# Wanted opinion on my story



## ILoveApples (Jan 8, 2014)

I've frequented this website in the past for information about my puppy in the past, however, today is my first post after a incident with leaving my dog in the car. I typically think things through when it comes to my dog, and I thought I had this time as well, but I wanted some objective opinions from other GSD owners in the case that I am in the wrong. Also maybe it'll act as a warning for others.

I was at the supermarket and I had left my dog alone in the car. The current weather outside feels like -30c(-22F) without windshield -20c(-4F). I had left her in the car for around an hour and a half when I came back to check on her. Coming back to my car I found two people asking me if it was my dog in the car. After which they told me things like I didn't deserve my car and that I was cruel for putting my dog through this. I tried telling them that she does well in the cold, but they didn't listen and drove off.

Getting in the car I noticed that Sophie's leash was off. I had not left it that way when I had left as I keep it on. I do this because there's a much higher risk that she'll jump out when i open the door rather than her choking on something the in the car. I am pretty sure that the people somehow opened my car and also went through my stuff (perhaps to get my name and address). How they managed this I don't know even though I am certain that the doors were locked. After 15 minutes the police showed up. I explained the situation to them; they seemed satisfied and left shortly.

Sophie is a long haired GSD, and from past experiences I would say that she loves the snow and the cold. I have to make sure that she is near something cool (e.g. slightly open window) otherwise she starts panting and looks uncomfortable. When my power went for a few days and the temperature in my house reached -15c and lower she was fine for the night. As a side note I can't leave her alone for more than 15 minutes in summer (this is an assumption as the most I've left her outside in summer is 10 minutes).

Anyways I was wondering what people thought about my situation. Moreover, I hope that this is a cautionary about people with more heart than sense.

tl;dr
Left dog that does ok in cold weather in my car. People entered my car and called cops.


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

ok, so you left the dog in a car for an hour and a half with no window cracked?

I wouldn't worry about the cold as much as not having fresh air.

Be glad there are folks out there looking out for welfare of dogs.

Personally wouldn't leave a dog that way.


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## Wetdog (May 23, 2001)

------" 
Be glad there are folks out there looking out for welfare of dogs."----------


I'm not so sure that is what they were looking out for----I'd have gotten their license #.


-------" I wouldn't worry about the cold as much as not having fresh air."-------


She's fine. I often left three in the van in cold weather---never ever had even a hint of a problem.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

There is no way I would leave my dog in the car any more then a couple minutes, but some people choose to. For those that choose to, a window cracked open for air would seem sensible. It would also seem sensible that heat would be left on in extreme conditions. Your dog might do well in cold weather, but I'm thinking that is a dog that is moving, running, playing. How long can you sit in the car not moving, no heat, and no window cracked open? On Sunday where I live, someone left their American Bulldog in the car with th heat on while they went to pay for gas. The dog was stolen out of the car and several hours later hit by a car clear across the city. The dog died. Just something to think about, some people aren't right upstairs.


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## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

A long haired GSD in a closed car could likely survive -50 outside temps. She was probably loving the cool temps. Sled dogs do it for months at a time, they never see the inside of a house. Granted she's not as heavily furred up as a sleddie, but a LH shep is sporting a pretty dang good insulator.

Now summer? Never NEVER leave a dog in the car for any length of time. The temps can skyrocket in a matter of minutes. Dogs are good at cold and horrible at hot, and cars heat up orders of magnitude faster than they cool off. On a good hot, sunny day I'd be flipping out if I had to leave my dogs alone for 5 minutes. Bit jumpy on my part possibly but heat stroke is no game.


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## IllinoisNative (Feb 2, 2010)

I've left my dogs in the car during winter/fall months if I'm stopping at the grocery store or doing some quick errands. However, it's never been when the weather has been around zero or below. They may well be fine but I'm not comfortable with it. An hour and a half seems long to me in that type of temperature.

And I absolutely NEVER do it during summer months.


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## halo2013 (Jan 6, 2014)

I take my baby everywhere with me. But since the temp has been so low I've been leaving her home. Dogs can catch hypothermia like people. And even if your not in there long. Once that core body temp drops below a normal level body parts stop functioning. Same in the summer time. Dogs can literally cook inside if they are left in a vehicle. To me its not worth it. She goes everywhere with me. Missing one car ride that could could turn ugly quick is fine with me. I just think of it as potentially saving her life.

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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

I have left mine in the car before, doors locked, window cracked and the heat on in the cold months only if i will be a few minutes, i am not worried about them freezing so much as i am worried about someone stealing them. In the summer same deal, car running window cracked air con on full blast and only if for a few minutes. Its not the heat or cold that worries me, because i have air con and heater for that, its the people that may take them.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

An hour and a half in the car in below freezing temps. I would have called the police too.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I've never left my dog in the car alone longer than 5 minutes. I am a worry wart, I worry about someone stealing my dog.

