…if you saw that someone had left their dog in their van whilst they went for a 2hr+ ride?
Trail centre car park, and the van was sign written with a brand associated with another sport.
The driver seems to be the owner of the brand. I saw them leave and I know that the route would have taken them 2 hrs+. I only noticed the dog when we returned.
It was well warm in S wales today, and I’m annoyed.
I’m not immediately keen on putting it over their social media, I did try and join a forum where they are members in the hope that the other members would self police somewhat but my post is awaiting approval and I strongly suspect it won’t be approved (I have a picture of the poor doggy in the van).

daily mail…… gotta be

a brand associated with another sport.

If it’s triathlon, flame them! FLAME THEM HARD!

Are you saying that being concerned for an animals welfare is daily mail-esque? 😐
Not sure I follow your logic.

Shirley it’s a bit late now? If the dog looked like it was in trouble I might have liberated it.

If it was really warm and the windows were all up, I’d check the dog, see if it was distressed, if so and no sign of owners I’d do what our friend did (she’s a veterinary practice manager on a work day) when she saw a dog in a hot car at some event with no sign of the owners. She called the police over. They faffed about. She said ‘break into the car’. They didn’t. She said I’m smashing the window then. And she did. Dogs can die in hot cars as you know, and can succumb very quickly depending on factors such as breed, thickness of coat etc.

To be fair, the dog looked happy but they do look a bit smiley when they pant!
I’m more concerned about the behaviour. The mutt may have been fine this time but that’s not to say he will be next time or the time after.
Some might think its trivial, but I don’t. It’s right out of order IMHO.

any ventilation in the van ?

parked out of direct sun ?

any water for the dog ?

If 3 “no”s, you’re entitled to have a word at the time, or get the animal out if it’s distressed (I’m assuming it wasn’t). Flaming now – not so sure

Someone did a car window down at our local supermarket last summer to rescue a dog. Think it all got a bit heated in the car park when the owner came back as he had genuinely only been gone a few minutes.

An inch of window open. Afan car park, so varying cover I suppose. The weather warmed up during the ride so it might not have seemed too warm at the start. It didn’t look distressed, but is it OK to lock the dog in the van while you go for a ride?

but is it OK to lock the dog in the van while you go for a ride?

If it’s not in any distress as a result, yes. It’s fine.

If the dog’s used to being on its own, and the three conditions already pointed out are met then why not? I imagine gypsies and other people who live in motorhomes, caravans etc must leave their dogs occasionally.

I’d guess that their intention was to take the thing for a walk afterwards – otherwise they’d have left at home.

Leaving a dog in a van for a couple of hours isn’t awful IMO, as long as the obvious dangers are covered, but then I’m not a dog owner so no idea what the effect would be on a physically comfortable animal – surely it’s possible that a dog can be happy on its own for that long ?

Yeah I suppose. Our van was bloody warm when we got back in it and seeing the little chap sat in the drivers seat (it only had the two front seats – small van) was disconcerting. I doubt the RSPCA would have been over the moon though.

seeing the little chap sat in the drivers seat (it only had the two front seats – small van) was disconcerting.

Well you didn’t mention that the dog was driving the van. In that case, yes, I would’ve said something.

I think it’s a pretty **** risk to take at this time of the year, personally. It’s all very well to say that as long as it was ok after the effect then yeah, knock yourself out, leave your dog in the van. Even with windows open a few inches, a little bit of sun heats a car/van up quite quickly. It’s nice to see no harm came to the animal but it would probably be safer left at home and lonely than potentially cooking in a van for a couple of hours.

Was it under shade/trees? How early? Still **** though

IMHO it depends
I used to leave my dog in the van but i lived in a van so had little choice and it had open vents and it was insulated. Occasionally she would go and sit up front to have a look for us coming home

I ended up with a sign in the window explaining all this as i got some abusive messages and one confrontation.

If it was really hot I would tie her up to a wheel with a rope and she would sit under the van . It was a classy look 😉

If they made no attempt to park in the shade on a bright summers day then i think I would say something everything else is one of those.

They probably weighed up which was worse; having a thread on stw written about them taking their dog on the trail or leaving it in the car and went with the latter.

Personally I think it’s rather mean and if you’re going to take your dog out to leave it in the car why take it out in the first place?

If I have to have the dog in the van during the summer I try and park in the shade then draw the curtains and fit the screen shade. I can then leave the front windows down slightly and I run the Eberspacher on the fan setting which circulates air around the van.
I’d still only leave him for 20min or so max, popping in to do some shopping on the way back from a walk or similar and if it’s properly baking hot or completely cloudless sky with no shade available I wouldn’t risk it.
If you have to risk cooking your dog so you can do what you want to do then you need to reassess whether your lifestyle choices are compatible with being a dog owner.

So the dog was fine.

But the owners need a good social media shaming to protect hypothetical future dogs against the sort of harm that did not befall the actual dog.

I think I’d be letting this one go, personally. But each to their own…

Tbh I never left our dog even for 5mins. I got out, he got out. Simple.

was it a local watersports related brand by any chance?