dashboard screen to say “Aircon on, temperature is [xxx], the dog is fine”.

I would have found that totally acceptable. Some people just get a kick out of telling other people what to do.

I let Bert drive when I go to the shops, he leaves the Aircon running for himself.

It’s warm at the mo.

Depends where you are, it’s barely in double figures up north.

On a hot day it’s a definite no, for any length of time. The car can heat quicker than you think.

If it’s warm enough to question it, you probably shouldn’t, because the car can heat quicker (and more) than you think.

If it’s cool enough, and you’re gone for a couple of minutes, I don’t see the problem.

… leave the car locked and otherwise alarmed.

This generally leads to the alarm going off in my experience, and a confused dog looking out of the window at you.

As a new dog owner I’m surprised by how many people feel the need to comment negatively yet also how awesome the dog community is.

Getting to know regular dog walks on our usual route is great; especially as they get to know us and the training we’re putting in with Frodo (a rescue beagle)…he loves to howl if he doesn’t get to play with other dogs.

Alternatively you could tie your dog up outside the shop you are popping into (like in the old days). Again, chances of dog being there when you get back may be lower than in those old days…

Mine is with me most of the time, I use car parks in the shade but won’t stop if very hot.

Someone I know keeps his in his builders van all day long while he’s doing jobs. Says he loves his dog, but must get so hot. He was in the supermarket getting a lecture from the staff there cos his dog was in the van on the 40C day.

Others have any said it really, depends. Cool day, shade or overcast then yeah problem. Hot sunny day then it’s different matter, cars can get very hot very quickly.

Ours gets left in the van for up to a few hours but it’s well insulated, heated in the winter, has a big fan and skylight on the roof and has a camera and temperature monitor we can keep an eye on remotely – my main worry is someone will know he’s in there and break the window despite me knowing it’s a cool 15*C inside.

tbh I think he enjoys the peace when we’re not there 🤣

I will not take the risk with either my dogs or children.

Couple of minutes in the shade with the windows down? What’s the issue? You could be sat in the car waiting whilst your passenger goes into the shop to the same effect. I park the car so the dog cage is in the shade anyway.

The issue is that passers by do not know how long the dog has been in the car for so could easily think the dog is in distress and do something about it.

This. My wife stopped outside the library literally to return some books. Returned to find a ‘concerned’ passer by who started lecturing her about leaving dogs in hot cars. She doesn’t leave the dog in the car anymore.

Blimey we’ve left ours in the car for hours (E.g. while we have dinner on holiday). Never realised it was an issue for anybody. Obviously not if it’s hot or anything, but if she’s had a good walk she’s as happy to hang out there as anywhere.

How is TJ supposed to kick it if it’s safely locked in a car? Won’t somebody think of the TeeJays?

@phil5556 what camera and temperature setup do you use? Was it already built in or something you’ve added on? How is it powered? Leisure battery?

As others have said so long as it’s shady and it’s minutes I can’t see the issue but you’ll always get people giving you their opinion whether it’s wanted or not. I currently get annoyed by the ‘oh it’s fine I don’t mind’ when I say yes you can say hello to the puppy but if he jumps up at you please ignore him and step away. It might be okay for you but the 5 year old who will ask next might not share your opinion, generally though people have them agreed with me when I’ve told them so.

I drove into an Aldi car park the other day with the pup, quite warm out and I was literally grabbing one or two things but there wasn’t a single dot of shade in the huge car park so I drove away.

Get a Tesla, use dog mode, sorted.

@GolfChick the camera is a Blink Mini and the temperature monitor is a Shelly Uni with 3 temperature probes, it also measures battery voltage to make sure the battery doesn’t get too low. Yes all runs from the leisure battery, uses very little power.

We already had a 4G MiFi router so was easy enough to add, the Uni needs 30mins with a soldering iron to get it set up.

If leaving the dog in the car, we tend to park appropriately and then use one of the tailgate ventilation things.

The Cool Dog Car Ventilation Tailgate Lock
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202609594088

Front windows open a crack, tailgate locked about 3″ open – nice draft through the van.

Public opinion on how you bring up your dogs/kids – how you drive – what you eat etc – sometimes their input is justified – sometimes they just need to go sort their own lives out.

