I think the best thing to do is leave the dog at home while you're running errands. That way they're not left in the car

I'm looking into purchasing a cooling vest for Danke, for our training days.
If I absolutely HAD to leave a dog in a car (an emergency situation- say I stopped to render aid to an injured motorist... or something), it would ideally be with the A/C running, and enough gas to keep it running until I returned.

Ultimately though, I don't run errands with my dog, unless the dog can come along, and not be left in the car.

If I must leave him alone I will leave the AC running whenever possible.

However if you have a remote-start alarm system in your vehicle, you can actually leave the vehicle running with the ac on. Some of the higher quality alarm systems can be programmed to run for a set length of time say an hour or so. Some even nicer alarm systems actually have like a thermostat which will either turn the vehicle on along with the ac if it's to hot or turn on the heater in the winter if it's too cold.

If someone breaks the window thinking they will take your car well, first they have to deal with the dog but secondly they will need the actual key other-wise the vehicle will shut off, and be useless.

I did not mention brand names cuz I didn't want to get in trouble with the mods, pm if interested.

One of my next investments

I have the cooling vests and a remote start!

The vest is a great help when at training. There are not a lot of options when one is at the field for 6 hours in the heat of the day. I have two cooling vests for each dog, one in the cooler or freezer and one on the dog. The vests are the type that heat from the undercarriage of the dog.

While at training it is not possible, economically or mechanically, to leave the AC running all day. We park in the shade, keep windows down (I have full window guards, like a patrol car, really neat and inordinately useful) and get the dogs out regularly to drink and swap vests. The dogs are walked and allowed to cool off after work and are put away in a relaxed state. I have also put them up in crates with a shade cover and one of those cool pads/beds in there to lie on.

When I am out running quick errands (Starbucks, or the dry cleaners, places where I’ll be in and out in less than ten min&hellip, I like to bring one of my dogs. I ALWAYS leave the windows up and the AC on. If the errand may run longer, the dogs stay home. The remote start option allows me to know if the motor has shut off, and will allow me to re-start it as well (but I do go check, just in case&hellip

Not to mention paging the handler/owner if the vehicle reaches a certain temp.

Then the vehicle can be started remotely or can start itself on non-response from the handler/owner.

Local PD has this now.

Fabulous system. JMHO.

I also park in the shade when training with the windows down partially, but after a bite session or something I will pump up the AC full blast for at least 10-15 minutes so as to encourage the dog to fully recuperate from the heat, then just leave the windows down.

I am interest in the full window guards you mentioned...are they easy to remove and replace or is it more of a permanent feature?

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

It angers me, right from the start that the word devestated in the title is placed in quotation marks, as if to imply that the Handlers AREN'T devastated.

This is not how I took the quotation marks - I took it to show the word was a direct quote from someone at the police department, and I don't doubt in any way the owner of the dogs is devastated. So was the mother who FORGOT to drop off her child at day care and went to work - leaving the child to die in the car. She was honestly devastated - but that does not change the fact there was horrendous neglect.

I am married to a retired police captain and I too have been furious when civilians jump to the conclusion that an officer is automatically at fault in a shooting, accident, etc... We expect our police officers to make split second decisions regarding life and death and then we have the luxury of sitting back, watching a video fifty times with no stress, and pick apart the situation. I trust police officers first in every situation as I do our military personnel. They automatically have my trust until the details tell me different.

However, I find this situation completely different - the dogs did not get in the car by themselves; someone left them there. Maybe the air conditioner had been running when they were left in the car and it broke - that is a possibility, but no mention was made of possible vehicle malfunction.

When rereading the article, the fact that NO information was provided which alluded to the possibility that this was not negligent was not given by even the police department; they were quoted as saying something to the effect that they would take steps to ensure this never happened again. To me, that sounds as if they acknowledged someone blew it.

If a civilian had been the owner of these dogs and not a police officer, would there have been the same anger at a supposed deliberately inflammatory article?

Again, though, we have zero knowledge.

I run errands w/dogs. I say to hell with gas prices and leave it running, all 5.7 liters of Hemi...A/C cranked!

I just leave it in plain sight of where I am (say I stop for a quick bite while running errands) so I can see if it were to shut off for some reason. The longest I have ever done this for was a lunch, and I just request to sit where I can see my car and make sure that all that lovely condensation is still dripping so I know it's still running and keeping whoever it may be nice and cool. I would never advise this for a long time or while in a store or mall somewhere you are not physically able to look at the car. Cars die sometimes.