Massachusetts dog owners need to prepare for a lot of broken windows if the break-a-window-save-an-animal bill that recently passed our state Senate also passes the House.
There are a lot of zealous crazies out there who fancy themselves animal rescuers, not to mention outright vandals, who may take this opportunity to damage vehicles. We recently left our dog in our car at a Brattleboro restaurant, which we have visited dozens of times with this and a previous dog. We had backed our car into the only shade available and left the windows open, but that did not stop a passing busybody from interrupting our dinner by informing the restaurant staff that we had left a dog in our car and that the temperature was 105 degrees. My food half-eaten, I went to check on the dog, who was resting comfortably on the back seat, which was warm but not hot and certainly not 105 degrees.
A similar fanatic wrote to this newspaper recently, advising people to call 911 whenever they see a dog left in a car. (I’m sure the police appreciated that!) The same writer insisted that dogs don’t mind being left at home and don’t notice the passage of time. This is a convenient fiction that some trainers and others who purport to know about dogs promulgate. We left our dog at home on a recent trip to Tanglewood because that institution, which used to allow visitors with dogs to park under large beautiful shade trees, has found a different use for that part of their parking lot. We were gone for nine hours, and when we arrived home, our dog was hysterically happy to see us — I am not exaggerating the hysterical part — and misbehaved the entire next day because our long absence had been so stressful for her.
Even more recently, The Recorder republished this absurd advice from Lisa Moore, writing in Modesto Bee: “Never, of course, leave your dog in a vehicle during the summer months — not even for a few minutes.” (Like many of us — sigh — Ms. Moore seems to have confused dogs with babies.) Her article nevertheless goes on to recommend taking your dog on your summer vacation. She seems not to have noticed that in the U.S., dogs are not allowed in restaurants or grocery stores, are not welcome at many tourist attractions and, in most cases, may not be left alone in pet-friendly hotel rooms. Apparently Ms. Moore expects you to spend your entire vacation fasting (or, worse, eating exclusively from drive-through windows).
For the record, your dog will do fine in your car if you:
park in the shade;
open the car windows;
bring plenty of water for him or her;
and check on him or her from time to time to make sure the shade hasn’t shifted and your pet is still comfortable.
Critical to this protocol, of course, are parking spaces with shade.
Tanglewood’s new indifference to providing parking places for vehicles with dogs is reflected throughout our society, where special parking spaces — often shaded ones — are provided for handicapped people, mothers with babies, and electric cars, but never for dog owners. Instead of authorizing ignorant strangers to smash our windows, how about some legislation requiring pet-friendly (i.e. shaded) parking spaces for cars with animals?
Here in Franklin County, where we often drive long distances to get where we’re going, the decision to leave a dog at home or bring it with us is frequently a difficult one. Leaving the dog at home too long is hard on the animal, but finding appropriate parking is challenging. To which we can now add the fear that some nutcase will smash our windows, regardless of where we park.
I appreciate the danger of leaving pets in over-heated cars, but clearly there are many clueless zealots without enough sense to know when an animal is actually in trouble. It is one thing for a trained police officer to rescue a truly endangered animal from a vehicle, but encouraging citizen-vandalism legislatively is irresponsible, the animal rights equivalent to stand-your-ground laws. In both cases, citizens are allowed to commit crimes in the face of a perceived danger that may or may not be real.
The Massachusetts House needs to rethink this one.
Kathe Geist is a writer, gardener, and retired college teacher, now living in Charlemont.