Here is my 2 cents (more like 98 cents):
Advmoto18 said:
More importantly,
know the laws for the state you are in regarding leaving animals unattended in a vehicle.
Interestingly, "16 states (AZ, CA, IL, ME, MD, MN, NC, NV, NH, NJ, NY, ND, RI, SD, VT, and WV) have statutes that specifically prohibit leaving an animal in confined vehicle."
This is a perfect example of how much misinformation is out there about this subject. I can only speak to CA, but I doubt that there is any state that "specifically prohibits leaving and animal in confined vehicle". If this were true, than no livestock animals could be transported, no horses could be trailered, and no pets could driven to the veterinarian or the dog park.
CA Penal Code 597.7 states the following:
(a) A
person shall not
leave or confine an animal in any unattended motor vehicle under conditions that endanger the health or well-being of an animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or lack of food or water, or other circumstances that could reasonably be expected to cause suffering, disability, or death to the animal.
You have to be very careful when receiving information from so-called humane groups whose primary source of income is donations (don't let the term 'non-profit' fool you). I have found that these groups highly over-dramatize issues, or even lie, to solicit an emotional response which is good for business. I always find it suspect when any source makes vague assertations about "the law" without actually quoting it. With most, if not all, municipalities, counties, and states publishing their laws on the internet, there is no need for someone to interpret the law for you. Just look it up yourself.
Now, can dogs left in vehicles come to harm? Absolutely. Under certain circumstances, it can cause serious injury or death. If you are to believe the humane groups and social media warriors, we have an epidemic of dogs dying in cars in this country. If this is the case, there is a surprising lack of actual scientific study available. Having researched the subject professionally, the most unbiased, scientific data I found was a study relating to children being left in hot cars. I have since lost the study, but what it determined was that the primary source of heat energy in an enclosed vehicle is the heat radiating from the interior surfaces after they have absorbed heat from the sun. How is this important? It means that if an enclosed vehicle or space has minimal sunlight entering it, the possibility of temperature rising unacceptably within it is minimized.
http://heatkills.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/HKheatrise2.jpg
This graphic is a good example of an emotional string-puller. It takes a highly complicated situation with numerous variables such as ambient temperature, color/reflectiveness of vehicle paint, tint level/reflectiveness of windows, color of interior surfaces, compass orientation of parked vehicle, time of day/sun angle, percentage of vehicle that is shaded, percentage of vehicle's surfaces that will allow sunlight to enter the space, percentage of vehicle's surface that is ventilated (open windows), and starting internal temperature of vehicle, and dumbs it down to the point of uselessness.
On this topic, people will often refer to a study done by researchers at Stanford. You will hear that this study showed that even on a 70-degree day, the temperature can reach "x" in "y" minutes, and that even if the windows are open, a dog or child will die in 15 minutes in a car, and other exaggerations. Articles will make reference to the study, but they never actually quote it, or even link to it. Here is the actual study:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/116/1/e109.full.pdf
Methods. In this observational study, temperature rise was measured continuously over a 60-minute period in a dark sedan on 16 different clear sunny days with ambient temperatures ranging from 72 to 96°F. On 2 of these days, additional measurements were made with the windows opened 1.5 inches. Analysis of variance was used to compare how quickly the internal vehicle temperature rose and to compare temperature rise when windows were cracked open 1.5 inches.
The entire methodology of the study is quoted above. If you think that is good, thorough research, then I can't help you. The fact that this is published as science is kind of frightening. They used one vehicle, which they don't even name, and they did not document any of the critical characteristics of the vehicle, parking orientation, etc.
I could go on for much longer debunking the emotional pseudo-science, but I won't. Here is my no-frills guide to keeping animals in vehicles:
There are three threats that arise when leaving a pet in a vehicle unattended:
1. Serious injury or death to the pet.
2. Criminal charges.
3. Vandalism of vehicle by good samaritans.
In my opinion, these threats are listed in order of seriousness. Interestingly, they are listed in reverse order of likelihood.
