If you are driving around with your child or a dog in your car and you suddenly remember that you have to make a quick stop to – let’s say pick up a prescription.
You get out of your car, lock the doors and go inside the store. But wait, there’s a sale on candy! Oh, how can I pass that up? Oh, we ran out of milk, you think, so you go over to the coolers and get a bottle, then you stand in line at the pharmacy counter which is unusually busy.
In the meantime the front clerk makes an announcement over the intercom. “Will the owner of the red Honda license plate PETLVR please come to the front register.
Then it hits you, “Oh my God! Joey is in the car!”
You leave your cart and run outside and people are surrounding your car, the rear window is broken, a woman is holding your crying 2-year-old, and a police officer is pulling into the parking lot.
Every summer scenarios like this play out somewhere in the country. Children and pets die or get critically injured from being left inside a closed car in the heat.
One trick you can try the next time you go out and bring Joey or Spot with you, put your purse (if you’re a woman) or your Left Shoe in the back seat of the car, that way when you step out, you will remember to look and you will see not only your shoe but your child or pet, and you can prevent a tragedy from happening.
Children, of course, are one thing, you can’t just leave them at home alone. But your pets, well, on hot days, especially during a heatwave, please leave them at home. Give them plenty of water and lots of love when you return and even if they have separation anxiety, they will be much better off at home.