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20 February 2015

Friday Question from the Book of Questions Fast forward to this coming summer, when hopefully even the East Coast will be warm again. If you find yourself in a parking lot at a large shopping center and see a dog in apparent distress from the heat in a car with closed windows and locked doors, what will you do?

post by: bearwife at: 19:49 | 16 comments

I am one of those people who is quite aggressive about finding children or animals in hot locked cars. I'd be running inside for a PA announcement, and if that didn't solve the situation quickly, I'd be on the phone to 911 and also considering breaking the windows of the car.

posted by bearwife 20 February | 19:52

I would call the police.

posted by amro 20 February | 20:42

Oh, and don't break the car windows. Call the cops. Even if you're doing a good deed, you' would still also be committing a crime.

posted by amro 20 February | 20:49

I'd break the windows. Sorry amro.

posted by arse_hat 20 February | 20:57

Why, if there's the alternative of calling the police?

posted by amro 20 February | 21:09

I'd wait, like, 3 minutes, hoping someone was coming, but if they didn't, I would call the cops. Wouldn't breaking the window possibly injure the dog, me, or one of the coming rescuers? I wonder if I even could break a car window. Would my snow brush be strong enough?

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 20 February | 22:14

I would call the police after breaking the window. Get the dog out first.

posted by arse_hat 20 February | 22:17

I'd call the cops and then break the window. By the time you can see "apparent distress" you're pretty late in the game.

posted by Miko 20 February | 23:51

I would call the police, then break the window if I felt there was any risk. You may only have six minutes from the door being closed before the dog is dead. By the time a dog is in distress, there's no time to spare.

Here, with all the publicity about how dangerous this is, I might accidentally break a few other windows in the car as well. There's no excuse for locking pets in a hot car.

posted by dg 21 February | 05:07

In our state, not a crime to cause damage without malicious intent. I'd take my chances later with a judge or jury anyway.

posted by bearwife 21 February | 16:49

TPS has a good point - I don't know that I have anything in my car with which to break a car window even if I wanted to.

posted by amro 21 February | 19:07

Use your car.

posted by Hugh Janus 22 February | 00:52

I believe car glass is designed to shatter (in case your head/body hits it in an accident -- you want it to give). Not that hard to break (a kickball from gym class next to my school parking lot took out my rear window last year, no problem). Just break that sucker and get the dog out. The jack in your trunk would do it.

posted by Pips 22 February | 01:24

(The glass is a special kind of glass, too -- shatters into a gazillion tiny dull pieces. Again, in case of accidents.)

posted by Pips 22 February | 01:30

What the hell is Jack doing in the trunk, Pips?

posted by Hugh Janus 22 February | 01:31

Eating his Christmas pie. : )

posted by Pips 22 February | 01:34

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