Leaving a dog out in a freezing car for an hour and a half, that's a long time, I would never do that but again, I am a worry wart.


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## dpc134 (Jan 14, 2013)

Do not feel bad. The health and well being of your dog was not neglected by leaving her/him in the car. People think that their GSD are people and think that if a person is cold, then the dog must be cold. GSD can survive and thrive in extremely cold conditions (escpecially for an hour). Also, fresh air depletion in a car would take several days to have any impact in lack of oxygen. This, of course, would be different if it was in hot weather.
Most people are clueless when it comes to neglect /abuse to an animal because they base it on pure emotion instead of common sense.


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## stmcfred (Aug 13, 2013)

I leave my dogs in the car. But never in hot weather or really cold or for long periods of time. The most was about a half hour.


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## Bridget (Apr 5, 2004)

Don't worry. You did not abuse your dog. Dogs are fine in the car when it's cold, just not when it's hot. I no longer take Heidi if she'll have to sit in the car if it is really cold because of her age and general health, but my younger dogs I do.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Car blocks the wind, dog's body heat will warm the car some, dog was fine for 1.5 hours in the car. I wouldn't have cracked the windows, I wouldn't have left the car running (risk of cm poisoning + newer one will not let me lock it & leave it running with the AC on in summer so probably not heater in winter) with windows closed in winter. 
Ahem, my horse is outdoors in winter with a run in shed that he can use or not. I might consider blanketing him if it gets below 0 but that would be for the night. Although he has more body mass than a GSD, and he has a fluffy winter coat, he doesn't have near the coat my GSDs have.


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## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

I wouldn't worry about the no cracked windows... I've sat in a parked, off car for several hours without asphyxiating- they're not air tight. My first reaction is to say that it might have been too cold, but.... if she wasn't showing any signs of distress, it might not have been. My dog is frequently outside while we are working on the house and it's in the negatives. It doesn't bother him at all as long as he can lay somewhere that won't hurt his feet (not ice or concrete, basically). We obviously watch him closely and have a place for him to go if he shows signs of discomfort, but he never does. He drinks water normally, will play, etc.


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

The car was 'shelter' - bigger breeding kennels have runs and some even let their dogs live outside with dog houses in these same conditions....IMO your dog was not in any danger, and there are just too many people who have NO common sense.....I have gone into a store, leaving mine in the summer....fans on crates, water in buckets, white vehicle, SUV which has an openable rear door window, left totally open/up with doors locked, side windows partially down, sunroof partially open for air circulation (not over crates BTW) and STILL people tell me the dogs "could die in the car"......the set up is more comfortable than most dogs kept in kennels 24/7 - NO COMMON SENSE!!!

Lee


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

We are in this cold snap too..I did not leave my dog in my SUV at all ( he usually goes everywhere with me ). Not because I did not think he could handle the cold in a sheltered vehicle while I ran into a store , but because I would be afraid of well intentioned yet ill informed busy bodies calling the police . 

An hour and a half is a bit long though. That is JMO . It would make me uncomfortable even though I knew my GSD with his big coat could easily handle it. I would keep picturing that old Bugs Bunny cartoon where the dog is left out in the cold . It is a mental thing. 20 minutes would be my max in extreme cold. I never leave them in the car above 65 degrees out though. Not even for "5 minutes" .


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## Syaoransbear (Sep 25, 2008)

Gretchen said:


> An hour and a half in the car in below freezing temps. I would have called the police too.


Lol but you live in california, so below freezing probably feels like death to you when it's still t-shirt weather to people who live up north . When it's below freezing, we go swimming outside. It's called a 'polar bear plunge' and it's done on new years.


Those people probably never owned a gsd or any dog with a decent coat. In a nice enclosed vehicle with no windchill your dog would have been very comfortable. It was -50 here the other day and my dog was _outside_ playing and he was fine.


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## alexg (Mar 22, 2013)

After observing a GSD comfortably laying in the snow on the windy day just like on his favorite couch I have a hard time to believe your dog was cold inside the car.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

>> i wouldn't leave my dog in the car for 1 hour i while shopped.
>> my dog is never leashed while in the car.
>> teach your dog to exit and enter the car on command.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I would be more concerned with the leash than the cold for sure. But then I won't use a seat belt on a dog because my dog tried to choke herself tangling herself up on hers.

People should really mind their own buisness unless they see a dog is seriously distressed. I think too many people are too quick to call the cops or interfere with people's animals.

When I am out driving, and I get so tired I need to pull over and sleep for a few hours, I do not crack the window. Sometimes I will leave it running, sometimes not. There's enough air in a car for a dog.


