People Leaving Their Dog Unattended
What Are They Thinking?
People Leaving Their Dog Unattended
What Can They Possibly Be Thinking?
I’ve been passionate about people leaving their dog unattended for years. It just bothers me that anyone can do it and feel that it’s perfectly fine. Can they really be that clueless? I can’t decided whether people are stupid, insensitive, unfeeling or just not able to think things through to a conclusion. Maybe they just AREN’T thinking at all.
I see people leaving their dog unattended in hot (and cold) cars and tied up in front of stores. Yes, they even let them run loose while they go about their business. In what reality does this kind of behavior become OK or even expectable?
If someone did this to their child, they would be charged with a crime. As a result, the child would most likely be taken away from them. But I guess that since it’s ONLY A DOG it is somehow OK. This is ridiculous. Furthermore it needs to stop!
It doesn’t matter if it is a dog or a child. Cruelty is cruelty and there are laws against it. It is morally wrong to cause undue pain and suffering.
There are also a lot of things that can go wrong when you leave your dog unattended.
Reasons to NOT leave your dog tie up or left inside your car alone:
1. THEY CAN GET STOLEN. Many dog’s are used as bait for fighting dogs or sold to laboratories for testing.
2. In hot weather, dogs can suffer from overheating due to lack of water and shade. Their paws can be burned from the hot pavement etc.
3. Dogs left outside in cold weather for only a few minutes without shelter can receive frost bit, damage to paw pads etc.
4. They can be tormented or injured by people or other dogs.
5. In the summertime temperatures inside your car can increase dramatically in a very short time.
Temperatures Can Reach Dangerous Levels Quickly
Studies have show that leaving a dog inside a closed car during the summer can be fatal in in just a short time. This is because the windows allow the sun’s shortwave radiation to warm the objects that it strikes. These objects (dashboard, steering wheel, interior panels and upholstery) radiate heat into the adjacent air. As a result they they give off longwave radiation which is very efficient at warming the air trapped inside a vehicle.
Temperatures inside a closed vehicle can rise 19 degrees F. in as little as 10 minutes. In 20 minutes they can go up 29 degrees F. After just 30 minutes they can rise as much as 34 deg F. Inside temperatures can climb as mush as 45-50 degrees F. in just under one hour.
Another contributing factor here is the vehicle interior color. The darker the color is, the quicker the temperature will rise. “Cracking” the windows has very effect in keeping the temperature inside the car at a safe level. The fact remains that in a very short time the temperatures will still become unsafe for pets and humans.
A car is not to be used as a dog watcher, or a babysitter for that matter. In the heat of summer it can easily become an oven. In the winter it can become a freezer.
Are you one of the people this article is talking about? If so, please think twice the next time you leave your home with your dog. Don’t tie them up in front of a store or leave them in your car. STOP and THINK! Is that coffee, donut, big mac, fountain pop or newspaper worth the life of your companion?
Yeh, I Don’t Think So Either!
