Dog locked in car.....

[megansmomma]

I had a HUGE fight yesterday in (the dreaded he!!) Walmart (that I keep swearing that I'm going to stay out of....yet can't seem to learn my lesson) over just this! I was in the garden department looking at flowers and I heard barking coming from a car somewhere in the parking lot. Under my breath I said"OMG who's got a dog locked in their car". This POS dirtbag says "he's mine so mind your own God... business". Then the fight began.....he told me that it's his dog and he could do "whatever the f^ck he wanted to do" and they leave the dog in the car ALL THE TIME and he's just fine! Then his wife jumped in and started yelling at me. I told him it was unsafe and illegal to keep your dog locked inside a hot car on an 80+ degree day and that I was calling he cops. His response was f^... You b...itch I've lived here for 30 years and you can't tell me what to do.......as if the length of time you reside in a given area give you certain privledges to break laws. So my foul mouth ran and I called him a POS f^... hillbilly scumbag (whoops) that didn't deserve to own an animal. But he headed to his car so I opted not to call the cop and I headed to the register shaking mad. As I was paying for my flowers his wife showed up behind me and made a comment about not being long and it was NBD. I'd had enough and didn't turn around but told her to shut her (whoops) mouth.

Here's the thing about this entire incident. I wouldn't have had a problem with leaving the dog in the car and being 50' away while shopping outside if they had left the car running with the air running. When I got into my car the thermostat on my mirror said 98°. He was still sitting with the dog while his wife was inside but he didn't allow the dog out of the Old Caravan.....reason I mention the type of car is that the only windows that really open are the front. Poor dog

Not one Walmart employee called a manager or offered any assistance to me during this screaming fight....on my way out I went up to the girl watering plants and asked why she didn't call for help. She ignored me! Like I hadn't even spoken to her. I'm still mad about her attitude.

Here's IL Law:
Illinois 510 ILCS 70/7.1 Any animal Confine any animal in a motor vehicle in such a manner that places it in a life or health threatening situation by exposure to a prolonged period of extreme heat or cold, without proper ventilation or other protection from such heat or cold.
A person convicted of violating this Section is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.

A second or subsequent violation is a Class B misdemeanor.

An animal control officer, law enforcement officer, or Department investigator has authority to enter such motor vehicle by any reasonable means under the circumstances after making a reasonable effort to locate the owner or other person responsible.

[Lisa and Pic]

Thank you for being this dog's mighty advocate! You might have saved his life and good for you.

[My Sophie Girl]

You sound so much like me. Some people should just not own dogs! Thanks for sticking up for what you believe in.

[megansmomma]

I've called the police in the past when I've seen dogs left inside cars. I would have yesterday too. Actually, it would have been a good lesson for these two if the cops would have showed up and set them straight regarding IL laws. Now they will just continue to leave the poor thing in the car because they think they're correct.

[matese]

I went through the very same thing last July, in WAL MART parking lot. I pulled into an empty spot, the car parked next to me had 2 big dogs inside, windows closed tight. But, there were ppl stopping and looking at the car making comments. I got out, saw the person that collects the carts, told him do you know there are 2 dogs in that car with the windows closed . He said they announced over the speaker the plate number for the person to come to cust. service desk. I was standing there with 5 other ppl,all were upset about the dogs. I wrote the plate # down, with all this it was about 10 minutes and no one had come to the car. I called 911, told them the story, gave them the plate # they were sending a patrol car over, so I waited. 10 minutes later, man, wife and 4 small kids came to the car with a shopping cart full of groceries. There are still ppl hanging around this car. I get out and tell them in a some what controlled voice the danger of leaving dogs in a car, in the heat, with no open windows. They look at me with a blank face, like they have no idea what I am talking about. I ask them would they leave their kids in the car, in the heat with no open windows, they say no, by this time they opened the hatchback of the car, the dogs were trying to jump out. Not going to go into the rest of this, just commenting on the ignorance of some dog owners. I told them to treat their dogs like they would their children. I can only pray that day they learned ppl are concerned about their animals, and will take action.I also told them I had called the police and gave them their plate number.

[Wylie's Mom]

Good for you for speaking up!

Here in AZ, we can call the cops when we see a dog in a hot car - and I've done it SEVERAL times, sadly.