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## kjdreyer (Feb 7, 2013)

I haven't had my dog in weather nearly that cold, but we've been out in 14 degree windy weather when I'm miserable, and Jedda will still find a shady place to wait for me. I can't figure out if it's just habit or if she's really warm enough to need shade. If it's dark or cloudy or snowing, she still seems impervious to the cold, and she's got a relatively thin coat. I seriously doubt your GSD is going to be distressed in a car in the cold for an hour and a half. As annoyed as I would be to find people gathered around my car and calling the cops, I guess it's kinda nice that they care enough about pets to notice. Maybe.


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## TAR HEEL MOM (Mar 22, 2013)

Jeezz..didn't any of you guys go parking in cars with the windows up when you were teenagers ?

Seriously though. I wouldn't think twice about the window in the winter, but I pamper mine probably too much and I wouldn't have left them in that extreme cold that long. Since we have been in this cold spell, mine go out their dog door, do their business and run back to the house


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

My question is why are people so scared of the cops? What would they have done? Seen that your dog was perfectly fine and then left? Probably thought what a big waste of time this is and that they have better things to do than investigate a dog in a car when its cold out?

The car was probably warm when you finished driving...so I'll assume around 72-74 degrees. It not only takes a while for the car to cool down, it also takes a while for it to get to whatever the outside temperature is. I'm not sure how these people would've gotten in your car without breaking something though. If you want people to not notice your dog, get a crate, that way there isn't a cute dog sitting in the front seat of the vehicle for people to see. I drive a mini cooper with blacked out windows, I have a pet barrier and both dogs sit in the back just fine. If you walked by my car, you'd have no idea that there were two GSDs in the back.

And yes, a car is no where near air tight enough for a dog to run out of oxygen. In the summer, they just get too hot, they have plenty of air to breathe.


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## crackem (Mar 29, 2006)

Its kind of scary just how little understanding of the world so many have. If your dog was a Mexican hairless I could see cause for concern, beyond that ??


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## ZoeandMoe (Dec 6, 2013)

I think everyone is missing the real issue here. Who grocery shops for an hour and a half? :wild:


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## stmcfred (Aug 13, 2013)

ZoeandMoe said:


> I think everyone is missing the real issue here. Who grocery shops for an hour and a half? :wild:



haha. Me, if I have any of my kids with me


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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

I agree with selzer - the leash on your dog bothers me more than anything else in the story. I know you're worried about bolting from the car, but freakish accidents like getting the strap caught up in the headrest and choking your dog, or somehow twisting so that it's cutting off circulation on a leg is waaaay more concerning to me. That's scary just thinking about it.


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## Sansa's Mom (Dec 10, 2013)

dpc134 said:


> Do not feel bad. The health and well being of your dog was not neglected by leaving her/him in the car. People think that their GSD are people and think that if a person is cold, then the dog must be cold. GSD can survive and thrive in extremely cold conditions (escpecially for an hour). Also, fresh air depletion in a car would take several days to have any impact in lack of oxygen. This, of course, would be different if it was in hot weather.
> Most people are clueless when it comes to neglect /abuse to an animal because they base it on pure emotion instead of common sense.


This. I've heard so many people say things like "Do you feel cold? Then your dog is cold!" or suggesting that maybe the owner should stay outside naked in the winter and see how they like it. It's idiotic. GSDs are bred to be fine outside for hours at a time during winters in Germany, it's not like all of the sheep and dogs were brought indoors when it snowed. I could understand people being alarmed seeing this during summer but not winter. 

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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

People freak out over anything these days. I had a woman yelling at me because I was walking my dog on pavement in the summertime. Uh, it was a cement sidewalk, and I'd already removed one of my own sandals to check the temperature before we even started our walk, lol. But I can't reason with someone who's yelling at me like that - or _won't_, a better choice of words, lol. I was proud of my dog for not reacting to the lunatic. It was a good training day, lol.


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## SummerGSDLover (Oct 20, 2013)

Haha 

*-*Summer*-*


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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

If you leave your dog on a chain, with no shelter in a deep freeze then yes they are most likely frozen. If you leave dog in a car which shelters wind then no your dog will be okay....i have noticed that when i leave them in the car and come back my car is toasty warm from my doggies..


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## Sansa's Mom (Dec 10, 2013)

SummerGSDLover said:


> Haha
> 
> *-*Summer*-*


Nah...leave husbands outside...LOL

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## OUbrat79 (Jan 21, 2013)

My boy Ammo always stays in the vehicle when we go out (not during the summer). Just yesterday the hubby and I went to celebrate our anniversary with a long romantic lunch and Ammo waited in the vehicle for about an hour. It was right above freezing. After we ate we took Ammo to his favorite store to get some treats for training and some duck's feet. After that we went to Toys R Us to shop for my daughters birthday, again leaving Ammo in the vehicle for about an hour. He loves going with us way more than staying at home alone. We always park where he can people watch, he loves it. He stays in the back of the vehicle where the windows are tinted so people don't notice him. I've never had anyone say anything about it. 


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