In June, a Houston-area dog rescue transport van burst into flames on the side of an Illinois highway with one human and multiple dogs on-board. The human escaped uninjured, but seven of the eleven dogs en route perished. The investigation into what caused the fire is still underway.
Sometimes you hope that a tragedy like this was caused by some negligent villain—maybe the driver was high on pills and dropped his cigarette—because that means it can’t happen to you. (After all, I don’t take pills or smoke cigarettes). But unfortunately these things can happen to you and I.
Years ago I when I had just started training with my first dog, several of us went to brunch after a summer morning training session with the dogs. We left our dogs in our air-conditioned cars and went inside. I even checked on my dog several times during the meal, slightly paranoid. When we finished and went outside to drive home, I found that my AC had gone out and my dog was very hot. She didn’t have a heat stroke or anything. We rolled the windows down on the way home and she cooled off on the cold tile floor, but it was an eye-opener.
Things happen, machines fail, and Murphy’s Law is real. Be careful out there. When your dog’s safety is at stake, always check and double check. You don’t want to learn that the hard way.