And btw, it once happened at a Walmart - and I went up to the Walmart security officer and asked him to do something, he said he couldn't - I told him about the law, but he still wouldn't do anything so I called the cops myself. That Monday, I called and spoke to the Manager of the Walfart and told her what happened and how I felt about the fact that NO ONE working at Walmart would do a thing. She said the employees were 100% in the wrong and that she was going to talk to the whole store about it at the next meeting.

So, if I were you - I'd call and speak w/ the main manager on Monday to let them know how their employees behaved.

[OwnedByJezebel]

When you see something like this, is this considered and acceptable use of calling 9-1-1, or do you have to call another number? Just wondering for future reference.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by OwnedByJezebel

When you see something like this, is this considered and acceptable use of calling 9-1-1, or do you have to call another number? Just wondering for future reference.

You have to check your city/state law regarding this. Here in AZ, we can call 911. See this link:

Table of State Laws for Animals in Parked Cars

[Lovetodream88]

Such a jerk! We had a cop who was out the other day and heard barking coming from a car and found the car and an 11 week old pit puppy then found the owner. The owner was WORKING and left the puppy in the car when it was over 80. The cop called animal control and the pup was taken away and the man is waiting trial. Who does that kind of crap!

[windwalker]

Thanks for posting the law, I thought anybody could break out the window, oops. Been around several civilian "Rescues" till PD showed because of my job, Tucson PD always Cited the owner and never did anything to the rescuer. I would have busted out a window and ended up with the one PD that would have arrested me, lol. Heck I was an accessary once, kept the dog occupied away from the window they were breaking in so they could get in and unlock a door where the dog was and away from the glass.

[Bellabean]

Sad that so few states, including my own, even have a law.

[megansmomma]

I do think I'll call on Monday and talk to a manager. It was a bad situation and someone should have intervened.

As the laws, the link that Ann posted are the actual state laws. But a lot of different towns have their own citations which are different. So even if your state is not listed having laws that does not mean the police can't be called.

[Rhetts_mama]

I've called a few times and always had a quick response. I wouldn't hesitate to break a window if I saw a dog in crisis. I'd rather live with the consequences of a vandalism charge than have a dead dog on my conscience.

I have to say that I love our sheriff's deputies around here. Multiple times I have witnessed them stop traffic to rescue dogs, allow chickens to cross and even move turtles out of the road.

Jody- you are braver than I am. The minute that jerk would have raised his voice to me, I would have been on the phone to 911!

[megansmomma]

Originally Posted by Rhetts_mama

I've called a few times and always had a quick response. I wouldn't hesitate to break a window if I saw a dog in crisis. I'd rather live with the consequences of a vandalism charge than have a dead dog on my conscience.

I have to say that I love our sheriff's deputies around here. Multiple times I have witnessed them stop traffic to rescue dogs, allow chickens to cross and even move turtles out of the road.

Jody- you are braver than I am. The minute that jerk would have raised his voice to me, I would have been on the phone to 911!

I even took a couple of pictures of the dirt bad......call me nuts.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Maybe they tell their employees to stay out of verbal disagreements between patrons for many reasons, mostly to do with legal issues and the likelihood of the clerk getting injured should an angry patron assault them, draw a weapon or to prevent lawsuits - since some people will sue a big business over any slight they perceive, such as public humiliation, etc. If it had come to physical blows, the employees are probably instructed to call security or the police, depending upon the nature of the fracas, but not involve themselves for their own personal safety as they are only clerks and not trained or paid to risk dealing with those types of incidents.

Hopefully this Jerk and Mrs. Jerk will think next time B4 leaving their dog in a hot car - but probably not. Somebody who is that thoughtless, hearing and reading as we all do constantly about dogs and children dying in hot cars and still do it, is probably never going to suddenly become a responsible dog owner and their poor dogs live or die on a whim of theirs sometimes. And why the virulence of their response? Sounds like overkill on their part! What was they so dang angry about - you were trying to help his own dog!!! "See something, say something" - the public is responsible for speaking up when it sees a wrong in the making!

But I'm so glad you spoke up for the dog and hopefully some of the others standing nearby who witnessed this will think about being called out next time they are apt to leave their own dog in the hot car for fear of having someone like you around to call them out. A dogs only voice after all is our own.