Dog in car at Kroger

[Peppergirl]

I was perusing the aisles a couple weeks ago at Kroger, when I hear a page:

"Would the person owning a *fits description of my car* please come to the front?"

I go up front and I'm, admittedly, a bit nervous. Even more so when I see what appears to be a tow truck driver standing there to the side.

I groan inwardly and ask what's up. The person at customer service gets a weird look on her face and says:

"Do you own a black *description of my car*"

I respond that I do and ask what's wrong.

She said "The windows are rolled up and there's a dog inside."

At this point, it bears noting that I'm in the midwest and this was during the time where the temps were over 100 degrees for about 8 days straight.

I advised that I don't have a dog with me. She looks relieved and says, "Oh! Maybe the person who reported it was upset and got the wrong car info - or it's a similar car." I advised her to please find out and call the police if it's true, because the animal could easily get sick or worse.

She said, "I'm not allowed to call the police. We can only page the owner."



I said, "Well, I will if you can't."

At that point, another employee walked in and said he checked the entire lot and whomever had the car with the dog in it was gone, thankfully. Well, not so thankfully because who knows if they wen't somewhere else after that.

People suck.

And Kroger sucks for not being allowed to call the cops. Really? I had my cell in my hand and was ready to dial, seriously. People that do this should be drawn and quartered.

[LillFilly]

In some states there's nothing that even the police can do unless the dog is at death's door, and then by that point it's almost too late to try and save it. It's because both the dog and the car are private property. The best the police could probably do is charge them with animal cruelty. For the stores, the hassle of dog owners screaming at them for calling the police on them probably isn't worth the head ache.

[kaherbert]

I'm in Texas, and shop Kroger. I reported the same thing

1. The manager verified there wwas a dog locked in the car.
2. An announcement was made and the cops were called at the same time, an employee brought out a bowl of water..
3. The cops and owner got there about the same time. Owner was arrested. They used the key to get the dog out and the employee gave the dog water. I'm not sure what happened to the dog.

The manager told me they would have broken the window if the dog had been in distress. If it was a child they try to get the dog to open the door, if the child is distressed they break the glass.

[Peppergirl]

I'm in Texas, and shop Kroger. I reported the same thing

1. The manager verified there wwas a dog locked in the car.
2. An announcement was made and the cops were called at the same time, an employee brought out a bowl of water..
3. The cops and owner got there about the same time. Owner was arrested. They used the key to get the dog out and the employee gave the dog water. I'm not sure what happened to the dog.

The manager told me they would have broken the window if the dog had been in distress. If it was a child they try to get the dog to open the door, if the child is distressed they break the glass.

Three cheers for the way this was handled!! Woohoo!!!!

[XCashier]

If it was a child they try to get the dog to open the door,

I think you made a typo here. Either that or there are some extremely clever dogs in your neck of the woods.

[RayvenQ]

I think you made a typo here. Either that or there are some extremely clever dogs in your neck of the woods.

Never seen Lassie?

[Pagan]

I think you made a typo here. Either that or there are some extremely clever dogs in your neck of the woods.

Never seen Lassie?

I've always suspected Lassie of knocking Timmy into the well....

[Opalin]

I think it depends on where you are for what laws apply on what they can do.

[Flying Grype]

There was a case here last month where a dog died in a mall parking lot in a hot car. It turns out that ten minutes passed between when a passerby noticed the dog (alive and bashing itself around the inside of the car trying to escape) and called for help, and when they actually got the car open. The dog was dead by the time they got in. Apparently mall security was on the scene and decided to wait for the police. I don't know if they actively kept other people away from the car for ten minutes while the dog died, or what. The news didn't make a big deal of that point, but some of us noticed.

After that, I made a mental note to myself that if I see a dog in distress in a hot car, I'm getting the dog out first and then calling for help. That way staff/security/cops can't tell me not to do it, because I've already done it.

Um. I'm not sure if it's fratching material to even say that. :P If it is, I'll accept demerits and edits freely, because I'm really not sure.

[wolfie]

Apparently mall security was on the scene and decided to wait for the police. I don't know if they actively kept other people away from the car for ten minutes while the dog died, or what. The news didn't make a big deal of that point, but some of us noticed.

After that, I made a mental note to myself that if I see a dog in distress in a hot car, I'm getting the dog out first and then calling for help. That way staff/security/cops can't tell me not to do it, because I've already done it.

First of all, IANAL (and I don't play one on TV either). As for staff or security telling you not to do it, but you do it anyway, the worst that could happen is being banned from the property. The only reason to get the dog out before calling them for help (and it's a big one) is that the dog could be harmed by the delay. With the police, it's a stickier situation going against their instructions. Easiest option is "the dog appeared to be in serious distress, and it looked like the delay involved in calling before breaking the window would have caused it irrepairable harm".

From my viewpoint, a broken window is only money (i.e. money can completely repair the problem), but a dead dog can't be resurrected. When in doubt, err on the side that can be repaired. Even if it came to charges of vandalism (for breaking the window), under the circumstances (i.e. rescue a dog from being cooked) a competent judge would be unlikely to impose anything stiffer than "you have 30 days to pay for the broken window. If you pay it off in that time, you will get an absolute discharge, otherwise you will face $fine".

[Flying Grype]

See, you have compassion and logic, that's why you can think that way.

[Pixilated]

*snip*

People that do this should be drawn and quartered.

I've always felt that people who leave small children or pets in vehicles under these circumstances should have to sit through exactly the same experience for exactly the same length of time ...

It's perhaps fortunate that I don't run the world.

Yet.

[tropicsgoddess]

The manager told me they would have broken the window if the dog had been in distress. If it was a child they try to get the dog to open the door, if the child is distressed they break the glass.

My dog can open doors (no seriously.. he can...but in the house only..our house is over 70 years old) he would either ram rod them or jump up and use his paws to get the knob to turn (he's a 100lb Malamute mix btw).


I get so pissed off whenever I hear some jackass left their poor kid or dog in the car. I'm shocked that Kroger won't even allow employees to call the cops!

[Dreamstalker]

My store won't either, or so a manager told me when another customer alerted me about a dog in a car in triple-digit temps. If I was a customer at the time I could have called the cops, but as long as I was in uniform I couldn't do anything

When mom and I were at the local mall one summer day we saw a dog in a car. I stayed with the dog, she went inside to alert security. She was told that as long as the windows were open (they were; about a half-inch which is nothing with a black car in the sun) they couldn't do anything.

[Flying Grype]

She was told that as long as the windows were open (they were; about a half-inch which is nothing with a black car in the sun) they couldn't do anything.

That's just them trying to absolve themselves of responsibility. A window cracked makes very little difference in the time it will take for the dog to die in there. Heave a brick, call a vet, save a life.