Max is one smart dog. When his owner forgot about him after leaving him in a hot car for an hour, he honked the car horn until he got her attention. Check out the video above to see how this 11-year-old Labrador retriever saved his own life by taking matters into his own paws. (Thank you to reader Candice Tullis for flagging us to this story.)
Unfortunately, Max is a rare breed. Too many dogs perish in hot cars every year, especially during the dog days of summer. Dogster “Gus ‘n Wally” left a request for an excellent blog topic under my post, How is Your Dog Beating the Heat? It’s a related question: Have you ever found a dog locked in a hot car? If so, what did you do, and what was your experience?
As Gus ‘n Wally wrote: “If you called the cops, were you disrespected or did they respond promptly to the call? Did you go into the store or restaurant or whatever where the car was parked and try to get an announcement over the PA system re: ‘dog in distress,’ and were you successful? Did anyone ever get threatened for reporting a dog in distress (I did, death threat!)? Do your local TV stations put public service announcements on air about not leaving kids and pets in cars in the heat – and if you asked them to what was their response?”
Gus ‘n Wally relates this incident: “I tried to get local PetSmart store to make announcement and follow up by posting heat-warning sign on store doors about this after discovering a black lab in severe distress in a black SUV on a 95 degree day in the parking lot at the local PetSmart. I was treated like I was some kind of a nut case by the PetSmart store manager! Does your local humane society take pro-active action by signs, announcements, etc., even telling people who to call and how to report this terrible problem? The people leaving dogs in hot cars simply do not think they are doing anything wrong, at least in my area….what gives???”
Yeah, what’s the story, Dogsters? Have you had success when finding a poor dog trapped in oven-like cars? What have you done? Were you thanked profusely, treated like a creep, or something in between? What would you suggest to others who have experienced this? I’m glad Gus ‘n Wally brought this up, and I hope we get to hear about that death threat. Yikes!
