Friday 3 July 2009

Police Dogs On Wheels!

Police Dogs

After that tragic story of the 2 GSDs who died yesterday, something heart-warming.
It is about a police sniffer dog with arthritis, who was given a set of wheels to help him get along!

The video is on the BBC News site, so is safe to watch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7733880.stm

Great story isn't it!

Thursday 2 July 2009

Dogs DIE In Hot Cars ~ 2 GSDs Die In A Police Vehicle!

Today's news (July 2nd) - Two German Shepherd police dogs died in a police car yesterday afternoon!

The poor dogs were found dead at Nottinghamshire Police HQ at 2.15 pm.

They were left in the vehicle by their HANDLER! To say that the handler should have known better is an understatement.
Temperature's outside reached 29.4C. Inside the car it would have been like an oven.

It is a dreadful way to die. I can barely believe it happened.

I can only describe it as GROSS negligence and incompetence.

The RSPCA are investigating.

You can read the Press Association story here :

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090702/tuk-police-dogs-die-in-hot-parked-car-6323e80.html



So what do we do with our dogs in hot weather?

The obvious answer is NOT to leave them in a vehicle.

IF you have to then :
  • Leave ALL the windows and the sunroof open. At least 4 inches - wider if you can. (Security has to be considered).
  • Park IN THE SHADE (the temperature will rocket in the sun even with the windows open)
  • Have water available to drink
  • Check them regularly
  • Leave them for the least time possible
  • If they do suffer heat exhaustion get them out of the car at once and throw water over them - LOTS of water - bucketfuls of it

We only leave our dogs on their own IF we can park in the shade. If we can't then one of us stays with them.

I'd rather suffer inconvenience than the death of my dogs.

When I heard the story about the police dogs on the radio I was shocked - then I read it on the news site and it brought tears to my eyes. Writing this has done the same thing, so I'll sign off for now.

I was going to write a cheerful piece about a lost dog which was found, but I'll do that another time.

Bye for now.