I have been thinking about writing about this subject for quite a while but I have been putting it off because of the pain involved. I saw something today that changed my mind. And if my pain and shame saves one little life, it will be worth it.
Today I took an hour to go get a rare manicure. I don't think I've had a professional one in about 3 years and I felt like treating myself.
When I reached the shopping center parking lot, and got out of my car; I heard pitiful little cries. I looked around and at first saw nothing. But I was not about to give up. So I scanned the cars until I saw a little ball of white fluff in a large expensive car looking at me with soft brown eyes.
Immediately I was transported back in time 20 years ago. The pain still hits me and if I think about it too much, I'll start crying.
A little background. I was born an animal lover. Particularly dogs. My mom says when I was in a baby in a stroller, I would reach out and try to love on every dog I saw. When I was in my early twenties, I was so involved in the dog world that I worked as a Dog Groomer, and I was showing and breeding my 2 beloved Yorkies Ernie and Chassie. Then I married and had 2 girls 3 years apart. My dogs were still my babies and I was still dog crazy. Nothing will ever change that. But now I was immersed with 2 small children, a part time job and household duties too.
As a young family, we could only afford a mobile home in a small trailer court. The lot owners were an elderly couple who did not like kids or animals. So I was always trying to keep my dogs and babies quiet. Not an easy job. Every day at around noon, I would walk the 20 yards behind my house to the mailboxes to get my mail. The mailboxes were right by the elderly couple's house and they tended to sit out on their porch and scowl at me. So I would try to wait to when my kids were napping to get the mail because I sure did not want to remind these old coots that I had kids. Or animals.
One pleasant day in June, my dogs were particularly "barky". They were small dogs and you know how "yippy" little dogs can be. So when it was time to get the mail and the kids were sleeping, I stuck the dogs in my car so they would not wake up my kids while I took 2 minutes to walk to get my mail and back. I was not worried about the dogs. After all it would just be a few minutes and although it was sunny, it was not really hot, just the low eighties. So being the young, stupid, sleep deprived mom I was, I put my dogs in the car (with the windows rolled up so no one would hear them barking) and walked to get the mail. On the way back, one of my neighbors stopped to talk to me for a minute and then I heard my baby cry so I ran in the house to take care of her.
Well, I guess you can see where this is going. I did not think about my sweet little pups for several hours. When I did, I ran out to find them dead. It was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I was heartbroken and extremely angry with myself for doing something so stupid and being so forgetful. I went through a depression and lost all self esteem and confidence. How could I be trusted to raise 2 little humans if I could not even keep my 2 little fur babies alive?
It took quite a long awhile to get over it and I don't think I ever will be completely. This is so hard for me to confess and talk about. But I think it's so important because so many people think nothing of leaving their pets, and sometimes (gasp) even their babies, in hot cars while they go do their thing. They may think like I did, that it's not that hot. What they do not realize is that a car will become like a oven in just a few minutes. Your little pup has a FUR COAT on. Your dog can not sweat to cool himself. It doesn't take long to cause brain damage or death.
Please, please, leave your dogs at home if you cannot take them inside with you. I know they like to go for a ride, but it's just not worth it. You don't want to live with the grief and the guilt for the rest of your life like I do.
So, what did I do with the little Maltese in the big Cadillac? There was no way from where the car was parked, to tell what shop the owner had gone into. I decided to wait a few minutes and if the owner did not show, then I was going to call the police. Fortunately, the owner did come out after a few minutes. An older, obviously wealthy woman. I tried to politely talk to her and to tell her why it was such a bad idea to let her little fluff ball stay in the car like that. I even tried to share my story. But, she stormed off in a huff. Hopefully, even though she was angry, maybe I somehow got through to her after she had a chance to think about it. Hopefully her precious little pup will be important enough for her to think of his welfare first. Hopefully.
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