Locking your dog in a car almost always ends badly

Last week was a pretty cool week for Perth in January, we had the remnants of a cyclone further north drop a deluge of rain on the city bringing temperatures down. The authorities run community adverts on television and radio throughout the warmer months and possibly magazine and billboard ads too. There is no excuse for locking your dog in your car, you can't claim ignorance as the advertising campaign is pretty good, they even run stories on the news about this.

So when the news report came through that a dog had been died after been locked in a car my initial reaction was you arsehole, how could you be so stupid and cruel? But like most things, there is more to this story, this isn't just a simple case of neglect and animal abuse. The man, Steve fronted the news camera sobbing “To the public out there, I’m sorry” as he apologised for his dog's death. “If I could take it all back I would, I made one simple error, my intention wasn’t to kill my dog.”

So how did this tragic story unravel? Steve had been living in his car since losing his job and then his home after the death of his teenage son to cystic fibrosis. He had left his dog in the vehicle as he went to lodge a rental application to hopefully organise himself a home for his dog and himself to live.

I am guessing his dog Bully was his best friend at this point in his life as they lived together in his car. People argue, well he could have taken the dog out of the car and tied it to a tree in the shade while he lodged his rental application.

Unfortunately, people are losing their dogs from their backyards as people steal them for illegal dog fighting - so that really isn't an option. He had no home to leave the dog so that isn't possible either, could he have taken his dog as he lodged his rental application? Possibly, but that is usually frowned upon.

Leave the dog at a friend's house? Once again possibly, but that is isn't always practical and we don't even know if that option was available as he could have been living at friend's homes if that was the case. Well, why didn't he wind the windows down whilst the dog was inside?

One expects the simple answer was that as he had all his possessions in the car he wanted to lock the vehicle but the answer is even more basic - his battery was dead and he couldn't wind the windows down.

A couple of people passing by saw the animal in distress and broke into the car to rescue the dog. The woman, Nicci is a trainee vet nurse along with another person got the dog out and placed under running tap water whilst performing CPR and chest compressions to the stricken dog in an attempt to revive the dog.

According to reports, the dog had two seizures and was bleeding from the mouth after throwing up in the vehicle. The temperature was 27°C which wasn't really as hot as a normal summer day, but due to the cloud cover from the remnants of the cyclone the humidity was higher than normal.

She told reporters that the bull mastiff at 40 kg was just too big and she didn't have the lung capacity to revive the dog despite her attempts. Despite her heroic attempts, the dog died a painful death and that is a tragedy. Taking Steve's circumstances into account; I think he has lost enough and on this occasion, I hope the RSPCA doesn't prosecute as I am sure this won't happen to him again as he was genuinely distressed and remorseful.