Good Samaritan Shares Account of Finding a Dog Locked in a Hot Car

“WTF is wrong with people? It’s 95 degrees and he’s been here for at least 30 min. I’m waiting for the police now,” declared a Good Samaritan. The concerned man took a photo of the distressed dog left in the hot car with his cell phone.

After calling police, he waited for them to arrive. As an owner of four dogs of his own, the man, who asked DogHeirs to keep his identity anonymous, said he could not leave the dog in trouble.

While waiting for police he sat in his car. It was an incredibly humid day near Denton in Texas and he waited for police in his truck.

“While I was waiting, I shut my truck off and cracked my window, just to see what he’s experiencing. It became unbearable in less than 8 minutes and I’m not covered in fur.”

He tried approaching the dog but she was in a state of panic, so he decided to keep a close eye on her (he later found out the dog was female) until the police showed up.

“I tried to give him water through the crack, but he just starts barking and freaking out, so I didn’t want to fatigue him any more. I’m watching him closely and if he takes a turn for the worse, I’ll reach my antenna in and unlock the door and pay whatever tickets I get with no regrets. If somebody doesn’t come soon, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

He paged for the owner in the nearby store 20 minutes before police arrived, but the owner didn’t come out. When the police arrived around 45 minutes later, the Good Samaritan described what happened next:

“The police are here. They opened the truck and have made contact with the owner. I got a few words in with the owner too. Who was playing the whole, ‘I was only gonna be 5 minutes’ card. I gave a detailed account of what happened to the police, but they didn’t let me talk to the owner face to face, so I just yelled ‘Would you leave your f***ing kids in the car?!?!’ I was asked to leave. The officer I talked with wasn’t sure if they will be able take the dog away from his owner. As an avid dog lover and owner of four dogs, I f***ing hope they do.”

Although the man says he’s normally good at maintaining a level head, he admitted he lost his temper at the dog’s owner after he was “taken aback by his stupidity in saying, ‘It’s not THAT hot out here’.”

In the end the police told him he did the right thing and there was a group of other concerned people with him that were ready to step forward and help out the dog as well.

“The dog was in trouble, and the cops said I did the right thing. I wasn’t being a hero, I was just being a normal human being.”

He said it’s something that he’ll never regret.

Photos reprinted with permission from anonymous. Aug 13, 2013

Editor’s note: For those who noted the Good Samaritan’s photo was taken outside of a Lowes, it should be noted that Lowes official story policy is “service dogs only” policy, although many individual locations have relaxed rules and are dog-friendly. Dog owners can call and plan ahead to see if dogs are welcome at their local store.

After reading the Good Samaritan’s story, one DogHeirs member shared his similar story:

“I has something similar happen last summer in a Lowes parking lot. I saw a German Shepard tied in the back of the truck bed. The dog was trying to jump over the side to get in the shade under the truck. The rope was too short so he was hanging himself and using the bumper to climb back in to the bed of the truck. A crowd was watching this but no one was doing anything. I went into the store with the tag and asked the clerk at the counter to page the owner of the vehicle. She told me it was against the policy of Lowes to page customers for this reason. I told her that was fine, I would call the police myself.

“Called the police went back outside to give the dog some water …pet him and keep him from hurting himself. A store manager came out to explain to me why they couldn’t page the customer….I told him as a stockholder I was very disappointed in Lowes’ policy and would be bringing this up with the company. He then said he would make an exception and page the owner. All this is going on I’m still waiting for the police…clock is ticking…police arrive about the same time as the man came out of the store…..yelling, “What is going on here, I’ve only been in the store 10 minutes.

“A lady from the crowd of onlookers that was present before I arrived got into an argument with the owner and the police had to separate them. I calmly walked up to a police officer and told him. I’m the one who called asking for assistance. I don’t know how long this dog has been left in the heat, but I know how long I’ve been here and there was already a crowd here observing before I arrived, I’ve been here 40 minutes. As I was walking away I heard the officer start citing the man….”

If you are want to learn more about what to do if you see a dog in a hot car, read the 10 critical steps to take.