#1 is the most serious threat, so you have to approach the situation logically. If you aren't certain that your pet will not come to harm in the vehicle, then don't do it. When it comes to RVs and campers, it is reasonable to assume the temperature will not rise nearly as quickly as it would in a car due to insulation and the ability to minimize energy entering the space through windows by drawing the blinds. But this is an assumption and it might be a good idea to do some testing with your particular setup. If you regularly monitor the temperature in your camper after leaving it parked in various places, you will get a feel for what actually happens and be able to use this to make informed decisions in the future. I don't know if we are there yet, but I can see us having the abilty to monitor vehicle temperature on our phones in the very near future, but that would depend on cell service. Along with all the variables I mentioned before, the animal has variables as well. Dogs with "squished" noses like bulldogs are highly prone to respiratory distress which can be caused by heavy panting. On the other side of the coin, I have seen pit bulls and chihuahuas that will chose to lay out in sun on extremely hot days. An aged dog with health problems will be far more sensitive to temperature than a healthy young dog. An adequate supply of fresh water that cannot be tipped over should be considered as a must have when leaving any animal unattended.
#2: If you allow your animal to come to harm in your vehicle, you are most likely guilty of a crime. But the "grey area" comes about when your animal hasn't come to harm, but an official believes that there was enough of a threat to the animal's health that the law was violated. You need to know what the laws are for the area you are in. Additionally, if you leave your animals in the vehicle, I would recommend leaving your cell phone number in an obvious area. Generally, if an official is at your vehicle after receiving a report of your animal being in distress, they will be in one of three modes:
A: Belief that the animal is fine and no crime is being committed.
B: Unsure if the animal is at risk, but concerned.
C: Positive that the animal is at risk.
For A, you will probably never know that you were "investigated for a crime" because the officer will leave. For C, you may be cited and released or arrested, and your pet will be (hopefully)transported to an emergency vet for treatment. For B, if the officer has concerns but is not to the point of removing the pet and charging you, if they can call you on your phone, it might save you a lot of trouble. Police officers may not be trained in animal welfare enforcement, and they are just as prone to believe the pseudo-science I mentioned before as the rest of us. Keep in mind that it is unlikely that a cop will be able to find your cell phone number based on the registration info of the vehicle, so having your number somewhere that they can find it can be a good thing.
#3: The possibility of this happening has increased dramatically in the last decade, thanks mostly to the pseudo-science, as well as shifting cultural beliefs regarding animals. While the physiology of the domestic dog has changed very little in the recent past, our cultural beliefs about the dog have changed significantly. 30-40 years ago, I think someone would have been looked at a little strangely for letting their dog sleep in their bed. Now this is commonplace. Dogs were rarely let into the house back then, nowadays, someone might call animal control on you if your dog sleeps outside at night. In CA, the code I quoted at the beginning (597.7 PC) was amended last year. I didn't quote the whole law because it is too long. But they added significant language to the law "empowering" good Samaritans to remove animals from cars if they believe that the animal is at risk. At face-value, that is not a bad thing, but it was entirely allowable under the law before they did their "feel good" rewrite last year. The big problem is that when the law was amended, it was all over media and social media, which did a terrible job of covering the issue and even outright lied about it. The end result is that there is a significant portion of the population in CA that now believes it is illegal to leave a dog in a car anytime, and they will break your window and steal your dog even if there was no threat to the animal's health. The rewritten law spells it out very clearly that if someone does remove an animal from a vehicle, they must report it to law enforcement. The problem is that someone who is emotional enough to break your window on a 70 degree day because your dog is barking and scratching at the window (because the emotional person is standing there staring at the dog), they might just have the mindset that the dog would be better off with them and not report it, and you may never see your dog again. I am not making this up, this is happening. These are also the same people that might think your dog is suffocating because the windows are all up when it is cold out.
Conclusion:
We have three dogs and hardly ever leave them in the truck. Even on cold days we tend to leave them home if possible. Not because we are worried that they will be harmed by being in the truck, but because we are worried that they will be stolen by some emotional wreck who is incapable of assessing the situation logically. If this wasn't a factor, we would still leave them home on hot days. If it was a warm day, then we would take into account all of the factors and make a logical, reasonable decision on whether to leave them in the truck or not.
