That's so sad and outrageous. It's just basic common sense to not leave your animal in a car, especially in warm or hot weather. There has been an ongoing situation since last August in Chandler, AZ, with Sgt. Tom Lovejoy who left his K9 partner, Bandit, also a Belgian Malinois, in his patrol car in 109 degrees for over 12 hours. Of course, Bandit died, quite horribly I'm sure. I'm not sure if there was a final resolution yet to this situation or not but I believe Lovejoy is still an officer, though I wish he would've lost his job and spent time in jail. He was either eating with his family and running errands during those 12 hours or on a moonlighting job. I've read conflicting stories. Either way, he "forgot" about Bandit being in the car and he was not even on duty. I'm sure there'll be no actual punishment, either. If police are going to use dogs, which is entirely for their benefit, they need to use some COMMON SENSE! So does everyone else who leaves an animal in a vehicle on a hot day. Sheesh.

I had to go to the post office and had my dog with me. I left the AC running, key in the ignition, locked the doors, and took the keyfob with me. What I didn't know (and luckily checked before going inside) was that if the key was in the ignition, the keyfob would not work. It would not unlock the doors. So now my dog was locked in the car, AC still running. Luckily I had also left windows down enough that I could squeeze my hand in and unlock the door. I would have broken the window if I had to, no question. Just a thought for people who think that leaving the AC running is a good idea (aside from the AC failing, as mentioned in the blog).

Carey,

thanks for posting your comments. There is nothing as powerful as first-hand experience.

I work for an organization that provides free information to educate people to NOT to leave their pets (and children, etc.) in vehicles, unattended, in hot weather.

Police Departments need to be held accountable for the deaths of their canine officers. There are devices available to alert them if the engine stops running and the air conditioner fails. With gasoline prices as high as they are everywhere in the US, it is simply wasteful and unacceptable to let a vehicle idle for three hours. Now a wonderful animal is dead because his handler didn't care enough to check on him at least once during that three hour period.

It is really amazing how many police cars I see idling, with no one inside. It may be standard police policy, I though I don't know (if someone knows please inform.) I just can't get my head around way the cars are always running, whether the officer is doing something important, or just running in a shop for a coffee. It seems like it would waste a lot of gas and department money. It would also force the officer to take the dog out of the car instead of leaving the AC on (which burns even more gas.)