Okay, I live in Los Angeles, and I have to say, the summers here are beastly! It’s only June and already it’s 90 degrees. That’s like 630 in dog degrees. No, wait, that’s dog years. My bad.
But for those of us with fur (especially black fur like myself), and no ability to sweat, it might as well be 630 degrees outside. I find myself in a very lazy mood, longing for air conditioning or a nice shady patch of grass. Anything for a little coolth.
My person tells me that coolth isn’t a word, but I beg to differ. If warmth is a word, coolth must be its opposite, right? It only makes sense.
So here’s the thing: my person took me out to Starbucks today, to lounge in the shade while she did whatever she does on that computer thing. While we were there, we heard a fight happening in the parking lot. Couldn’t hear all of the words, but it was ugly. And apparently, it was over a dog!
Here’s what happened: a lady had gone into a store and left her dog IN THE CAR for about ten minutes. And the guy who parked next to her was yelling at her, because he knew that it was a very bad thing to do. Please take a look at this infographic from Petfinder.com:
Now, I am all in favor of this guy telling the woman that what she did was wrong. My beef (mmm! beef!) with the situation was the way he did it. He was not only yelling, but he was also using extremely foul language, with every other word starting with the letter “F.” Needless to say, the woman was not exactly receptive of his message.
I mean, I agree fully with his sentiment here, but in my experience the best way to get someone to listen to you is NOT to cuss them out. It’s like, when I bark really loud at my person, she doesn’t like it and I don’t get what I want until I calm down and ask like a civilized dog.
My advice to this man, and all peoples, is this: speak softly and carry a beagle. Or something like that.
I guess my point is, I know that there are many people out there who are looking out for animals and want nothing more than animal welfare. But when the messages are sheathed in venom, no one hears them. In this particular instance, I don’t believe that the woman meant to cause her dogs harm – maybe she really didn’t know any better. But I do know that she went into defense mode when the guy attacked her, and therefore she didn’t hear any of what he was trying to tell her. And guess what? The next time she has to go into a store, she will leave the dogs in the car again.
Please, if you see something like this happen, don’t be afraid to do something about it. Call the police if no one comes to get the dogs and they are in distress. Take action to save lives! And yes, explain to the person why it’s horribly dangerous to leave dogs in hot cars. But please, please, don’t let your anger take over. In the end, you may be doing more harm than good.
If you’d like to see more infographics on how to keep pets safe, take a look at Petfinder’s gallery of summer pet safety tips. You can even print them out and post them in places where people need to see them!
Wishing you all lots of coolth!
