Many people need to travel with their animals. Telling them that there is no difference between leaving pets in the middle of a hot parking lot with the windows closed and leaving them in the shade with the windows open is both ignorant and irresponsible.
A recent letter to this paper not only did not credit this distinction, the author does not know the difference between “cracking” a car window and actually opening it so that air can circulate in the car.
My op-ed (July 8) did not advocate leaving pets in hot cars but outlined a strategy for keeping the car from becoming too hot. Those who read it may remember that after the Brattleboro Busybody interrupted my dinner to demand I check on my dog, I found my dog sleeping peacefully — not panting, not uncomfortable — in a warm car, not a hot one.
Traveling with a pet at any time of year is a big responsibility, and people need to know what their responsibilities are and not be told that they are on some kind of Mission Impossible. Rigid dogma, stats and fantasy — e.g. thinking all people can leave their dogs at home all the time is a fantasy — are poor substitutes for common sense, realism and experience. I have spent a lifetime traveling with dogs and, sometimes, cats. None has ever suffered from heatstroke.
Advocates for animals should spend their time lobbying towns and businesses for more shaded parking instead of harassing people whose dogs are fine and demanding the impossible, namely that all dogs stay at home all the time.
Kathe Geist
Charlemont