My opinion. The people were right to confront you – but confront is not the right word if that’s what it is. Which might be them, might be you, might be both.

Societally, we seem to have degraded into confrontation and an inability to accept appropriate criticism. Refusing to admit mistakes and sticking to our guns is now standard, even if it’s clear we’re in the wrong. If a car pulls out in front of us on the road and we react in any way it can lead to the standoff instead of some simply holding a hand up to apologise – “you were going much too fast!!” and so on. I followed a car into a supermarket car park a few weeks back which had a brake light out, I didn’t know if they knew so as they pulled in to their spot I wound down the window, told them and was told to **** off and mnd my own business.

Back to the issue in question – dogs can overheat very quickly in hot cars and they probably didn’t know how long he’d been in there or whether you have any fancy temperature control or monitoring device. I’d rather they say something than walk past tutting if that prevents an accident. But in my utopian world the interaction then goes

– you shouldn’t really leave dogs in cars on hot days, they can overheat very quickly

– yes, I know but I’ve installed aircon and 3 monitoring devices so I can track fido’s statistics while I went into this shop for 2 minutes

– ah, OK, we didn’t know and we’d hate for the dog to suffer if you weren’t aware

– no, I understand completely and thankyou very much for your concern. Would you like to give him an organic dog treat while you’re here so you can see he’s OK?

I once left my dog in car for no more than 30 sec to run to a bank machine id parked 15 yards from, and got a ticking off

Thing is I’d rather there were such folks looking out for dogs than not, so all good with me

How is TJ supposed to kick it if it’s safely locked in a car?

By smashing the window as per some of the posters on this thread. It counts as a great day if you get to smash someone’s car window and kick their dog.

How could they see into the boot?

I can’t blame them for intervening, it was surely well-meaning. Honestly, more people should do this.

Having a lengthy roadside argument about it though, well, that takes two parties and there are no winners here. They should’ve wound their necks in once they were told they were in error, you should’ve just driven off if they weren’t having that.

On a hot day it’s a definite no, for any length of time. The car can heat quicker than you think.

If it’s warm enough to question it, you probably shouldn’t, because the car can heat quicker (and more) than you think.

If it’s cool enough, and you’re gone for a couple of minutes, I don’t see the problem.

Pretty much my thoughts. Also (as ever) jonv is on the money.

I’d be more concerned with the uncontrolled dog on bike trails more than if you were cooking it in the car unless your new dog came fully trained to not get in the way of other trail users while the only control you have over it is by voice from your saddle

On the plus side I managed to make a vid of him running local trails me on the bike.

I’m in the if you have to question it it’s too hot camp. I’ll often drive home and drop the dog off then go and do want I have to do.

Re people looking in your car – drug dealer tints are what you need!! 🤣🤣

I tend not to leave the dog in the car, primarily because of the utter nutjobs out there who take it upon themselves to tan the car window in because “he looked a bit warm”. Thanks very much you ****, I do know how to look after a dog, but now he’s escaped onto the road and I need to get my car window replaced.

The casual assumption that “you’re a complete moron, and I, a self-elected moral arbiter, have decided you don’t know how to look after an animal” is a large cause of the problem here, both in “I have decided to shove a brick through your car”, but also in the confrontational aspect of “you can’t leave your dog in the car!!!”

The casual assumption that “you’re a complete moron, and I, a self-elected moral arbiter, have decided you don’t know how to look after an animal” is a large cause of the problem here, both in “I have decided to shove a brick through your car”, but also in the confrontational aspect of “you can’t leave your dog in the car!!!”

Hot weather,dog in car,dogs in cars die and RSPCA telling you not to do it.

To the casual observer the default would be you don’t know how to look after an animal since the guidelines are don’t leave the dog in the car, nothing to being a moral self elected arbitrator 🙂

We wouldn’t be having this conversation if dogs hadn’t died in cars. 🙁

As said above its good that people are looking out for dogs as opposed to leaving it too late after assuming the owners had only popped into the shop for 2 mins.

I’d never leave my dog in the car as the fecker would probably drive off in it for giggles.

The correct answer is “don’t worry – we left him a massive bowl of chocolate ice cream”